Santa Monica City Council hopes worst is behind them
The mounted police will still patrol Santa Monica streets on horseback and the local symphony looks likely to be saved under the new city’s $356 million budget for next year, which was adopted Tuesday.
But the saved programs come at a price.
To help meet its $16.1 million budget shortfall, city officials agreed to raise parking fines throughout the city.
The decision comes on the heels of an earlier call to raise parking meter rates throughout the city and increase various fees in the planning, police and fire departments.
The additional $2.2 million in parking fines will come by raising the cost of most tickets.
There are more than 50 types of parking violations in Santa Monica and the fee levels for 30 of them are controlled by the city.
Under the new system, preferential parking tickets will be bumped to $47 per infraction from $38. The same increase will apply to tickets for disobeying signs, parking in red zones or in front of driveways, and for parking during street cleaning hours.
The fee for an expired meter, now $28, will be pushed up to $35.
Supporters of the increases point to the fact that fines in Santa Monica have remained steady since 1993, while neighboring cities have raised their tickets.
Councilman Bob Holbrook cast the sole dissenting vote.
“The rates that are proposed are excessive,” he said. “And I just can’t support it.”
All told, $5.4 million will be cut from City Hall departments, $1.6 in capital improvement projects will be put on hold, $5.2 in new revenues will be found and another $3.9 million will be saved through various policy changes.
If everything goes as planned, the city will have a $2.35 million cushion at the end of the year.
“It’s just shy of a enough to fully offset our new worst-case scenario,” said City Finance Director Mike Dennis. “We’re trying to project the worst case and make sure we have funds to absorb it.”
The City Council voted to give the cash-strapped school district an additional $2.25 million next year on top of its $3 million regular contribution. All of that money comes from savings from this year’s budget, Dennis said.
But in order to approve another $78,500 in last-minute funds not included in the proposed budget, the Council agreed to take a hit to its own contingency budget for the next two years.
The Council’s contingency budget is about $100,000 per year and is used mostly for miscellaneous expenses, Dennis said.
Under the adopted budget, the local symphony will get an additional $11,505 in one-time funds from the city, bringing its total contribution up to $24,000.
Symphony organizers descended upon City Hall Tuesday because they were worried that the city’s proposed 56 percent reduction to their budget would threaten the popular events.
The Santa Monica Police Department’s mounted patrol will be given an additional $12,500 to operate through the end of the year. Supporters of the four-horse unit, which was on the chopping block for the second year in a row, will then have to come up with the $25,000 needed to sustain it for next year.
“Their work is sure,” said actress June Lockhart, who called the council’s compromise “neat.” “They are the higher authority.”
The Council also gave the 18th Street Arts Complex another $20,000 in one-time funds on top of its $24,995 regular contribution.
The remaining last-minute expenditures approved by the City Council will be taken out of the contingency budget on an ongoing basis.
Another $4,500 will be spent on new tree plantings, $20,000 will go to park maintenance, $2,000 will be spent on portable toilets for day laborers near 11th Street and Colorado Boulevard and $8,000 will be spent on a retirement system for council members.
Council members also voted to increase the city’s funding of “Celebrate America,” a fireworks event scheduled for Santa Monica College on June 28th, from $10,000 to $15,000.
“As of yesterday, I am the only council member to contribute,” said Councilman Herb Katz, who helped secure more than $3,500 to revive the event after SMC officials cancelled it.
Before adopting the final budget, council members affirmed the city’s goals for next year.
Officials want to put more resources into the troubled Pico neighborhood, while increasing the city’s sustainability and improve customer service in City Hall.
With next year’s budget finalized, council members said they hope that the worst of the economic turmoil has passed.
“We’re going to all be in real, real bad straits (if things worsen),” Katz said. “We’re going to be cutting jobs, laying people off and shortening library hours.
“We’re going to all be in real, real bad straits (if things worsen). We’re going to be cutting jobs, laying people off and shortening library hours.” — — HERB KATZ City councilman
“Whether it’s all going to happen we don’t know,” he added. “But I’ve always been an optimist.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 19, 2003. Read the original PDF.