City Council Fields Requests for Funds

VENTURA —  Facing a financial crunch and requests to set aside more money for libraries and tourism, the City Council hunkered down for a long night of number crunching Monday as officials opened the first of three workshops on the city’s $48-million budget.

About 40 people showed up at the council chambers to participate in the annual budget process, which has been modified this year to give the community and council members ample time to review the numbers.

Many wore yellow “Save Our Libraries” ribbons in support of a proposal to set aside more money for Ventura’s cash-poor libraries.

With drastic cuts in county library services looming, the council is being asked to decide whether to spend up to $400,000 to retain services at the city’s two largest branches: the E.P. Foster and H.P. Wright libraries. The council was scheduled to discuss the proposal after the budget workshop.

Ventura resident Cherie Brant came to ask the council to earmark funding to save the city’s smallest library branch, Ventura Avenue Library, from its slated closure this summer.

“As library activists,” Brant said, “we don’t like the thought of any library closed.”

But before Monday’s meeting, council members said they wanted to see what the county’s financial commitment would be to the libraries before promising a large sum of money.

“I think it would be premature to vote on it,” Councilman Jim Friedman said. “Everything is really up in the air.”

City staff members recommended that the council spend $50,000 to study long-term solutions to the library crisis. Staff also recommended that the council agree to support plans to create a countywide benefits assessment district to pay for library services.

The libraries are one area badly in need of funding. But with a tight budget that is barely balanced, finding available cash is not going to be easy, city leaders said.

“There is always a good list of needs,” said Councilwoman Rosa Lee Measures, who wielded the gavel at Monday’s meeting. Mayor Jack Tingstrom remained hospitalized after suffering a mild heart attack Sunday.

The 1996-97 general fund budget is balanced at about $48 million, although city officials had to rely on a $1-million carry-over from last year because city revenues were so flat, they said.

City officials say they must find ways to boost future revenue if the city is going to keep its finances stable.

Some Ventura business owners and managers turned out Monday to push tourism as one way the city can bring in more money.

Several members of the Ventura Visitors and Convention Bureau had asked the council to invest an additional $100,000 in tourist-targeted advertising. Judging from the response to past ad campaigns, such a media blitz could boost tourism and bring in an additional $3.5 million to the local economy.

“We are in a position where we can bring money back to the city,” said restaurateur Brian Brennan, the bureau’s president.

The bureau was given $357,000 in city funding last year. The proposed 1996-97 budget would increase that amount to $371,000. That is still less, however, than the $420,000 the bureau received five years ago, and tourism officials are eager to get the money back.

“We just think the time is right to spend a little money bragging about our community,” bureau Director Bill Clawson said. “The City Council is discussing a lot of things tonight, but not a lot of things that will pay for themselves.”

Council members had their own opinions Monday about how to spend the city’s money and whether the budget is a good blueprint for Ventura’s financial future.

Councilman Gary Tuttle said the proposed budget lacks a vision for the future and fails to make hard choices about areas that may need to be cut.

“This budget is not to my liking at all,” he said before the meeting. “They are going into reserves, they are using one-time money to prevent having to make hard-time choices.”

Tuttle said he specifically opposed taking $500,000 out of the city’s recycling fund to buy new computers and high-tech office equipment for City Hall. He said he wanted to see the council take a more hard-nosed approach to balancing the budget.

“I am not comfortable with a group that doesn’t balance the budget because it costs you votes,” he said. “It is going to be twice as bad next time.”

Other members of the City Council said they were comfortable with the proposed budget that City Manager Donna Landeros and her staff have put together.

“I think for the most part the budget is representative of the council’s goals,” Measures said. “We will be fine-tuning and asking questions and determining where we can find more dollars.”

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