> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # New money man takes helm during lean, stormy times - URL: https://www.smdp.com/new-money-man-takes-helm-during-lean-stormy-times/ - Published: 2003-07-22T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T02:35:52.000Z - Author: John Wood - Tags: local, Santa Monica, #archive-import *New finance director came from Santa Clarita Monica’s budget can be trimmed.* Steve Stark will likely find the challenge he sought when he left an 11-year post as the finance director of Santa Clarita last month to take the helm in Santa Monica. While Santa Clarita is a booming city of 160,000 with plenty of room to grow, Santa Monica is an older city of 84,000 that’s almost entirely built out. With the city facing a multi-million dollar deficit for at least the next two years, Stark will have to work hard to balance the city’s $380 million budget. “In times of recession, you really have to focus on capital improvements and their budgets,” said Stark, adding that the first priority will be to sustain as many of the city’s services as possible. “Older cities have to look harder to make things work.” The first step toward fiscal balance, Stark said, is to look for efficiencies. Next is to boost revenues, though Stark said that doesn’t necessarily entail creating new fees, but rather revisiting long-unchanged fees to reflect the cost of doing business today. Finally come services. “Can the city continue to provide?” Stark said. “First we look at if we are providing services efficiently and then we have to ask, ‘Are we providing services that local governments provide?’” Stark said it is still too early for him to make any specific observations or suggestions. He said he has spent the first few weeks on the job talking with department heads and employees in City Hall and will start by streamlining his own department. He said the chamber will meet Aug. 4 to discuss where Santa Monica’s budget can be trimmed. Community leaders more familiar with the city’s expenditures said they are looking forward to working with Stark. “We’re hoping that the city will look at its budget like a business looks at theirs,” said Kathy Dodson, executive director of the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce. “Over the past several years, businesses have had to cut their budgets significantly.” Dodson said Santa Monica spends far more on its citizens than comparable cities. “I don’t think there are many citizens out there that would say, ‘Oh yeah, I get twice as much services here as I would in Pasadena or Burbank,’” she said. Mayor Richard Bloom said Stark has big shoes to fill from the retired Dennis, but refused making any specific comment on how best to deal with the city’s budget deficit until after the situation in Sacramento becomes more clear. “We continue to be in a position of great uncertainty,” he said. “The thing that we have to look to first is the state’s resolution of (the budget deficit) and to do so not on the backs of local government.” Though Stark officially began July 1, he spent time in City Hall before that and even watched the city’s budget sessions on the Internet. He said he was impressed with the way the City Council plugged this year’s $16 million deficit. “They had a room full of people that wanted more and more money and they pretty much held the line,” he said. “I was pleased by that.” As for his previous experience, Stark said he is especially proud of two projects in Santa Clarita that brought together different agencies for the greater good of the community. One is the $300 million Golden Valley Road, which connects the 5 and 14 highways. Local businesses and the school district, which will have a new school on the thoroughfare, partnered with the city on the project. The other project is a large, modern library the city spearheaded after the county refused to pay for it. City officials were able to bring the local junior college on board by overbuilding the library — and the county has agreed to operate it once it is built. Stark was born in Amarillo, Texas in 1951\. He graduated from West Texas University and took his first city job as the internal auditor for the City of Amarillo. Since then, he has worked as finance director in Fontana and, most recently, Santa Clarita. The married father of two makes the commute to Santa Monica at 5:30 a.m. each day, leaving time to jog or go the gym before work, while avoiding the often burdensome traffic. “It’s my time to think and be alone,” said Stark, who has completed eight marathons and participated in a handful of other runs. “I come up with some great financial ideas.” Stark earned a reputation for having a conservative nature when he first started in Santa Clarita by requesting that his employees not dress down on Fridays. After 11 years there, Stark said he relaxed that suggestion, but still considers himself an old-fashioned guy that places a high value on professionalism. 209,“That’s my belief,” he said. “The citizen’s perception is based on what they see when they walk through the door. If the employees are wearing jeans and sandals with a T-shirt that says, ‘Surf’s Up,’ that could be a problem.” > “The citizen’s perception is based on what they see when they walk through the door. If the employees are wearing jeans and sandals with a T-shirt that says, ‘Surf’s Up,’ that could be a problem.” — — STEVE STARK Santa Monica’s new finance director Steve Stark ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/072203-02_01-7.jpg) Steve Stark, the city’s new finance director, will streamline his own department first. (Photo: John Wood/Daily Press) *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 22, 2003.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/072203.pdf?ref=smdp.com)