EDITORIAL

The economic recession of the early 1990s is almost 10 years behind us,

but the memories are still fresh in our minds.

Layoffs for the first time at Newport Beach City Hall. Departments

merging and downsizing. Citywide hiring freezes. Municipalities,

residents and business owners frantically searching for the next place

they could tighten the belt or somehow increase the stream flowing in.

Newport-Mesa is a much different place today, with the booming economy

letting us all live a little larger than we probably should.

But as we all know, the economy is cyclical and probably sooner than

later, we will be faced with another downturn. Newport Beach city leaders

have anticipated that and have come up with a working plan. While we

certainly admire their forethought, we do have a few things to say about

it.

The report assumes there will be something in the next five years ---

either a recession or some other unforeseen economic setback, such as the

county’s 1994 bankruptcy -- that will cause a decrease in city revenues.

To remedy that, the report contains a large section detailing “revenue

enhancement measures.”

While getting the budget in good enough shape to weather tough times is a

good thing, “revenue enhancement measures” shouldn’t be done on the backs

of taxpayers. Some of the ideas here -- hiking fees for services or

selling out to big corporations in the form of sponsorships -- should be

last-ditch moves.

A more prudent approach would be to look at trimming city expenses.

Just as the average family would look at cutting back here and spending a

little bit less there, so should government look inward before asking

taxpayers to dig a little deeper.

We are not saying all the ideas intended to increase revenue are bad. In

fact, some of them -- such as beefing up enforcement of red-light runners

and taking a hard look at leases on city-owned property -- should be

implemented, regardless of the state of the economy.

However, we are not convinced that all avenues for cutting expenditures

have been explored.

It should be as basic as balancing a checkbook.