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# City budget deficit: Grab yer undies and hold tight
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/city-budget-deficit-grab-yer-undies-and-hold-tight-2/
- Published: 2003-04-18T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T02:05:05.000Z
- Author: Bill Bauer
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import, Homeless

Holy cow! Everything’s going into the crapper!

Just check the local news. Tuesday’s Los Angeles Times featured an article about the $800-million County of Los Angeles budget gap. Cuts will run wide and deep, affecting virtually every county service.

The State of California is already $33 billion in the hole. The state’s prison guards might not get their raises this year.

The federal government is also running a deficit in the hundreds of billions of dollars, thanks in most part to Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District administrators are predicting a deficit of $13 million next year. They blame it on cuts in state education funds. However, the usual $2 million to $3.5 million shortfall the district runs every year (the one that the Santa Monica City Council bails ‘em out on every June) is also a contributor.

The City of Santa Monica itself is facing a $12 million deficit — and that could go higher even if the City Council doesn’t approve a couple of million dollars extra this year to help the schools.

The City of Santa Monica is considering across the board 5 percent cuts in all city operating budgets except for police and fire. The Daily Press reported last week that layoffs of city employees are inevitable.

The city is also increasing parking rates, citation fines and is looking at raising new taxes and increasing existing taxes and fees — including the onerous sales tax.

Between a likely 1 percent increase in the sales tax on the state level and if Santa Monica tacks on its own 1/4-or 1/2-percent, we could be paying a 10 percent sales tax within two years.

Now the feds are thinking of making Internet sales subject to various state sales taxes, too. Ouch!

I have some suggestions where spending could be cut.

Over the last year or two, the city has spent millions of dollars acquiring properties for affordable housing. A partial listing of recent acquisitions includes Main and Pacific, purchased for almost $3.2 million; 1942/1950 High Place obtained for over $4 million; 1424 Broadway purchased for $2.5 million and, most recently, the Jewish Center at 2601 Santa Monica Boulevard, bought for $3.25 million.

Additional millions have also been allocated to cover closing costs, development fees, demolition, architect fees and other expenses, not including construction costs.

Another place I’d cut is support for the numerous boards, commissions and neighborhood groups.

Take the Bayside District Corp., for example.

The BDC is a non-profit, city-sponsored entity whose mission is to encourage business downtown. It has a nearly $1 million yearly budget, $608, 000 of which is a direct city subsidy, plus another $200,000 allocated for Promenade maintenance.

According to the OceanParkGazette.org, BDC Executive Director Kathleen Rawson recently authorized pay raises for herself and the staff. Her annual salary alone is around $100,000.

Is Rawson’s raise representative of others the city might be quietly approving, despite talk about making cuts?

Last Feb. 25, Santa Monica Redevelopment Agency (i.e. City Council) approved reclassification of 40 city employees to higher job level titles and higher pay. I guess it’s one way of giving raises without giving raises.

Ten agencies receive about $1.9 million from the city to provide services to Santa Monica’s homeless. This is just the tip of the iceberg because our large transient population costs the city millions of dollars more in police, fire, paramedic and other hidden city services and resources.

How about the $72 million cost — which is sure to increase — of the new Main Library and adjacent parking structure? And millions are being wasted for traffic calming projects including traffic islands the length of Wilshire Boulevard. The Civic Auditorium and the Santa Monica Pier are also million-dollar drains on the city.

Will our spendthrift City Council will make the right choices this June when the next fiscal year’s budget is hammered out? Will Council members think “resident” and step up to support the schools? They need to re-prioritize and think “lifeboat economics” but somehow, I don’t think that will happen.

Smart money says their pet pork will come out unscathed while higher taxes and reduced services to residents will be the order of the day.

We all better grab our underwear and hold on tight (Bill Bauer is a longtime Santa Monica resident and freelance writer.)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 18, 2003.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/041803.pdf?ref=smdp.com)