City re-evaluates budget goals

The long arm of the state and the ghosts of the increased parking

meter rates cast a pall on the mid-year budget update at the City

Council meeting Tuesday night.

“Each year, we return to the council to provide an update on the

budget,” City Manager Ken Frank said. “It’s a little more difficult

this time because, in the last month, we lost about $2 million a year

in revenue.”

The council’s decision to roll back parking meter rates from $1.50

per hour to $1 per hour resulted in a loss of $500,000 in projected

revenue, and the state budget cuts of revenue from motor vehicle fees

and gas taxes resulted in a total $1 million loss.

“We were in a very positive financial state a month ago,” Frank

said. “Things have gone downhill pretty dramatically since that

time.”

Frank proposed spending $20,000 for AIDS service agencies,

$450,000 for the Canyon Acres storm drain, $50,000 emergency repairs

to beach stairways, $12,000 for the city’s share of a parking garage

study, $140,000 for storm damage repairs on Cerritos and the transfer

of $1.2 million from the general fund to the capital improvement

fund. He recommended that the council approve the Arts Commission’s

revised plan for the Business Improvement District.

However, his recommendations for the promised allocations from the

parking meter revenues were troubling for the council.

Frank proposed an allocation of $25,000 for the acquisition of a

new finance / personnel computer system, $75,000 to the Laguna Beach

Boys and Girl Club, $25,000 to the Laguna Beach Chamber of Commerce

and $150,000 to the Laguna Beach Community Clinic. Originally the

council designated $700,000 in one-time grants and allocations to

city projects.

Council members Wayne Baglin and Steve Dicterow pushed for an

additional $12,000 allocation to the Cross Cultural Task Force and

refused to step down from the promises the council had made back in

June when it approved the budget and the increased parking meter

rates.

But Mayor Toni Iseman, with council members Cheryl Kinsman and

Elizabeth Pearson, argued that the city should not spend money it

does not have.

“I didn’t vote for this originally and it’s not that I don’t want

to give this money out, I do. I want to give more but we don’t have

it,” Kinsman said.

The council voted unanimously to pass four of the recommended

actions, allocate $12,000 to the Cross Cultural Council and retain

the proposed $1.2 million transfer from the general fund. However,

Dicterow and Baglin dissented on the vote to reduced allocations.

“I hope this is the year we cure knee-jerk reactions on the Laguna

Beach City Council,” Baglin said. “We’re going to hurt this year and

for years to come.”

-- Mary A. Castillo

Baglin preliminary hearing rescheduled

City Councilman Wayne Baglin’s preliminary hearing on six charges

of felony conflict of interest was rescheduled Monday to March 14.

The charges stem from Baglin’s acceptance of a $36,000 check from

clients who sold property to the city. State law 1090 prohibits an

elected official from making money off a city contract while in

office.

Baglin pleaded not guilty to the charges at his arraignment in

December.

He contends that recusing himself from voting on the sale absolved

him.

Baglin was re-elected to the council in November of 2000. He

subsequently signed a contract to represent the property owners, whom

he had allegedly represented in other transactions.

-- Barbara Diamond

Seniors throw fund-raiser to benefit center

Laguna Beach Seniors Inc. will have its first fund-raising dinner

to aid in the completion of a Senior Center in the city.

The dinner will be Feb. 7 at Villa Romana Trattoria, 303 Broadway

at the corner of Beach Street. The cost is $20 plus tax and gratuity

per person and the restaurant will return $10 per person to Seniors

Inc. for the center.

The price includes soup or salad, a choice of four wonderful

Italian entrees and a choice of soft drink, coffee or iced tea.

To purchase tickets, payment should be made to Laguna Beach

Seniors Inc. and mailed, with your address and telephone number, to

P.O. Box 536, Laguna Beach CA 92652. Tickets will be sent by return

mail. Reservations for dining times between 4:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. may

be made with the restaurant after tickets are purchased. Payment may

be made until Feb. 1 and there are no tickets sold on the day of the

dinner. Information: (949) 497-2441.

Photo seminar offered by Festival of Arts

The Festival of Arts is having a free seminar on how to best

photograph artwork from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday. The two-hour class will

focus as well on the Festival of Arts jurying process, including how

to choose slides for art shows and about the jurors review process.

Patrick Sparkuhl, an exhibitor at the festival and an educator,

will teach the seminar with accomplished photographer and festival

exhibitor Tom Lamb. Sparkuhl recently won acclaim in a New York

exhibit. Lamb is a photography instructor at Saddleback College.

Georgia Freedman-Harvey, who was a 2002 Festival of Arts juror,

will give her expertise on the jury process.

The jurying information is helpful for those applying for the

Festival of Arts summer show. The deadline is Feb. 21.

For more information, call 464-4268. The seminar will take place

at the Forum Theater on the Festival of Arts at 650 Laguna Canyon

Road.

-- Suzie Harrison