Budget Balancing
[ Excerpt from SBN-P article by Joshua Molina, 5/9/2006 ]
In a dramatic budget hearing... the Santa Barbara City Council narrowly approved a plan [to balance the budget for the first time in several years].
... Both issues [parking at the harbor/beaches and police retention] are caught up in the high-stakes debate over the city's $99 million general fund budget. For the first time in several years, the city is on the verge of balancing its budget without using its reserves.
After hours of testimony and at-times acrimonious debate, the council resolved one budget matter and set the stage for another.
• Harbor slip fees are likely to go up as much as 2.5 percent next year after the council made a key policy change...
• After painting a picture of rising crime rates, slower response times and low-staffing, police union leaders and the council will meet behind closed doors to talk about a proposed 10 percent raise.
Of the two issues, the most contentious was the tussle over harbor fees. Angry slip holders crowded City Hall to protest a proposal that would have resulted in a 5 percent increase in slip fees. Initially, a majority of the council -- five members -- rejected that plan, which would have meant the transfer of $186,000 in beach grooming costs from the city's general fund to the Waterfront Department. The council members on Monday said that the issue needed to be studied more.
Currently the city's general taxpayers pay for the cleanup, which costs about $186,000 annually.
What seemed like a sure victory for slip holders, ended surprisingly in a partial defeat, after councilman Das Williams strategically countered with a last-minute vote. Just as the meeting was about to end, he made one last attempt to claim victory on a proposal he has taken the lead on for several months.
"We're here to make tough decisions, not always take the easy way out," said Mr. Williams, who is running for 2nd District supervisor, and has been accused by the slip holders of wanting to balance the budget to build political support for his campaign.
"Believe me, the last thing I want during an election is to have everybody mad at me," said Mr. Williams. "If we don't do this tonight, we are putting ourselves dangerously out of range to balance our budget this year. I think that's irresponsible."
One of the ways the city had proposed to balance its budget for the 2007 fiscal year, which begins July 1, was to force the Waterfront Department, a separate, self-sustaining city department, to pay for beach grooming, basically the cleanup of trash, kelp and other items on the sand.
Instead, Mr. Williams convinced three of his colleagues -- Mayor Marty Blum and council members Helene Schneider and Roger Horton -- to vote to transfer $96,000 in parking lot landscape maintenance costs from the city's general fund to the Waterfront Department.
After the meeting, Harbor Commissioners Frank Kelly and Ken Owen both said the council vote means that slip fees would now go up between 2.5 percent and 3 percent. Under the original scenario, the fees would have risen by 5 percent.
Harbor slip owners have protested any slip fee increase. About 100 of them live on their boats and believe that an increase would hurt their pocketbooks...
The council also agreed to set up a joint meeting of the council, Harbor Commission and the Parks and Recreation Department in the summer, to sort out beach cleanup and maintenance issues.
Prior to the debate over the harbor slip fees, the council got an earful from the city's Police Department and a leader of the police union.
Chief Cam Sanchez, Deputy Chief Rich Glaus, and Detective Jaycee Hunter and Sgt. Mike McGrew painted a dreary picture of the state of the department, just days before the union is headed into negotiations over a proposed 10 percent raise. Sgt. McGrew, president of the Police Officers Association, said the department needs the raise to "stop the bleeding" of officers taking higher-paying jobs in other communities...
Detective Hunter said that many officers cannot afford to buy a house in Santa Barbara and are moving. Others are putting up with an expensive commute, which he said could cost as much as $8,000 annually.
"The majority of officers are living out of town and must commute to the Santa Barbara Police Department."
Council members appeared to lean away from a 10 percent raise and toward boosting loan programs to help officers buy homes, paying for overnight local housing to avoid long commutes and other incentives to work for the department.
"I think we need to be more creative in our solutions," said Mr. Horton.
Sgt. McGrew said that the situation is bad.
"This is not about the union trying to get more money," he said. "This is about officers caring about this community."
e-mail: jmolina@newspress.com
Santa Barbara News-Press
(Image courtesy of:
http://www.clydeaspevig.com/images/artwork/)
In a dramatic budget hearing... the Santa Barbara City Council narrowly approved a plan [to balance the budget for the first time in several years].
