$377M budget to go before the City Council tonight
COUNCIL CHAMBERS — Funding for several popular community programs will take a hit under the proposed $377 budget for next year, which will be presented to the City Council tonight.
A local domestic violence clinic and the Boys & Girls Club will face cuts, while the Santa Monica Symphony and the Santa Monica Historical Society Museum won’t be given the extra money they requested, according to the budget plan. City Hall also won’t have any money next year for the annual Fourth of July fireworks display at Santa Monica College. This year, city officials are plan-ning to commit $9,500 toward the fireworks show.
Those are just a few of the details that will be laid out before the council at the annual budget sessions, which will be held tonight, Wednesday evening and possibly on Thursday. It’s the third year in a row that City Hall has slashed funding for social service agencies. This year’s budget proposal outlines $5.7 million in grants for groups that benefit the elderly, homeless, children and other resident groups.
For the coming budget year, which begins July 1, officials hope to avoid City Hall layoffs and severe cuts by reorganizing larger offices, trimming some funding for landscaping, social service groups and recreation programs, and by leaving several positions unfilled. Additionally, a proposed 2 percent hike in the local bed tax, if passed by voters, is expected to generate $2 million next year — and $3.5 million each year afterwards. Almost all of the other main revenue streams into City Hall appear to be on an upward trajectory.
The worst of the recession has passed, officials believe, and City Hall will begin selectively restoring some of its cut services by fiscal year 2005-2006. Still, proposed cuts have attracted attention.
Officials on Monday explained the proposed cuts to various nonprofit organizations. Under the budget proposal, the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, which runs a domestic violence clinic, will receive $73,000 — $25,000 less than this year. Officials said the amount should be reduced because Santa Monica pays a disproportionate amount to fund the clinic, which serves residents throughout the westside.
The Boys & Girls Club of Santa Monica also will suffer cuts. City Hall staffers have proposed taking $21,590 from the club, money which has traditionally been used to help fund a skate park for local youth. That money will go towards the operating costs of a new skatepark at Memorial Park expected to be open as early as this fall.
Supporters of the Santa Monica Symphony, who have lobbied the council for increased funding in the past, will receive $12,495 next year under the proposed budget. The council gave the symphony that same amount this year, but augmented it with a one-time donation of $11,505. It had hoped to make that increased funding permanent and perhaps give more for the symphony’s 75th anniversary events.
The Historical Society Museum won’t receive $75,000 it requested to help it sort through and preserve a collection of historical images and documents from State Sen. John P. Jones, who founded Santa Monica. Instead, City Hall found some money to hire a conservation consultant to advise the best strategy for the items and agreed to lend library and other workers to assist on the project, on a part-time basis.
Nearly canceled last summer because of the budget shortfall, the Santa Monica College Fourth of July annual fireworks event in 2005 will not receive $9,500 from City Hall under the proposed budget. City staff instead said they would help raise money for the event, saved last summer when residents and businesses pitched in to help foot the $50,000 bill.
Finally, the Pico Youth and Family Center, which serves at-risk youths, will receive the same $289,000 it did this year, though City Hall is working with the center’s founder, Oscar de la Torre, to ensure the money is used for community service and not political activism. de la Torre is a local school board member and advocate of youth in the troubled Pico neighborhood who has publicly criticized City Hall and the police department for not doing enough to make the streets safe.
On the agenda for tonight’s meeting is the budget for capital improvement projects, the city council, city manager, city attorney, records and election services, finance, human resources, library, resource management, police and fire. Wednesday night’s agenda includes the budgets for the planning department, Big Blue Bus, community and cultural services, and environmental and public works management.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 25, 2004. Read the original PDF.