BENICIA – Two candidates are running for mayor of Benicia in November, incumbent Mayor Steve Young is challenged by Kevin Kirby, a hardware showroom manager.

The mayor’s responsibilities are not as extensive as in other cities with strong mayor systems. The mayor runs the City Council meetings and is a voting member of the council who represents the entire city. 

Benicia’s mayor is elected to a four-year term by a plurality of city voters. Ballots were mailed to all voters this week and must be postmarked by Nov. 5. Or voters can vote in person on Nov. 5, Election Day.

How we reported this story: We solicited questions from our audience and attended community forums to find out what questions mattered most to Benicia voters. We then attempted to interview each of the candidates to learn more about their positions and what they plan to do in office. You can find out more about how we cover elections on our FAQ. 

Kevin Kirby

According to his LinkedIn profile, Kevin Kirby is a showroom manager at Belmont Hardware in Walnut Creek and previously was general manager of Jack London Kitchen and Bath. 

In a candidate statement, Kirby said that he was born and raised in Benicia and has two children in Benicia schools. He coaches Little League baseball and his wife Heather is president of the Matthew Turner PTA. 

He said that his primary focus as mayor would be “to ensure the safety and overall enjoyment for Benicia’s youth.” 

He said that would include ensuring adequate staffing for the police, firefighters and parks department, which he would achieve by bringing in new revenue streams and supporting local businesses.

Kirby did not respond to the Vallejo Sun’s interview requests.

• Fundraising: As of late September, Kirby had raised $2,160. 

Steve Young

After a successful career in local government, most recently as Director of Community Development for the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency, Steve Young settled in Benicia in 2012 to help take care of his parents, who live in Rossmoor.

Seeking to meet new people and contribute to the city, he became part of Benicia’s Planning Commission. He was elected to the City Council in 2016 and as mayor in 2020. 

Young said that guiding the city through the Covid-19 pandemic was a big accomplishment of his term. Benicia was the first city in Solano County to mandate masks, even though every other Bay Area county had a mask mandate. “We also provided a lot of assistance to businesses so they could remain open,” he said.

He's also proud of having reduced red tape for citizens who wanted to do basic improvements to their properties, and of his efforts around housing.

Young acknowledges that a segment of the population is against growth. They want to keep Benicia a small town. “But the reality is that we don’t have the kind of revenue that will allow us to sustain all the programs the citizens want,” he said, “and so we need more growth, in housing, retail, and commercial.”

If reelected, his first priority would be to deal with Benicia’s budget problems. The city has a $6.5 million deficit. 

“A good portion of the houses in Benicia were built in the 70s and 80s, so they have property taxes set in that time and artificially low rates,” Young explained. The council asked Benicia voters to pass a sales tax in March and is seeking to raise property transfer taxes through another ballot measure in November.

“There’s been a history of past city councils not being willing to raise taxes because they know they are not popular, so things just keep getting worse,” Young said. “I’m trying to turn that around.”

Young prizes transparency and interacts constantly with citizens via Facebook and Nextdoor. He gets inundated with requests and complaints. “I think that me engaging in this type of dialogue sort of pushed the city in a similar fashion,” he said. “Now you’ll see the city’s website being more interactive, which I think is important.”

He doesn’t expect a lot of new houses downtown but would like to see a boutique hotel that could help with tourism and provide tax benefits. He also wants to bring in more retail instead of commercial businesses like banks and realtors. “It’s important that your retail areas generate retail sales tax,” he said.

Likewise, when looking at redevelopment of the Industrial Park, he opposes more warehouses because they generate few jobs and no sales tax, and they also tear up the roads. He wants to bring instead more manufacturing businesses, especially tech. But attracting those businesses isn't easy.

“We are competing with Fairfield and Vacaville, which have brand new industrial parks,” Young said. Those parks are clean blank slates which allow you to build a business right away. Benicia’s Industrial Park is older, its roads are in disrepair and crisscrossed by railroads.

Benicia has a leg up in other aspects, Young said. “We are located at the intersection of two major freeways. We have a rail connection and a deep water port. There aren’t many cities that offer this combination. We need to do a better job of advertising our location advantage,” he concluded.

• Fundraising: As of late September, Young had raised $13,684.
• Endorsements: Young is endorsed by U.S. Reps. John Garamendi and Mike Thompson, state Sen. Bill Dodd, state Senate candidate Christopher Cabaldon, Solano County Supervisors Monica Brown and Wanda Williams, and Benicia Councilmembers Terry Scott, Tom Campbell and Kari Birdseye.