YOUR HOMETOWN WEEKLY NEWSPAPER
Vol. 18, No. 8
READ NEWS YOU CAN TRUST AT WWW.THEPRESS.NET!
City coffers appear to be stable
Oh so close
February 23, 2018
Living Your Best Life
F
reedom’s Trevon O’Neal attempts to block the shot of Liberty’s Jay Butterfield during the Lions’ 72-65 win last week. The Falcons’ loss ends a successful season that saw Freedom fall one win short of qualifying for the North Coast Section playoffs. De La Salle defeated Liberty 65-57 in the opening round of the playoffs Tuesday night. The Lions end their season 17-10 and 4-6 in league play.
by Kyle Szymanski Staff Writer
The City of Oakley’s finances appear to be stable, officials said during a recent midyear budget update. “We ended the last fiscal year in June with a greater fund balance than we expected,” said Oakley Finance Director Deborah Sultan. “The revenues came in a little higher than expected, because we always budget conservatively. Our team was very good about keeping tight control of their expenditures, so our expenditures came in less than we had budgeted.” City officials announced during the annual midyear budget review that $795,000 in revenue will be added to the general fund, stemming from higher-than-expected returns in key areas, including police P6 funds ($250,000), property taxes ($140,000), transient occupancy taxes ($50,000) and sales taxes ($45,000). The P6 increases were derived from annexations of new developments into the city, while
Photo by Tony Kukulich
see Coffers page 26A
Enjoy this week’s Living 50 Plus section for tips on fitness, travel, finances and more. Page 1B
Local Artists Taking A Bow
Betty and Jack Gaughan retiring after lifetime in the performing arts. Page 10A
On To The Next Round
Animal ordinance exempts East County by Kyle Szymanski Staff Writer
The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors has moved to exempt four East County towns from a proposed ordinance regulating the raising and keeping of farm animals. The ordinance would implement guidelines on owning farm animals on single-family and two-family residential districts. But District III Supervisor Diane Burgis has expressed concerns about the county’s ability to enforce the regulations in her large district,
“ It’s not something I am personally against; I just received a very overwhelmingly strong communication from my community that they did not want this.
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Diane Burgis, District III supervisor prompting her to request that Byron, Bethel Island, Discovery Bay, Knightsen and Diablo be exempt from the provisions. Advisory committees in all five of those communities have voiced opposition to the proposed ordinance, Burgis said. “It’s not something I am
personally against; I just received a very overwhelmingly strong communication from my community that they did not want this,” she said, citing the size of District III and the limited resources for enforcement of the ordinance. District III, which is about
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113,000 acres larger than the second largest district in the county, covers the unincorporated areas of Antioch, Oakley, Bethel Island, Knightsen, Brentwood, Discovery Bay, Byron, Clayton, Camino Tassajara, Diablo and Blackhawk. If a full county ordinance were to be approved, then one code enforcement officer and two animal services officers, a sergeant and lieutenant would be tasked with enforcing regulations throughout District III. “That is a coverage of approximately 165,000 acres comsee Animal page 26A
Honoring Women ww.thepress.net/news/webextras
Diablo Valley College will host a discussion as part of Women’s History Month.
Heritage girls’ basketball team makes second round of North Coast Section playoffs. Page 17 Calendar.............................27A Classifieds..........................21A Cop Logs.............................25A Entertainment..................10A Food.....................................11A Milestones.........................12A Opinion...............................16A Pets...................................... 15B Sports..................................17A
Banning Testing
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The Cruelty-Free Cosmetics Act is introduced in the State Legislature.