Waterfront Department $$$
[ Excerpt from SBN-P article by JOSHUA MOLINA, 1/1/2006 ]
Santa Barbara's Waterfront Department may have to come up with $431,000 to pay for beach maintenance and parking lot operations.
Right now, those services are paid for by the city's general fund. The city's three-member Finance Committee, however, wants to shift the responsibility to the Waterfront Department. This would free up money for the general fund, which is facing a $500,000 budget deficit going into next year.
If the City Council were to shift the costs from the Parks and Recreation Department to the Waterfront Department, the move would result in a major policy change for the city...
City Councilman Das Williams has led the charge to make the Waterfront Department pay for services on which it already collects the revenue.
"As general taxpayers, we should no longer be subsidizing slipholders and leaseholders as much as we are," said Mr. Williams, who suggested that the motivating factor for his plan was to balance the city's budget this fiscal year.
The move has upset the Waterfront Department community... Waterfront Department Director John Bridley could barely maintain his composure. He rolled his eyes and looked uncomfortable when Mr. Williams spoke. He said that the Waterfront Department would not be able to absorb those kinds of costs.
"We will have to raise additional revenues or we will have to cut expenses," said Mr. Bridley, saying that Mr. Williams' idea would result in a "significant impact."
The only areas where the Waterfront Department has immediate control to raise revenues is through increasing slip fees or raising parking rates. Mr. Bridley, however, was cautious about doing anything that would discourage locals or tourists from parking in waterfront lots...
But Mr. Williams hammered home the idea that it is unfair for the city's general fund to pay for services at the beach when the Waterfront Department collects the revenue. That essentially amounts to a financial subsidy for people who own boats and have slips in the harbor, he said.
In an effort to be sensitive to the Waterfront Department's budget, the Finance Committee suggested that if a transfer of costs occurs, it be phased in over a three-year period. In addition to looking at the $431,000 option, Councilwoman Helene Schneider, also a member of the committee, suggested a lower amount, $257,000, which would be phased in over two years.
City Administrator Jim Armstrong and the Finance Department will now work with Mr. Bridley to come up with budget options and ways that his department could absorb the costs.
The Waterfront Department has a $10.1 million budget.
Further complicating matters for the Waterfront Department, some mass transit activists are pressuring the city to make the waterfront pay to operate the "wharf woody" electric shuttle, which transports people from one end of the waterfront to the other.
Right now, the service is paid for by Measure D funds, a half-cent sales tax. Advocates believe general taxpayers should not pay to subsidize a bus service primarily for wharf users and that the money would be better spent on downtown bus lines that serve a broader base of residents...
"Yeah, I think slip fees are going to have to go up a little bit more. We would not want to increase parking fees so high that it would then result in people not coming to the beach at all. There's that balancing act," Ms. Schneider said.
e-mail: jmolina@newspress.com
Santa Barbara News-Press
Santa Barbara's Waterfront Department may have to come up with $431,000 to pay for beach maintenance and parking lot operations.
Right now, those services are paid for by the city's general fund. The city's three-member Finance Committee, however, wants to shift the responsibility to the Waterfront Department. This would free up money for the general fund, which is facing a $500,000 budget deficit going into next year.
If the City Council were to shift the costs from the Parks and Recreation Department to the Waterfront Department, the move would result in a major policy change for the city...
City Councilman Das Williams has led the charge to make the Waterfront Department pay for services on which it already collects the revenue.
"As general taxpayers, we should no longer be subsidizing slipholders and leaseholders as much as we are," said Mr. Williams, who suggested that the motivating factor for his plan was to balance the city's budget this fiscal year.
The move has upset the Waterfront Department community... Waterfront Department Director John Bridley could barely maintain his composure. He rolled his eyes and looked uncomfortable when Mr. Williams spoke. He said that the Waterfront Department would not be able to absorb those kinds of costs.
"We will have to raise additional revenues or we will have to cut expenses," said Mr. Bridley, saying that Mr. Williams' idea would result in a "significant impact."
The only areas where the Waterfront Department has immediate control to raise revenues is through increasing slip fees or raising parking rates. Mr. Bridley, however, was cautious about doing anything that would discourage locals or tourists from parking in waterfront lots...
But Mr. Williams hammered home the idea that it is unfair for the city's general fund to pay for services at the beach when the Waterfront Department collects the revenue. That essentially amounts to a financial subsidy for people who own boats and have slips in the harbor, he said.
In an effort to be sensitive to the Waterfront Department's budget, the Finance Committee suggested that if a transfer of costs occurs, it be phased in over a three-year period. In addition to looking at the $431,000 option, Councilwoman Helene Schneider, also a member of the committee, suggested a lower amount, $257,000, which would be phased in over two years.
City Administrator Jim Armstrong and the Finance Department will now work with Mr. Bridley to come up with budget options and ways that his department could absorb the costs.
The Waterfront Department has a $10.1 million budget.
Further complicating matters for the Waterfront Department, some mass transit activists are pressuring the city to make the waterfront pay to operate the "wharf woody" electric shuttle, which transports people from one end of the waterfront to the other.
Right now, the service is paid for by Measure D funds, a half-cent sales tax. Advocates believe general taxpayers should not pay to subsidize a bus service primarily for wharf users and that the money would be better spent on downtown bus lines that serve a broader base of residents...
"Yeah, I think slip fees are going to have to go up a little bit more. We would not want to increase parking fees so high that it would then result in people not coming to the beach at all. There's that balancing act," Ms. Schneider said.
e-mail: jmolina@newspress.com
Santa Barbara News-Press
Posted by Malcolm on
2/03/2006
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1 Comments
more grandstanding by the Das revealing the nonexistent and strained relations he has with City staff........imagine him getting away with this at the County level? no way.
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