PLACENTIA : $20.7-Million Budget Cuts City TV Plans

The City Council approved a $20.7-million budget for next year that trims the city’s cable television programming to coverage of only government meetings and special events.

Council members voted 4 to 1 Tuesday in favor of the budget, which also includes adding an environmental coordinator and a drug education officer.

“This is a wholehearted, honest attempt to get the most of of our buck,” said Councilman John O. Tynes.

The budget calls for a 10.5% increase in spending. Most of the new spending will go to the Redevelopment Agency for programs to assist low- and moderate-income households and payments on bond debts for new facilities such as sewer and water lines in east Placentia.

Still, the general fund budget, which pays for the day-to-day operations of the city, will go up only 3%, to $14.6 million.

“We needed to do a little belt-tightening this year,” said City Administrator Robert D’Amato. “Some things might look drastic to some people, but what we have tried to do is maintain the programs and the same level of services.”

Last month, city officials had proposed eliminating the entire cable television division because the Placentia Unified School District will probably be unable to finance its portion of the $120,000 operating cost. The division pays the cost of programming on the city’s three cable channels, including talk shows and concerts produced by city residents.

But council members voted to spend $9,000 to cover city events, including council meetings and the Heritage Days Festival and Parade. The city will pay for the coverage with an anticipated increase in the cable company’s franchise fee.

In addition, the city will offer its cable equipment and a production van for rent to any group that wishes to cover its own events, such as football games and school concerts.

Even so, Councilwoman Maria Moreno, who opposed the budget, said that a larger share of the cable franchise fee should be earmarked for local programming. This year, the city put the entire $144,000 it collected from the fee into the general fund.

Moreno also opposed the budget’s elimination of two police officer positions through attrition. She also said that Placentia should try to share an environmental coordinator with other cities, or contract with a private company for services.

But city officials say other cities have been unwilling to share a coordinator and that contracting for environmental services would cost more.