Holiday bash tally: $5,657.36

Eron Ben-Yehuda

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- The city’s most recent calculation of the cost for

the taxpayer-funded employee party came out far lower than expected --

$5,657.36 -- but some residents charge that “phony” numbers were used.

Before releasing the latest total this week, city officials had estimated

the party cost at more than $20,000. Such a high price tag triggered

vehement protests from residents who considered the celebration -- meant

to boost morale -- a waste of money.

Now city officials claim the event cost about a fourth of the earlier

figure, according to a memo released this week.

While the “total expenditure” for the festivity was about $25,000, the

memo shows about $19,000 in offsetting “revenue.”

What critics of the accounting method find most troubling is that the

largest chunk of the revenue, about $15,000, is attributed to employees

who donated some of the time off they have accumulated.

Resident Topper Horack, an economics teacher at Marina High School, said

giving up free time is not considered revenue under traditional

bookkeeping rules.

“It is, to quote a phrase, a lot of B.S.,” he said. “They’re just playing

with the figures. So what’s new?”

But the city’s director of organizational effectiveness, Clay Martin,

defends the calculation because the time off earned by employees is worth

a certain hourly pay rate, he said.

Horack, who demanded a “full accounting” of the party at a City Council

meeting earlier this month, said he’s still not satisfied. And, he said

he won’t be until City Hall gives him some straight answers.

“Sometimes you think this is an exercise in futility,” he said.