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.