Live Blog: State of the City Address

7:55 a.m.: Participants are seated and enjoying a breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, country potatoes, coffee, pastries and orange juice all catered by . Mayor Jack Batchelor has just taken the microphone.

7:58 a.m.: Batchelor said, "Local cities including Dixon were not exempt from the decline of our major industries." Dixon has experienced a sharp reduction in property taxes

"We are seeing some signs of recovery albeit very slow," he said. He noted a $3 million grant to bring water to the northeast quadrant that he said would attract development to the area, which in turn will generate property taxes.

Batchelor said that the city has taken some steps to protect redevelopment funds from the state by investing roughly $1 million in the and (i.e. the Pardi Market Site).

"I am confident that our city council ... will continue to move forward," he said.

8:03 a.m.: City Manager Nancy Huston is now at the podium. She gave thanks to Batchelor and calls him a great leader for the city. Huston said that the city relies on property taxes for revenue.

"Sales tax is still down, it's down by 4 percent from last year," she said.

Huston said that the city is fighting for its Redevelopment Agency and receives about 7 percent in revenues from the state. She said $1.7 billion would be taken from redevelopment agencies throughout the state.

"I do believe that we will lose jobs in the area," she said.

"I work in government and I am trying to fight another agency," she said.

The big winner if the RDAs are wiped out is the t, Huston said, nodding at Dixon Unified Superintendent Roger Halberg.

If the RDA goes away, then the city will lose $3.2 million. Cuts could happen, she said. Huston also said the city is getting a new web site, and will get on Facebook and Twitter to better communicate with residents.

8:12 a.m.: Dave Dowswell, community development director, takes the podium and talks about projects happening in the city including a remodeling project.

“Heritage Commons (the senior housing project) they have been trying to get a $6 million grant to get the project going,” he said, adding that it will perhaps begin construction in 2012.

He also said that Travis Credit Union wants to come to town.

8:16 a.m.: Mark Heckey, economic development department director, takes the podium and called his speech The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, referring to the economy in 2011.

Heckey said that Dixon's unemployment rate ticked up a bit but is lower than the state and county's average. He said the stock market is going great, and that banks are heavy in cash.

Small businesses keep hanging in there, Heckey said. He said the Bay Area has really good stats and that Silicon Valley is recovering.

Ugly things that have occurred in the city of Dixon include agreeing to move to Stockton, where they can have a new building, and were attracted by an enterprise zone. But they closed their shop in Dixon.

The other ugly things include the state budget crisis and the RDA situation.

"The challenges are there, but we are going to try to continue to be up for it," he said.

8:17 a.m.: Dixon Police Chief Jon Cox said it's been a good year for the police department.

"Despite the challenges we are faring very well in these times," he said, adding that it has a lot to do with the community and the partnership it has with the PD.

"Crime was down last year and crime continues to be down," he said.

One of the biggest accomplishments is the development with the , Cox said.

"It’s a beautiful place to behold, this was made possible because of Roger (Halberg) at our school board, our city, our local businesses, our service groups and our faith based groups."

Cox said that in 2009, the PD experienced a 30 percent drop in serious crimes, and a 12 percent drop of those crimes in 2010.

"People in this community are not afraid to get involved," he said. "That's why Dixon is what it is today."

Even though it was a good year for the reduction of crime, it was bad statewide, he said. 136 officers died serving in 2010. 25 officers in our nation have been killed this year alone, he said.

8:33 a.m.: Gregg Atkins, director of the , said Dixon's library is the oldest in Solano County. Two new librarians were hired last week, one children's librarian and another adult references librarian, he said. 

One of the things we focused on this year is how new technologies affect libraries. Dixon has received a new collection of e-books through the Overdrive system. He said devices could download the books from the library through the system.

"We are still looking at a design for the new library," he said.

The building is too old, Atkins said. The library commission saw first drafts of the design and said it will show them at a meeting on March 24, at the city council chambers.

Atkins mentioned the Omnibus Bill, and said that the library board will be elected by vote. The school board currently governs the library board. The library board makeup will become effective in Jan. 2012.

The economy is also affecting the library.

"Our revenues are down by 15 percent (from 2008)," he said.

The library will no longer be receiving funding from the state that allow for libraries to share their books and resources.

"Free access to information on the internet is beginning to end," he said. "Those magazines and newspapers and other things where you get information now, fees are starting to go up."

He said that is where libraries will step in and customers can get that content for free from that library.

8:41 a.m.: Superintendent Roger Halberg hands out a paper highlighting four areas that the district is focusing on.

1- focusing on student achievement

2- building learning communities

3- maintaining fiscal responsibility

4- restore staff and public confidence in the district.

Halberg said that at , last year Dixon had the highest graduation rate in the county. Just two weeks ago the SacBee reported that Dixon has the highest percentage of students moving on to college, Halberg said. 

Dixon High's API was the highest growth school in the county. Dixon High's eligibility list, students playing sports, has seen an increase in the amount of kids being eligible to play sports.

Eighty percent of students at Dixon High are involved in extra-curricular activities. Dixon High qualified for the state's . In the middle of March a team from the state will tour the school and in April, may name Dixon High as part of the DS program.

Halberg said that the state ranks Dixon High in the top 50 percent of the schools in the state.

The biggest resources in the district are teachers. The second biggest is the quality and consistency in the school administration. Both, have seen cuts.

Turnover is high, Halberg said. Financially, funding is down $25 million for the district. The state has deferred payments to DUSD.

"We are down over 20 percent in our revenue," Halberg said, adding that the district must borrow money to keep it going.

The county has lended DUSD some of its property tax revenues for the past few years. If the county can't continue doing that, then it will set the stage for state takeover.

Halberg said that the RDA money will not increase money to the school district, but will reduce the amount of education cuts that the state does.

8:52 a.m.: Mayor Batchelor is now at the podium.

"I know that Dixon is blessed to have leadership as you see here," he said.

Question and answer period has begun. No one asked anything so Batchelor hands the microphone to Dr. Peter Timm, the chairman of the Governmental Affairs Committee, who thanks everyone for coming to the address.