New Employees

Introducing 7 New Employees

The Town has hired six new staff in 2022, Elaine Ling, Senior Planner in the Planning Department, Melissa Elian-Carrillo, Assistant Engineer in the Engineering Department, not present. Starting from the back left, Emina Steta, Administrative Clerk Technician in the City Manager’s office, Albert Sotelo, Maintenance Worker and Astha Khanal, Assistant Engineer, in the Public Works Department, and Michael Nakamura, Accounting Technician in the Administrative Services Department. The new Public Works Director, WooJae Kim started on January 3, 2023. Though recruiting has been difficult, at the end of 2022 we can proudly say we have one vacancy to fill for a Chief Building Official.

New Committee Members

Emergency Preparedness and Response Committee

• Jim Basiji
• Terry Kearney
• Sam Wood
• Benjamin Gikis
• Amita Sachdeva

Environmental Design and Protection Committee

• Grace Tsang

Environmental Initiatives Committee

• Mike Salameh

History Committee

• Bernardo Ferrari

LA/LAH Senior Commission

• Sharvari Dixit

Open Space Committee

• Viggy Mokkarala
• Anita Baldwin

Parks and Recreation Committee

• Jennifer Laruen Kan Bardsley

Pathways Committee

• Rajesh Shakkarwar

Technology Committee

• Rajiv Bhateja
• Bill Coughran
• Ameesh Divatia
• Annie Ju
• George Lee

Lifetime Volunteer Award Winners

• Jitze Couperus
• Nancy Couperus
• Carol Gottlieb
• Duffy Price

Budget

Five year budget overview

Summary

The average surplus in the fund balance over the past seven years is about $1.6 million in the General Fund. Over the years, the Town has been very fiscally conservative and we see consistent growth in the revenues due to the increase of the property tax revenue. Based on the most recent Property Tax Analysis performed by HdL, the local real estate market continues to improve. While home sales volume stays flat, many cities saw median price increases due to low interest rates, high demand, and limited properties for sale. The median sale price of Los Altos Hills detached single-family homes from January through August 2022 was $5,500,000, an increase of $500,000 (10%) from the median sale price in the same period for 2021. As of September 30, 2022, the median prices of homes has decreased by approximately 31% with median prices of homes at $4,270,500 due to increase of interest rates and a decrease of homes on the market.

General Fund Reserves

As of June 30, 2022, the Town’s governmental unassigned fund balance is approximately $8.6 million. 39.2% of this amount constitutes an unassigned fund balance, which is available for spending at the government’s discretion. The remainder of the fund balance is restricted, committed, or assigned to indicate that these amounts may only be spent on the purposes designated. Committed and assigned fund balances primarily consist of reserves for specific future uses. These reserves are approved each year by the City Council during the annual budget process. Other funds that are committed primarily consist of capital project funds. Capital projects are approved by the City Council during the annual budget process for the upcoming fiscal year.