Council OKs $135-million budget
Mathis Winkler
NEWPORT BEACH -- The decision to approve the city’s 2001-02 budget
came quickly, considering that City Council members were dealing with
more than $135 million.
But Mayor Gary Adams, who joined his council colleagues to approve the
document at Tuesday’s meeting, pointed out that the half-hour hearing was
the end of a monthlong process.
“It may look like we’re approving a budget in just a few minutes,” he
said. “But in reality, there has been a lot of discussion.”
Council members had spent three study sessions combing through budgets
for every city department. A proposal to hire 14 new employees had faced
criticism early on, but in the end, the city’s elected leaders said
they’d go along with it this time.
“I don’t expect to see any double-digit rise in employment in next
year’s budget,” Councilwoman Norma Glover remarked.
The decision to take a “wait and see” approach regarding potential
energy price increases had also faced opposition in earlier meetings. But
City Manager Homer Bludau told council members that some money had been
set aside to cover higher costs, adding that he felt the city could
absorb extra expenses with funds from the reserves.
Along with the budget, which includes $26.97 million and $18.8 million
for police and fire services, respectively, council members also approved
a $6.4-million checklist of projects that had not made it into the main
document.
Included in the list was $33,760 to pay for heating and filtration
costs at Newport Harbor and Corona del Mar high schools. City officials
recently brokered a deal with school district officials to pay for the
extra energy costs to keep both pools open to use for the city’s summer
aquatics program.
The new fiscal year will begin July 1.
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