The city's financial challenges will be in the spotlight Sunday afternoon as Make Oakland Better Now! and the East Bay Young Democrats team up to focus on possible solutions and future budget scenarios.

The gathering, at the Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church, will also feature City Attorney John Russo, City Auditor Courtney Ruby and City Councilman Ignacio de la Fuente as guest speakers at the 2 p.m. event, "Make Oakland Work Better Now! Overhauling Oakland’s Budget."

Organizers said the focus will be on a number of issues around the city's budget and possible financial reforms including:

• Establishing a Rainy Day Fund for Oakland
• Paying for city pensions
• Instituting a performance based budget
• Reforming the budget process, more specifically how to pay for city services in a permanent financial crisis

Discussion around the city's pension debt issue will be especially timely. The old police and fire pension retirement system, or PFRS, will cost the city $45.6 million at the beginning of the new fiscal year in July. In 1997, the city put in place a bond deal for PFRS that led to a "contribution holiday" until 2011. Now, that money is coming due.

Organizers want to make sure they hear from citizens about PFRS because on Feb. 22, the City Council's Finance and Management Committee will meet and discuss payment options for the PFRS.

The city staff will likely recommend a solution that involves issuing more bonds, with balloon payments in the hundreds of millions of dollars coming due starting less than 15 years from now, according to MOBN.

Bruce Nye, a member of MOBN, said his group has several concerns around the PFRS options that will be presented to Council members.

"Overall, our concern is that the city is rushing into something that has serious consequences," he said.

Another pension issue likely to receive focus is the possibility of city police contributing to their pension system. Currently, the police pension issue is at an impasse.

As it stands now, Oakland covers 100 percent of police officers’ pension costs. Last summer, officers rejected a plan to contribute, leading to the layoff of 80 officers. The last major development on this issue was in October of last year when police officers agreed to concessions that would lead to paying into their pensions for the first time. However, that deal was connected to a $360 parcel tax measure that voters rejected in June.

The last few years have been especially tough on the city's finances. According to the city, in the last 20 months, Oakland was forced to bridge $170 million in budgetary shortfalls, largely through furloughs, service reductions and layoffs. Currently, Oakland is facing a $42 million budget shortfall that it has to plug.

Over the past five years, general fund revenues for Oakland have also plummeted; from $476 million to about $407 million, representing a $69 million drop. The city 's budget office said declines in property, sales and real estate transfer taxes due to the housing market meltdown were responsible for the greatest portion of the drop.

Nye said its critical that Oakland begin to face some of the hard choices around its finances.

"The services we depend on, from the police, to the firefighters, to the parks and libraries, everything depends on the city having the capacity to pay its bills so that it can provide for those services," he said.

Nye added that Oakland could run into serious trouble if all of its money is going toward pensions and debt repayment.

"It's money that's not going to go toward core services and it's damaging to everyone - from property owners, to renters, business people and young people," Nye said. "It's just bad for everyone."

For more information about Sunday's event click here.

About Jennifer Inez Ward

A writer and photographer, Jennifer Inez Ward has been documenting Oakland neighborhoods for more than 10 years. A graduate of UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism, she focuses on the uniqueness and beauty of everyday life in a city that is too often overlooked for its treasures and pleasures. Throughout the years, Jennifer has had the honor of showcasing her work at a number of venues, including a permanent loan of images that are displayed on the front wall of Barnes and Nobel in Jack London Square. Jennifer is a featured artist documented in “Images of America: Black Artists in Oakland."