Costa Mesa’s $180.3M general fund budget invests in public safety, park upgrades

Costa Mesa officials are on the brink of passing a fully balanced fiscal year 2023-24 budget that dedicates $94 million to public safety and includes $31.1 million in capital improvements for parks, streets and facility and infrastructure upgrades.

Themed “The Art of Collaboration,” the $234-million all-funds budget includes $180.3 million in general fund revenue, reflecting a $16.7-million increase from the city’s 2022-23 adopted budget.

“We’ve held a number of meetings with different committees throughout the city,” City Manager Lori Ann Farrell Harrison said. “This is the culmination of many months of work on the part of staff, and we are covering, from all different departments, all of the needs among all the different funds of the city. It’s a large task.”

Finance Director Carol Molina provided a breakdown of revenue streams coming into the city’s coffers and major expenditures expected in the fiscal year ahead during a June 6 presentation to the City Council.

An estimated $175 million in general fund revenue includes $82.5 million in collected sales tax, $54.4 million in property taxes and $9.6 million in transient occupancy tax paid by hotels that participate in a business improvement assessment program.

Meanwhile, among $171 million in expenditures more than 52% — roughly $94.4 million — has been committed to public safety, with 32.5% going to Costa Mesa Police Department and 19.9% planned for the city’s fire department.

That commitment will allow CMPD to increase its sworn staffing levels to 142 positions and convert four part-time positions to full time. It includes an additional $229,000 in contractual agreements for lab testing, jail maintenance, training and license plate reader cameras.

Costa Mesa Fire and Rescue will receive a $500,000 increase to account for overtime hours and $1 million in seed money for a potential bond to fund Fire Stations 2 and 4 along with a CMPD substation on the city’s west side.

The difference between incoming and outgoing funds creates a $4-million surplus. Molina recommended investing $1 million of that into a workers compensation fund, while depositing another $1.5 million into a trust to cover pension obligations and other post-employment benefits and applying the remaining $1.5 million toward an unassigned category.

Several civic projects will be covered by the $31.1 million proposed for capital improvements, including an expansion of Ketchum-Libolt, improvements to Shalimar Park and the city’s skate park.

Additionally, the city plans to fund restoration efforts at Fairview Park, a new traffic signal at Fairview Road and Belfast Avenue and modernization of the Costa Mesa Country Club. Another $384,500 in unallocated funding may be used for the acquisition of park lands on the west side.

Nearly $6.5 million in capital improvement funding in next year’s budget comes from the general fund, while gas taxes, Measure M2, traffic impact fees and other sources make up the rest of the $31.1 million in expenditures. This year, an additional $15 million in grant funding for parks came from state Sen. Dave Min (D-Irvine), Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie Norris (D-Irvine) and Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley.

Councilman Manuel Chavez, who represents Council District 4, said he was pleased to see progress on investments into parks on the city’s west side.

“It took us years to cobble together funding and cobble together support from our community partners,” Chavez said at the budget hearing. “Those parks will be revolutionary in west side Costa Mesa, which has for so long felt forgotten.”

Ultimately, the City Council voted 5-2 to authorize the implementation of recommendations in the 2023-24 proposed budget.