Oxnard to Cut Services, Freeze Jobs in Bare-Bones ’90 Budget

Late in April, Oxnard City Councilwoman Ann Johs warned that 1989 would be “the year we don’t just say, ‘No,’ but ‘Hell, no.’ ”

Last week, Oxnard’s city manager David Mora made good on Johs’ prediction by unveiling a recommended budget for 1990 that cuts city services, slows street maintenance projects and postpones the replacement of personnel who retire or quit.

The steps, which Mora characterized as the most severe in his four years with the city, are designed to buffer the city from dwindling reserves and the loss to the county two years ago of revenue from drunk-driving fines.

Without the cuts, the city would have to spend $2.8 million of its reserves next year to merely maintain services at their present level. At the same rate of spending, the city would have spent most of its $6.6 million in reserves by 1991, he said.

As it is, the proposed budget calls for spending $800,000 of the city’s reserves--far less than last year’s $2.5 million but still a dip that violates the council’s policy of keeping reserves at 15% of the city’s operating budget.

Even these steps, however, will not be enough to stave off further reductions in the future, said Mora, who raised the specter of instituting new taxes--a step that is sure to be controversial and that could not be taken without the council’s approval or the support of voters. “We’re facing a situation where if the city doesn’t do something about its revenue base we can’t maintain present levels of service,” he said.

Hearings Scheduled

The budget, which will discussed at a series of hearings beginning Tuesday, drew approval--and dismay--from some City Council members.

“I think they did a good job given our resources,” City Councilman Manuel Lopez said of city staff. “But it’s kind of depressing. The well seems to be running dry.”

An official with the Public Employees Assn. of Ventura County, which represents about one-third of the city’s employees, was less generous.

“They’re negotiating with the firefighters, PEAVC and operating engineers this years,” said Barry Hammitt, executive director of the union, which is to negotiate another three-year contract for city employees. “They’ll want to paint a picture of doom and gloom, but they always have money.”

He predicted that the proposed delay in filling vacant slots will result in the loss of potential jobs for 20 people: “That means there are 20 people who might have had jobs who won’t get them.”

Despite the cuts, the $57.5-million budget represents a 3% increase over last year’s $55.9 million adopted budget.

But it calls for cutting $605,000 from last years’ $4.4-million street repair budget. Normal staff turn-over, which usually spares the budget 4% of money the city would otherwise spend on salaries, will be prolonged to save an additional 2% in salary expenditures. It also delays the proposed remodeling of a fire station and extensive improvements to 5th Street in the heart of the city’s redevelopment district.

Offsets Several Losses

The savings compensate for several losses, including an estimated $640,000 loss in drunk driving fines that used to come to the city but now are claimed by the county under a probation program. Although cities throughout the county are suing for a return of the funds, a resolution of the matter is not expected in time to help Oxnard’s budget process this year.

The city also is recovering from an unexpected loss of $2.5 million, when a controversial utility tax was phased out three years ago, and the loss in 1985 of $2.2 million in federal revenue-sharing funds, a program discontinued during the Reagan Administration, Mora said.

But mostly, next year’s budget reflects the end of an unanticipated $12-million surplus left behind by a previous administration. That money, plus an additional $5 million, has been spent on an aggressive street repair campaign since 1985, he said.

The cuts come at a time when the city’s property taxes and sales taxes are expected to increase by approximately 7.5% to a total of $26.1 million, which is slightly less than last year’s increase.

“They’re growing steadily,” said Bill Mayer, the city’s management and budget director. “But they’re not growing fast enough to make up for the shortfall.”