Jack Balch seeks another term as Pleasanton mayor

Mayor Jack Balch is asking Pleasanton voters for another term, facing Councilmember Julie Testa in the Nov. 3 mayoral election. Balch, an accountant, laid out his background and priorities in a candidate questionnaire that Patch sent to every mayoral and council candidate and published in full.

Background

Balch earned a bachelor of science degree, cum laude, from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, attending from 1995 to 1999. He worked at Ernst & Young from 1999 to 2005, rising from assurance staff to assurance manager, and since 2005 has been chief financial officer and corporate secretary of Balch Enterprises Inc. He is a licensed California CPA and real estate broker and holds the Chartered Global Management Accountant designation.

In city government, he served on the Parks and Recreation Commission from 2009 to 2014 and the Planning Commission from 2014 to 2020. He was on the City Council from December 2020 to December 2024 and has been mayor since then.

Priorities

Balch named the budget and economic revitalization, hiring a permanent city manager and public safety as the city's top issues. For his next term, he said he would keep working on a multiyear budget plan that matches ongoing spending with dependable revenue while protecting police, fire and other essential services, and would set yearly, measurable targets with the city manager and council on costs, pension obligations and infrastructure funding.

Asked how he would handle projected multimillion-dollar shortfalls, he said police and fire protection, water and sewer service, and upkeep of streets, parks and public buildings come first. On the spending side, he listed operating efficiencies, cutting overtime through better staffing, limiting discretionary spending, phasing projects by urgency and funding, and continuing the pension strategy adopted in his first term. He said reserves should not become a routine way to cover recurring costs.

On revenue, he pointed to attracting and keeping businesses, filling empty storefronts, faster and more predictable permitting, and steps the city has already taken to pass along credit card processing fees and sell more sponsorships. He said he voted to place Measure HH, the hotel tax increase, on the ballot and supports it; it would raise the tax from 8% to 10% in July 2027 and to 12% in July 2028.

Testa's answers to the same questionnaire are covered separately.

Sources

Patch