City Manager’s Update
Daniel Barros, City Manager
The City Council adopted the 2023-2025 Strategic Plan in March 2023, directing staff on the goals and priority programs for the next three years. At the February 26th City Council meeting, staff presented the annual Strategic Plan Update. Staff updated the Council on the five Priority Program Areas: Resiliency, Operations, Economic Development, Community, and Capital. The update reported progress on critical Town initiatives, accomplishments, and served as the final update to the current 3-year plan. To view the adopted Strategic Plan and the corresponding updates, please visit the Town’s website at: https://www.colma.ca.gov/strategic-plan/.
Upcoming Wednesday March 5, 2025, The City Council will be holding a Special City Council Meeting serving as a workshop to develop the next Strategic Plan for the Town of Colma. The Strategic Plan Workshop is open to the public and will be held at Town Hall, beginning at 9:30AM.
At the February 12th City Council meeting, the Council approved the mid-year budget report from Administrative Services Director, Renee Eshun. In summary, the Town is financially healthy at mid-year. By December 31, 2024, the Town received $10.17 million in General Fund revenues – with $7.26 million in sales tax, $1.71 million in cardroom tax and $1.2 million in other general fund revenues. Total General Fund expenditures were $10.26 million with a spending rate of 51%. Also, the Town will begin to receive funding from Measure AA, the recently passed sales increase initiative, in April that is estimated to provide approximately $2.3 million annually in additional sales tax revenue.
Home Security During Vacation
John Munsey, Chief of Police
The Colma Police Department wants to make sure your home is secure while you are away, so don’t forget to lock up and keep your home secure! Sometimes burglars target homes when they think no one is home. What’s the best way to prevent that? Make it look like you are home! Here are a few suggestions:
- Make sure all doors and windows are locked and the security alarm is armed before you go.
- Schedule lights (interior and exterior), radios and televisions on timers, or activate them remotely, to make it look like someone is home. When lights are left on all day, it is obvious that no one is around.
- Place newspapers and mail on hold during your leave. Make sure packages will not be delivered while you’re away or ask a trusted neighbor to pick them up.
- If you’ll be gone for a while, arrange to have someone mow your grass to keep your property looking upkept.
- Don’t publicly announce your vacation plans or post photos on social media until your return from your trip.
- Ask trusted neighbors, relatives and/or friends to look after your home including:
– Watching over your place and removing any flyers that may appear on your door.
– Bringing recycling bins to the curb on trash collection day and returning them afterward.
– Ask them to park in your driveway, so it looks like someone’s home.
– Letting neighbors know who will visit your home during your vacation, so they know what to expect and can more readily identify suspicious activity and report it to the police. Share contact info so they can communicate with you if there is a problem.
- If you use an alarm monitoring company, make sure your emergency contact information is up to date.
Lastly, please let us know if you are going to be out of town, we will conduct extra patrols of your residence. You can go online to www.colma.ca.gov/vacation-home-check-request-form/ and fill out a Vacation Home Check Request or call us at (650) 997-8321.
Click here to read the rest of the LiveWire Newsletter!