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Interim City Manager Rad Bartlam's
Weekly Update
July 23, 2010
“If everybody's thinking the same thing, then nobody's thinking.” -- George S. Patton
Property tax assessments: County Assessor Ken Blakemore reported Monday that the assessed value of property in San Joaquin County declined 3.9 percent. Although that is a decline, it’s less severe than the 10.7 percent reduction a year ago. Lodi has the smallest reduction of any city in the county at 1.4 percent. The following charts show the difference in property tax assessments over time.
San Joaquin County Assessed Values |
2-Year Comparison
FY 10/11 vs. 09/10 FY 09/10 vs. 08/09 |
Lodi |
-1.4% |
-4.5% |
Manteca |
-1.5% |
-14.7% |
Stockton |
-5.7% |
-12.9% |
Tracy |
-2.5% |
-18.1% |
Ripon |
-1.9% |
-9.6% |
Escalon |
-3.7% |
-4.1% |
Lathrop |
-2.7% |
-15.7% |
Overall County |
-3.9% |
-10.7% |
Utility celebration: The Electric Utility’s 100th birthday party went well on July 17. A few hundred people attended the four-hour celebration, which included a variety of demonstrations and educational displays. A hot dog lunch was provided by Miller’s Hot Dogs, which is also celebrating its centennial this year. Supervisor Ken Vogel and representatives from Congressman McNerney’s and Assemblywoman Huber’s offices made presentations to Director Liz Kirkley.
Customer survey: The initial round of customer feedback cards were highly complimentary of the Planning and Building divisions. Of the 21 cards received, 17 gave the highest scores in all three check-box categories. Comments were mostly general in nature, but several said the City’s service is superior to that of other cities. One contractor pointed out that one of our building inspectors helped him with measurements to ensure a proper window installation.
Comments included, “Can’t get any better!!” (from Galt contractor); and “Overall experience very good, in fact excellent.” One unsigned card gave the City all poor marks, writing, “I am very disappointed. I call the city Slowdy! Nothing seems to get done!” This card, however, is far from the norm.
The three check-box questions asked customers to provide a 1-4 ranking (poor-fair-above average-excellent) to the following:
- Were you helped in a timely and professional manner?
- How would you rate your customer service representative?
- How would you rate our building permit process compared to other cities?
Of the remaining three cards that did not give all excellent marks, two gave the City top marks on the first two questions and “above average” on the third; another graded the City fair on the first question, excellent on the second and above average on the third. Only one respondent checked having visited Public Works.
Reminders: National Night Out is Tuesday. If you want to ride along with an officer, call the City Clerk’s office or the Police Department to arrange a ride. … Friday is July’s furlough day.
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