Biggest Deficit in Emeryville History: Bauters Blames Planning Commission

 Eight Years as Chair of the Budget Committee, John Bauters Owns Emeryville's $11.8 Million Deficit

But

Planning Commission is Blamed

Mayor Welch Too Serves On the Budget Committee, Lies to Voters

The City of Emeryville has gone public with the fact it has an $11.8 million budget deficit, the worst in Emeryville history, as reported by paid consultant Brian Moura in a recent address to the City Council.  It was such an embarrassing announcement for outgoing City Council member John Bauters, the eight year Chair of the Budget and Governance Committee, that seeking a scapegoat, he blamed the Planning Commission at the November 19th City Council meeting.

Mr Moura who is unrelated to Emeryville’s vice mayor David Mourra, told the Council “In terms of this fiscal year, 2024-’25, we’re projecting an $11.8 million shortfall with a decline of revenues of $5.5 million and an increase in expenses of $6.3 million”.  An outsider expert looking in, Mr Moura said reduced development fees from what was expected drove the shortfall because  “a major component of your [Emeryville’s] revenue picture” come from such fees.  Specifically, many life science/biotech firms that had expressed interest in building lab space in Emeryville failed to materialize and with the fall out came a loss in expected revenue that would have been generated from all the fees associated with the biotech building boom.

Scooter King Emeryville City Council Member
John Bauters
He offered a boatload of taxpayer money to host
an electric scooter race in Emeryville in 2023.

Immediately upon the finish of the report delivered by the consultant, eyes turned to John Bauters, who has been the Chair of the Budget and Governance Committee for eight consecutive years.  Mr Bauters wasted no time in shifting blame, he acknowledged that all the bio-tech development fees had been put in Emeryville’s fiscal health basket but he said he wasn’t responsible.  Rather, Bauters said it is the Planning Commission that is to blame.  He said they never should have approved all the bio-tech projects developers had been proposing over the last few years, supply outpacing demand.  “Developers respond to the market and they bring [their proposals] to the Planning Commission where it gets reviewed”, Bauters said.  He went on to falsely claim the City Council (with him as mayor) doesn’t have the final say for such projects. “Rarely does it [development decisions] touch the City Council. The Council doesn't go around telling property owners ‘you should build life sciences or apartment buildings” he said, despite the fact that’s exactly what happens.  After Council member Kalimah Priforce told the assembled crowd City Council leadership is responsible for the budget fiasco and that the City should not be spending money it doesn’t have hoping against hope for big fat developer fees to balance the budget.  Mr Bauters was hearing none of that fiscally prudent talk from Mr Priforce and he doubled down on his shifting the blame to the Planning Commission, “Leadership should only take responsibility for how it budgets the City [not how the City is developed]”, he said, reversing eight years of his activism developing the city, specifically with bio-tech projects (and apartment towers).

Courtney Welch Lied to the Voters About the Budget
Photo of one of Mayor Welch's re-election flyers
She's on our Budget Committee so she knows this is false.

Council member Priforce pushed back against the excuses being proffered by the many term mayor Bauters, stating, “The leadership has to own this”.  Mr Priforce noted how the Berkeley City Council and the Oakland City Council have both listened to the developers selling bio-tech and that it is revisionist and false history for the person most responsible for this to claim he wasn’t listening as well.  All three cities built out their bio-tech sectors vigorously over the last several years, contributing to the glut in the market.  

For her part, Mayor Welch, who is the other council member on the Budget and Governance Committee, said Priforce was wrong to be blaming anyone for the historic $11.8 million deficit hole.  Ms Welch it should be noted, during her November re-election fight, told voters she should be returned to the Council because she was so assiduously watching the budget, she’s maintaining a “financial solvency city” she said on one of her campaign flyers, a claim she knew to be false when she said it.

Adding insult to injury, Councilman Bauters threw in an extra $10,000 for the taxpayers to pay, at a last minute parting grudge shot at Mr Priforce when he added the provision to print and mail to every Emeryville household, a bogus censuring and sanctioning of Mr Priforce done at his last Council meeting.  Mr Bauters didn’t say how the $10,000 in public money would be raised to help him in his personal vendetta against Council member Priforce and none of the other three Council members that voted to spend the money provided an answer to that.  Presumably it will just be added to the $11.8 million City Hall deficit, already pegged at more than $140 for every resident.  The addition of the $10,000 mailer personal vendetta against Mr Priforce as it turned out, was John Bauters last act as an Emeryville City Council member as he retires on Tuesday.

Mayor Bauters two years ago, pushed forward a city wide City of Emeryville scooter race that would have cost about $1.5 million, some coming from public coffers, with vague promises of garnering some revenue but also "raising Emeryville's visibility" he said at the time.  The sponsor of the race event pulled out before Emeryville could write the check.

Also noteworthy, in 2022, Mayor Bauters claimed to be an expert at budgeting and finance and with fiscal expertise needed at the mayor level, he said he needed to be re-appointed mayor, skipping Council member Scott Donahue whose turn it was to be mayor.  Council member Donahue was said to not be as knowledgeable about how to keep the City in good fiscal health as Mr Bauters, an assertion that set against the departing of Bauters and his $11.8 million deficit he's leaving us, now seems like hubris.

November 19th City Council meeting is below:  Budget discussion starts at 1:44:24.  The first announcement of the $11.8 million deficit occurs at 1:46:32.

https://www.youtube.com/live/o7OntshGbR0?si=ZdNb3A7VeS5As7qO