Oxnard OKs Budget With Extra Funding for Youth Programs, Police

Alarmed by a recent spate of gang violence, city leaders have managed to squeeze some extra money for youth programs and anti-gang measures out of a tight, $60.7-million spending plan.

The City Council late Tuesday voted 4 to 0--with Mayor Manuel Lopez absent--to approve the 1996-97 budget, which includes cuts as deep as 3.1% in most city departments.

Despite a surprise $1.3-million shortfall that forced the city to make the across-the-board cuts, officials scraped up $500,000 extra from reserves and other areas for youth programs and police.

“I am very comfortable with the budget,” City Councilman Dean Maulhardt said. “The shortfall was a shock and I wish we didn’t have that problem. But our goal is to ensure safety for our residents and the budget is kind of an affirmation of that.”

The budget gives the Police Department an additional $200,000 to operate its anti-gang task force through the end of 1996. Money for the temporary police squad created to counter gang violence was set to run out July 1.

The spending plan also calls for funneling an extra $300,000 to recreation and youth programs to help pay for 10 more after-school programs, a city-sponsored youth job corps and other projects. “We wanted to use the limited amount of resources we had for youth at risk,” said Grace Magistrale Hoffman, Oxnard’s budget officer.

The City Council still must approve the part of the budget that sets the number of workers the city will employ next year. City officials said the spending plan may call for laying off one employee and cutting up to seven positions citywide through attrition and restructuring. Officials plan to vote on the issue no later than July 9.

“We have to make sure that there is flexibility to move people around accordingly,” Maulhardt said.

Oxnard’s 1996-97 spending plan is actually about $400,000 higher than last year’s budget of $60.3 million, but the slight increase does not cover the costs of inflation.

Unlike previous tough budgetary years, residents will not see any scaling back of public services, city officials say. Department chiefs have been told to counter the 3.1% decrease by finding new revenue sources or by making operations more efficient.

About 15% of the operating budget will go toward such residents’ services as parks and libraries, about 10% toward administration and 6% for community development. Nearly half--about $30.3 million--of the city’s operating budget is earmarked for public safety, including the police and fire departments.

But some residents argue that Oxnard’s public safety agencies still need more money. Although the spending plan does cover $200,000 to maintain the anti-gang task force for another six months, it does not provide for the $5.25 million in increases the police and fire departments had requested earlier this year.

“We would always like to see more money in those areas, but if it is not there, it is not there,” said Denise Paul, co-owner of an Oxnard real estate business.

Paul is co-chair of Safety 2000, a group of city residents and business leaders behind an effort to place a utility tax on the November ballot that would raise up to $5.25 million for police and fire. The City Council is scheduled June 27 to decide whether to put the issue before city voters.