Costa Mesa considers budget cuts

Alicia Robinson

The City Council’s efforts to close a budget gap could put some

programs and services under the knife tonight, Mayor Gary Monahan

said. But he doesn’t expect it to result in major surgery.

Council members will discuss scaling back or cutting 23 city

programs and services on a list they created in April. The list

includes park-ranger security services, community-education programs

such as residential security appraisals and personal-protection

seminars, recreation programs for adults, youths and teens such as

teen camps, adult basketball and softball, and youth soccer and

cheerleading.

“I think we will see some cuts,” Monahan said. “We’ve got to

tighten our belts, and that’s just a fact of life right now.”

One area of concern for some council members is the expected

deficit next fiscal year that would need to be covered by reserve

funds. City staff members estimate revenue for 2005 at $81.7 million,

while proposed expenditures are at $88.1 million, leaving a deficit

of roughly $6.4 million, Councilman Allan Mansoor said.

He expects to recommend some cuts at tonight’s meeting that would

whittle that deficit. For example, Mansoor said he doesn’t think the

mobile recreation program -- $100,000 a year for what he refers to as

a basketball hoop and some board games -- is a good use of city

funds. He also criticized the $196,000 the city spends annually on

crossing guards, which he said school districts are mandated by state

law to fund, and $152,000 on concerts and special events.

“Past experience shows me that we’ve continued to spend more than

we take in, and unfortunately that’s what’s before us with this

budget also, and I can’t support that,” Mansoor said.

But a skirmish is likely. While Mansoor plans to have a list of

programs and services he thinks should be slashed, he said he’s not

sure there is support for cutting any spending. And he may be right.

Councilwoman Libby Cowan said she’s happy with the budget as it

is, and she’s not in favor of cuts.

City staff members have done an admirable job in creating a budget

that maintains city services that residents want while addressing the

issue of dipping into reserves, Cowan said.

Rather than cutting programs, the city should look at ways to

increase revenue that won’t hurt residents such as increasing the

business-license fee or transient-occupancy tax or establishing a

sanitation-franchise fee, she said.

“I don’t think at this point that I’m interested in doing any

additional cutting,” Cowan said. “Not only are we the lowest in the

county, but we’re the lowest by far in our [transient-occupancy tax],

and I think those kinds of proposals ... can help us get through so

that we’re not using fund-balance money.”

Monahan said a few programs can probably be adjusted at tonight’s

meeting. His example was the roughly $98,500 the city spends on its

quarterly newsletter, which could be combined with the recreation

guide that comes out three times a year.

But any more dramatic cuts that are proposed will probably be

brought back for separate public hearings, he said.

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers business, politics and the environment.

She may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at

alicia.robinson@latimes.com.