CAMARILLO : Council Approves $25.2-Million Budget

The Camarillo City Council approved a $25.2-million budget for next year that includes seven new city jobs, provides an average 6.1% raise for city employees and increases water and sewer rates.

In a unanimous vote Wednesday, the council approved a budget for fiscal year 1991-92 that will allow the city to replace its telephone system, photocopying machines and some vehicles. It sets aside $307,800 to expand City Hall.

The budget shows continued improvement in the city’s financial health since June, 1988, a low point in Camarillo’s history when the city finished the fiscal year $4.2 million in the red. The deficit was the result of a $25-million loss suffered by the city in 1987 when the then-city treasurer invested Camarillo’s reserves in high-risk, long-term government securities and real estate and business partnerships considered unsuitable for public funds.

Revenues are expected to exceed expenditures by nearly $4.4 million for the current fiscal year and by $800,000 for the next fiscal year, finance director Anita Bingham said.

The 6.1% raise for employees was based on a comparison of salaries of municipal jobs in the county, Bingham said. The budget will increase medical benefits from $243 to $270 a month for each city employee and offer a new vision-care program.

The seven new full-time positions on the city payroll will be a deputy sheriff in the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department, a technician to head the water conservation program, a management analyst in the city manager’s office, a senior accountant in the finance department, a sanitation maintenance worker, a street maintenance worker and a traffic engineering assistant.

To increase revenues, the council also approved a slight increase in water rates for city residents. The average water bill for a family of four will increase from $19.55 a month to $21.15 a month.

Under the new sewage rate structure, each single-family home will pay $15 a month in sewer bills, up from $10.63 a month. Under the new rates, condominium residents will pay $7.83 a month, down from an $8 monthly bill.