Watching leaders do the ‘fiscal shuffle’

Geoff West

During its meeting on March 15, the Costa Mesa City Council will

continue to wrestle with the fiscal crisis that faces our city. It

will move forward with the process of trying to determine how and

where to cut expenses and to identify and codify new revenue sources

in light of the financial difficulties passed down from the state

this year.

We will watch as the council members haggle over which social and

recreational programs will have to be reduced or cut. It’s going to

be a feeding frenzy for the anti-Job Center folks, who just might

finally find the opening they need to shut it down -- much to the

delight of the anti-immigrant faction in this town.

The folks from Mesa del Mar will probably be out in force to lobby

for the delay or cancellation of the proposed skate park at TeWinkle

Park, which will free up the estimated $1-million budget earmarked

for its construction this year -- and break the hearts of another

generation of skaters in this town.

I suspect that whopping $48,000 we plan to spend on the shopping

cart retrieval program may also bite the dust, with foes of the

program once again screaming for the scalps of the “criminals” who

take the carts home with them.

We will watch the members of the council as they snip off little

pieces of the budget like so many unneeded pieces of ribbon on a

birthday present, while, in recent weeks, they have handed over -- in

the form of returned development fees or redevelopment incentives at

1901 Newport Plaza and former City Atty. Jerry Scheer’s settlement --

well over $3 million. Talk about curious priorities.

I have a couple suggestions for our erstwhile leaders as they

struggle with our finances. First, don’t spend another penny on

CostAmazing. We’ve all had fun with our 50th anniversary celebration,

but we can stop right now. We probably won’t save much, but it’s a

start.

I agree with Councilman Mike Scheafer that the Transient Occupancy

Tax is a revenue source that should be tapped -- big time. The last

numbers I saw showed that Costa Mesa is way, way behind the curve

when compared with other cities nearby. Raise that rate. It’s an

appropriate, easy, painless step for the citizens of this community.

Also, raise the fine for red-light runners captured on our

spanking new cameras to $1,000 a pop. While the current fines are an

irritant, tripling them would provide a jump in the anticipated

revenue and send a message that our city is really serious about

red-light runners.

Of course, in this election year, we’re going to watch our City

Council dance around the elephant, looking for mice in the grass.

We’re going to see them do the two-step around the issue of wages and

benefits, which represent nearly 74% of the general fund

appropriations, according to the current budget summary on the city

website. Oh, sure, they’ll probably yank back the assistant city

manager position previously approved but unfilled and save enough to

fund the community garden, but I don’t see them making any really

difficult decisions in this area. I’m not for an instant suggesting

that layoffs or salary cuts are the way to go, but some creative

inducements for early retirements might be able to save a pile of

money for the city at this time.

Whatever happens, the next few City Council meetings are really

going to be fun. Perhaps they should consider selling tickets as a

new revenue source. It might be worth the price of admission, because

I suspect we will have a chance to see not only the current council

members perform, but every potential council candidate this fall will

probably jump into the budget discussions, too.

So, dear neighbors, enjoy the show and remember the performance

come November.

* GEOFF WEST is a Costa Mesa resident.