Costa Mesa breaks out $85-million budget plan

Andrew Glazer

COSTA MESA -- City officials on Monday proposed hiring three new code

enforcement officers sometime next year during the first meeting to

discuss the 2000-01 budget.

Otherwise, the city’s proposed $85.7-million budget remained similar to

last year’s. Campbell Davidson, a members of the Westside Improvement

Assn., applauded the idea of stepping up code enforcement, saying it

would improve his neighborhood.

“In essence, they’re saying that they recognize the problem,” he said.

“I’m really happy about that.”

The council is scheduled to vote on the budget, as it stands in

three-inch-thick volumes, on Monday.

Mayor Gary Monahan said he supported hiring the additional officers. City

Manager Allan Roeder said he could find a way to fund the new officers,

even though the preliminary budget document did not account for them.

Much of the meeting was spent flipping though the reports and discussing

which programs -- including new crossing guards, SWAT team vests and

freeway improvements -- the city should fund.

The city’s director of finance, Marc R. Puckett, led the discussion with

slides and an 11-minute video. City Council members asked questions about

where money would come from to fund certain programs and how the finance

department calculated certain costs.

“I’m glad the council appears to be carefully reading this

sleep-provoking document,” said Tom Egan, one of a half-dozen residents

who sat through the nearly three-hour meeting. “They asked some really

good questions.”

Budget briefings are also scheduled at 6:30 p.m. today and 3 p.m.

Wednesday at City Hall, 77 Fair Drive.