Who will sail through rough fiscal waters?

Jeff Lebow

Danette Goulet’s Aug. 29th front-page column discussing Ralph

Bauer’s attempts to find revenue (“Let’s take a bite out of the

city’s budget”), as well as the adjoining article on Ron Hagan’s move

to special projects, were about the same subject -- Huntington

Beach’s never-ending search for fiscal stability. Attention 15 City

Council candidates: If you do not have a plan or at least a well

thought out approach on how to balance the books in our city, you may

want take down your election graffiti.

Taken out of context, Ralph Bauer’s nickel-and-dime approach seems

humorous. While Ralph is looking for parking fees and such, Ron Hagan

will be attempting to sell corporate logo space on each backstop and

flagpole at the youth sports complex. Why are Huntington Beach

residents paying a utility user tax based on not only the water,

sewers and trash, but the city surcharge as well? Why do Huntington

Beach Time Warner customers pay a franchise fee? Shouldn’t Time

Warner pay the city for an exclusive cable franchise?

The answer is that the city is in a long-term financial crisis.

The crisis is here even before we have final resolution of the city’s

appeal of the court verdict that the city had illegally over

collected property tax for several years. If refunds are required,

look out below. The sad truth about this coming campaign season is

that we will hear candidates prioritize issues like public safety,

infrastructure repair, the beach, the environment, education,

redevelopment, high taxes, etc. These are real issues, but what we

won’t hear is how we are going to afford the investment we need to

realize all good intentions. We will not hear how they will control

rising costs of our large, powerful and comfortably retiring city

employee base of some 1,100 good people.

Since more than 50% of the existing budget is required to meet the

payroll of public safety personnel alone, all other city needs from

youths to seniors must be handled by the dollars left. Streamlining,

reducing services and outsourcing are words few candidates dare to

speak. They are tantamount to political suicide in this city. Why?

Residents do not connect the long-term costs of the periodic raises

the police, fire and city hall employees receive with the city’s

inability to afford other worthy needs. Huntington Beach Police

Department employees can retire at 55 with 90% of their peak annual

salary for the remainder of their lives at taxpayer expense? It’s not

that these fine public servants do not deserve our gratitude and

comfort upon their retirement, it is simply that we, as a city,

cannot afford to support more than a thousand employees in perpetuity

unless we find substantial new revenue streams and/or raise taxes.

It is going to take an exceptional council person to navigate this

ship through the fiscal currents. If we cannot find four courageous

and fearless souls out of the 15 hopefuls, we will surely find one or

two of them looking for nickels and dimes and selling advertising

space on “Surfhedge.”

* JEFF LEBOW is a Huntington Beach resident. To contribute to

Sounding Off fax us at (714) 965-7174 or e-mail us at

hbindy@latimes.com.