Letter to the Editor: Burlingame's Financial Health

In response to those who question Burlingame's financial health, I want to stress that our city's finances are in excellent shape, and we are addressing pension obligations responsibly.

We have healthy reserves, booming shopping areas and sound financial practices. Our sales and hotel taxes increased 28 percent and 29 percent, respectively, between 2009-10 and 2010-11. In addition to the new Safeway, many new stores are flocking to Burlingame, including Nissan, La Boulange, Caffe Sapore, Rue du The, Avenue Pet Salon, Bridal Project and Alys Grace. Nissan alone is expected to bring an additional $100,000 in sales tax revenues to our city each year, and Virgin America anticipates creating 500 new jobs each year for the next few years. Our city also is attracting many high-tech businesses, and a 750,000-square-foot biotech project is planned for the former drive-in space near the bay.

We are taking a two-pronged approach toward tackling the issue of escalating pension obligations: (1) working with city workers to increase their contributions to the system and (2) ending old practices that promised employees generous pension and retiree health benefits.

For details, I invite people to visit the "Issues" section on my website at www.terrynagel.com.

--Burlingame Mayor Terry Nagel