Budget includes 45 new positions
CITY HALL While neighboring municipalities struggle to provide services as revenues dip due to a sluggish economy, City Hall plans to spend more money than it did last year, around $521 million, with roughly $22 million going toward capital improvement projects such as the expansion of Memorial Park.
City Manager Lamont Ewell on Tuesday evening presented the fiscal 2008-09 municipal budget to the City Council, a spending plan that is expected to balloon by 8.6 percent from the current year.
The council kicked off a two-night series of study sessions on the budget — department by department — analyzing an overall budget of $521 million, approximately $251 million of which comes from the general fund, which is used to pay for essential services such as public safety.
“We are recommending a very aggressive budget in a very sluggish economy,” Ewell said on Tuesday during a meeting with the local media.
“This budget was guided by the City Council’s identified priorities, with input from our residents, neighborhood groups, boards and commissions and other community members following fall and winter neighborhood meetings and various year-round opportunities for suggestions and comments,”Ewell added.
Ewell and City Hall’s Finance Director, Carol Swindell,pointed to Santa Monica’s diversified revenue streams as the reasons why the budget is larger than in years past while others are having to tighten their belts. They said the city is fortunate to have a relatively strong housing market, a robust tourism industry and steady retail activity.
If approved by the council next month, City Hall will see the addition of 45 full-time equivalent positions, about seven of which will go toward public safety — four jailers and three firefighters.
Roughly half of the new employees will be assigned to operate the new Annenberg Community Beach House when it opens in 2009.
The 22 positions, which will be paid for by the beach fund, will provide staffing at the club year round, providing maintenance, programming and administrative support at the 5-acre site.
“This is a very unique facility so we made certain assumptions about use and what people want and we are going to be flexible to hopefully develop a program over time that is responsive to the community,” Barbara Stinchfield, the director of Community and Cultural Services, said.
In addition, Community and Cultural Services will hire someone to enhance cultural events, such as Jazz on the Lawn, and another to meet the increased demand for community sports programs, both offset by anticipated revenues, Ewell said.
The budget also allows City Hall to enter into Phase II of the Solar Santa Monica program, which has a goal of making the city energy independent by 2020 through the increase in privately-owned solar energy systems.
Santa Monica faces a tough economy much like other communities across the country. But unlike other communities, the city does have a generous buffer thanks to a diversified tax base. The largest source of revenue in the city comes via property taxes, making up approximately $98 million of the pie. Sales taxes make up another $67 million.
Sales taxes are expected to decline by 1.6 percent next year. “At first blush it looks like an aggressive budget,” Ewell said. “We’ve done everything... to protect the integrity of the general fund.”
Swindell added that Santa Monica traditionally has more resiliency than other communities and its property tax base is not as impacted by the slowing housing market due to the area’s popularity amongst home buyers.
There are currently 127 homes that are in or headed toward foreclosure, an indicator of stability in the community, Ewell pointed out.
Some of the spending increases will be concentrated on capital improvements, including setting aside new positions to work on the Civic Center Specific Plan, expansion of Memorial Park and two community projects — the greening of Ocean Park Boulevard and the Borderline Neighborhood.
Located on the southern edge of the city — west of Lincoln Boulevard — residents in the Borderline Neighborhood are seeking improvements to a stretch of Longfellow Street, which visually appears to be an alley but is an actual residential street. The “Living Street” project, which will include pedestrian-friendly improvements, has thus far been in the concept phase. Funding will be made available in the next fiscal year to move the project into the design phase.
“We are absolutely elated,” Dennis Woods, a resident who launched the Living Street campaign,said.“This is truly where the sustainable pavement hits the ground, literally.”
A subject of much controversy in the past year, the city’s budget sets aside approximately $900,000 for tree maintenance and replacement. Ewell said there has been a backlog in trimming and would like to see maintenance done on a three-to five-year cycle. The budget will also set aside funding to maintain the Santa Monica Pier, replacing the planks, pylons and the carousel’s roof.
“We felt it was time to get all the work done once and for all,”Ewell said.
City Hall has a limited window of opportunity to issue debt and leverage tax increment funds prior to 2014, which is the deadline established by current redevelopment laws for Santa Monica’s largest project area, which includes the Civic Center, Ewell said.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 21, 2008. Read the original PDF.