... Both issues [parking at the harbor/beaches and police retention] are caught up in the high-stakes debate over the city's $99 million general fund budget. For the first time in several years, the city is on the verge of balancing its budget without using its reserves.
After hours of testimony and at-times acrimonious debate, the council resolved one budget matter and set the stage for another.
• Harbor slip fees are likely to go up as much as 2.5 percent next year after the council made a key policy change...
• After painting a picture of rising crime rates, slower response times and low-staffing, police union leaders and the council will meet behind closed doors to talk about a proposed 10 percent raise.
Of the two issues, the most contentious was the tussle over harbor fees. Angry slip holders crowded City Hall to protest a proposal that would have resulted in a 5 percent increase in slip fees. Initially, a majority of the council -- five members -- rejected that plan, which would have meant the transfer of $186,000 in beach grooming costs from the city's general fund to the Waterfront Department. The council members on Monday said that the issue needed to be studied more.
Currently the city's general taxpayers pay for the cleanup, which costs about $186,000 annually.
What seemed like a sure victory for slip holders, ended surprisingly in a partial defeat, after councilman Das Williams strategically countered with a last-minute vote. Just as the meeting was about to end, he made one last attempt to claim victory on a proposal he has taken the lead on for several months.
"We're here to make tough decisions, not always take the easy way out," said Mr. Williams, who is running for 2nd District supervisor, and has been accused by the slip holders of wanting to balance the budget to build political support for his campaign.
"Believe me, the last thing I want during an election is to have everybody mad at me," said Mr. Williams. "If we don't do this tonight, we are putting ourselves dangerously out of range to balance our budget this year. I think that's irresponsible."
One of the ways the city had proposed to balance its budget for the 2007 fiscal year, which begins July 1, was to force the Waterfront Department, a separate, self-sustaining city department, to pay for beach grooming, basically the cleanup of trash, kelp and other items on the sand.
Instead, Mr. Williams convinced three of his colleagues -- Mayor Marty Blum and council members Helene Schneider and Roger Horton -- to vote to transfer $96,000 in parking lot landscape maintenance costs from the city's general fund to the Waterfront Department.
After the meeting, Harbor Commissioners Frank Kelly and Ken Owen both said the council vote means that slip fees would now go up between 2.5 percent and 3 percent. Under the original scenario, the fees would have risen by 5 percent.
Harbor slip owners have protested any slip fee increase. About 100 of them live on their boats and believe that an increase would hurt their pocketbooks...
The council also agreed to set up a joint meeting of the council, Harbor Commission and the Parks and Recreation Department in the summer, to sort out beach cleanup and maintenance issues.
Prior to the debate over the harbor slip fees, the council got an earful from the city's Police Department and a leader of the police union.
Chief Cam Sanchez, Deputy Chief Rich Glaus, and Detective Jaycee Hunter and Sgt. Mike McGrew painted a dreary picture of the state of the department, just days before the union is headed into negotiations over a proposed 10 percent raise. Sgt. McGrew, president of the Police Officers Association, said the department needs the raise to "stop the bleeding" of officers taking higher-paying jobs in other communities...
Detective Hunter said that many officers cannot afford to buy a house in Santa Barbara and are moving. Others are putting up with an expensive commute, which he said could cost as much as $8,000 annually.
"The majority of officers are living out of town and must commute to the Santa Barbara Police Department."
Council members appeared to lean away from a 10 percent raise and toward boosting loan programs to help officers buy homes, paying for overnight local housing to avoid long commutes and other incentives to work for the department.
"I think we need to be more creative in our solutions," said Mr. Horton.
Sgt. McGrew said that the situation is bad.
"This is not about the union trying to get more money," he said. "This is about officers caring about this community."
e-mail: jmolina@newspress.com
Santa Barbara News-Press
(Image courtesy of:
http://www.clydeaspevig.com/images/artwork/)
Posted by Malcolm on
5/09/2006
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