or they could, you know, save it as a rainy day fund.

Every time there's a chance of building something to alleviate the housing crisis we hear that the city planners are desperately overworked. Hire more of them!

Agreeing with @OR, Mountain View will not have sunshine and unicorns forever. A rainy day fund would seem to me to be the wisest use of this money.

Only a housing crisis because they call it that. Instead, stop all new housing and focus on quality of life projects, better roads, parks, schools for the housing we already have. We don't need to cram more people into the same space. Stop all new housing too much already! I don't want Mountain Obstructed View.

What about refunding tax payers for their hard work! Surely this has to be a possibility.

Great! Paying more and getting less...again.

Did I read correctly that EACH new FT employee costs over $4M??

Did we hire our Finance staff from Google?

Here we go again...Our Mountain View leaders spending all the money to hire more people yet housing prices have slowed, there's lay offs in the technical fields. They don't seem to read the writing on the walls. Why not slow rent increases, or build a swimming pool for the seniors at the senior centers to keep them healthly or why not hire interns for the jobs Mountain View are hiring for?

Mountain View is a great city I've been here 32 years and love the safety I feel in the city, the beauty of the city and all the wonderful people; however, when my mom dies I will sale my home immediately. Like many others my money will go so further in another area of the USA or out of the country.

I heard unemployment is about 5%; however, that number does not count all people unemployed.

Thank you Mountain View for the years of affordability. Now the imported people have taken over and only the elite can live here...I hope there's not a civil war in the USA due to imported people skyrocketing our prices...

So only one voice raised for us ratepayers (renters, that includes you), at this city council meeting? John Inks only?

Bonuses for city workers? Last I heard, city workers are getting paid more than many people in tech. It's not a good idea to pat yourself on the back w/community money. Like someone else said, save it for a rainy day or use it to update our older crappy-looking schools.

Definitely spend the extra money on road repair. You need a 4 wheel drive to drive on El Camino right now. Repave El Camino and Shoreline and fix
all the pot holes throughout the city.

Don't like it? Have you contacted your city council? Have you come to the council meetings and listened to the budget proposals? The city budget and the council agenda are available online for you to read. Get the facts before you criticize.
Pool at the senior center? Call your council member and ask that it be placed on the agenda.
Fix up the schools? That money doesn't come from the city budget, it comes from the state and county coffers.
Please people, Mountain View is your city, so take ownership and go about it in the right way. Griping on a website doesn't get anything done. Go out and be the change.

OMG... 20 people and not saving a penny for the next economic downturn. It amazes me that they never think about the future... just adding more people and more people... common sense left the building... please turn out the lights.

Hard for something to leave when it was never there in the first place

@Phil...the City will be putting somewhere north of $6M into "savings" accounts. Where do you see in the article that they will not be saving for the future?

You sound like the person to go do all that stuff. Go for it master chief!

Recreation Supervisor
Recruitment No. 25986
Job Title: Recreation Supervisor
Agency: City of Mountain View
Location: South Bay
Job Category: Recreation
Open Date: Wed, 11 May 2016
Close Date: Tue, 24 May 2016 5:00 PM PST
Control Point Salary: $84,623.00 - $105,779.00 Annually

NICE...

Are they hiring any traffic engineers? Maybe they can find someone that can synchronize a couple of traffic lights! Is that asking too much?

@Spend it on Road Repair:

El Camino Real is State Route 82, so the maintenance of that road is the responsibility of the state (Caltrans), not the individual cities nor counties it passes through like Mountain View or San Mateo.

I would like to see the city fix the potholes in the roads under their responsibility.

Don't ask and you won't know.

I'm skeptical about dramatic utility rate hikes. First, cost of living is already a huge burden in the area, and increasing utilities 10x faster than the consumer price index while the city swims in new revenue seems ridiculous.

I understand that water has fixed costs, but I'd feel more comfortable about a hike if I knew that rates were tied to rainfall, and that they will come back down in years with more rainfall. Otherwise, the next drought season will "justify" another huge rate hike.

Amonia concentrations are rising - that makes sense because there is less rainwater to dilute it. I'm skeptical that reported amonia levels is getting mixed up with amonia concentration. Why is there more amonia now? Population growth brings in more revenue to help pay for those chemicals. Somehow per capita amonia levels are increasing? I'm skeptical. I suspect this is more about raising salaries and pensions.

1. Huge surplus in Mountain View budget ($13 000 000) was allocated for bonuses for existing staff and 20 new staffers: Web Link

2. Mountain View school district now has virtually no residence validation to help kids from oppressed or undocumented families.

3. Mountain View council freely spending Mountain View budget money on suing Mountain View property owners: Web Link

4. Mountain View elected council: Web Link