I'm Ben Sykora. I'm a finance executive with 15+ years as a CFO, and I chair Victoria's Planning Commission. What I've seen is that land-use decisions get a lot of public attention, while the financial decisions behind them, like TIF districts and development deals, get far less. Nearly a quarter of the City's property tax levy now goes to debt, and too many big decisions are shaped before residents ever get to weigh in. I'm running to fix downtown parking immediately, make sure residents can speak on the decisions that matter, and require every development deal to say publicly where the money comes from. Your taxes, your voice. That's my commitment.
Downtown has needed more parking since at least 2018, and a resident group handed the City a ramp design in 2023. Nothing was built.
City policy limits guaranteed public comment, the "Open Forum," to topics that aren't on the agenda. That leaves out the very items about to be voted on. For most agenda items, whether you get to speak is up to the Mayor or a Council vote. I'll push to guarantee residents a voice on the actual decisions in front of Council.
The City Manager meets one-on-one with each Council Member before public meetings. Staff also sometimes email every member at once on items headed for a vote, without those emails becoming part of the public record. Victoria has been here before: courts found that a former mayor and three council members violated the Open Meeting Law dozens of times. None of this proves anyone is breaking the law today, but it's the same kind of practice. The real conversation should happen where residents can hear it.
Almost every item on a Council agenda carries a plain note on how it's paid for. The biggest development deal in one recent meeting didn't. The Downtown West deal sold City land for $1, agreed to reimburse the developer $3 million, and added $3.5 million in street bonds. The source of that reimbursement, a loan from the Water Fund, wasn't disclosed until six weeks after the vote. I'll require a named funding source, in public, before every development vote.
The City has repeatedly used utility and interfund loans for costs that have nothing to do with water or sewer. Examples include a Sewer Fund loan for fire station land, a $545,000 General Fund loan to keep TIF District 1-6 afloat, and now a Water Fund loan for Downtown West. Water and sewer bills are meant to pay for water and sewer. I'll push for one public report each year that adds up every subsidy, loan, and land deal in one place.
Have questions or suggestions? I would love to hear from you!
Campaign Headquarters
916 Silver Spur Rd, Rolling Hills Estates, CA 90274