Week in Review: Teeth Chattering Weather, City Offering Big Bucks to Leave and a Call to Help Needy Families

Didn’t have time to catch all the stories this week?

Don’t fret.

Here’s a rundown of the top stories on Novato Patch.

This week, the council approved an incentive program that would pay $25,000 to any city staffer who voluntarily left. The program is the latest effort by the city to reduce the $300,000 budget deficit. Salaries make up the vast majority of Novato’s spending.

We also wrote about a neighborhood that struggled for years to shutter a drug home on its street. Police responded to the property nearly 100 times over the course of three years and made arrests, but could not run the owner out of town. And even when the owner stopped making payments, it took the bank six years to foreclose on the property!

This week, we wrote about the $460,000 refund Novato will receive from the county, part of an agreement to return what Marin charged Novato for collecting property taxes. A 2012 California Supreme Court decision ruled that counties could not charge cities for processing property taxes. 

Also this week, the drop in temperatures had many people pulling out their gloves, hats and long coats. Temperatures dropped to as low as 19 degrees on Wednesday and snow on Mt. Tam was anticipated. Now things are warming up with temperatures expected to climb over the next week to a high of 57 degrees on Wednesday and ever warmer on Thursday and Friday.

The holidays are a time of giving, but not only to family and friends but those in need. Novato Human Needs Center, which offers emergency rental assistance, employment and educational services, is asking the community to chip in to donate new clothing, accessories and especially items for teens.