Budget carves out $1M for landslide costs

Barbara Diamond

City officials shored up landslide funding in the 2005-06 budget,

drastically pared down from the draft presented at a public workshop

held May 7.

Tuesday, the City Council unanimously approved the $59-million

budget, $38 million of it in the general fund, which was balanced, as

required by law. The balance is precarious, leaving the city coffers

with only $2,000 above the mandated reserve of 10% of the general

fund.

A $1-million allocation toward restoration and for services

associated with the Flamingo Road landslide was carved out of the

general fund by slicing almost every proposal made at the workshop

and tapping both the contingency fund and a Cox Cable grant.

“We didn’t include anything, even if you told me to include it and

with that, we have a balanced budget that will get us through the

next two months,” City Manager Ken Frank told the council. “It’s not

like you have a choice.

“In a period of 15 minutes on June 1, the city’s budget was

seriously battered. Within two weeks, the city has spent roughly

$300,000 for emergency public safety and public utility operations.”

Frank scraped together the $1 million by siphoning $500,000 from a

one-time windfall, negotiated as part of the renewal of the Cox Cable

franchise, and draining the entire $500,000 contingency fund,

proposed years ago by Councilman Wayne Peterson for just such

situations.

“It won’t be enough,” Frank said.

“Maybe it will be enough to pay for emergency measures that will

be essential before the rainy season if there is federal and state

assistance, participation by the Laguna Beach Water District and

cooperation from the private property owners.”

Frank opined that, most likely, a supplemental appropriation will

be needed by the end of 2005.

“There is not enough money for anything else,” Frank said.

Frank’s recommendations were approved with minimal discussion,

mostly on how to divvy up the $650,000 Cox grant, that in part was

supposed to fund an estimated $150,000 in upgrades to the equipment

used to televise council meetings, and a request for a $21,000

appropriation to complete the city’s website by hiring a duplicate

server to put the database outside the city’s firewall.

“The final step in the project is important not only for the

convenience of public access to city records via home and office

computers, but will impact the efficiency of city staff and diminish

traffic congestion downtown,” former City Clerk Verna Rollinger said,

in support of the expenditure.

A motion to appropriate the funds failed on a 3-2 vote, council

members Toni Iseman and Jane Egly in favor.

The Community Assistance Grants, which totaled $175,000, took

longer to approve.

Gallimaufry Performing Arts founder Steve Josephson successfully

lobbied for a larger grant for educational programs. The council took

the additional funds from the Business Improvement District Fund.

The BID fund is a voluntarily contribution by Laguna Beach

hoteliers to arts groups or individuals that attract tourists.

Community Assistance Grants are funded by Festival of Arts lease

revenue.

About 40 applications for the $175,000 fund were submitted to the

city. The two highest recommended grants, $20,000 each, were

earmarked for the Cross Cultural Council and the Laguna Relief and

Resource Center.

The council redistributed some of the recommended grants to add

another $1,000 to the recommended allocations to the Crosscultural

Council, the Coastal Family Therapy Services and Friendship Shelter.

The vote for the reallocation was 4-1, Iseman opposed. She wanted to

cut the $10,000 grant to the Friends of the Sea Lions to pick up some

more funds for groups she thought were more locally focused.

“Friends of the Sea Lions is regional and it has a lot of sizzle,

but they can raise money outside of Laguna,” Iseman said. “If we

reduced it to $4,000, we would have $6,000 that I would like to see

distributed among other [applicants] that are exclusively Laguna.”

The council approved modifications to the 2004-05 budget and

adopted resolutions approving changes from the preliminary budget;

modified rates the city pays Waste Management; increased salaries

for city employees, police officers and firefighters and

cost-of-living and merit raises for City Clerk Martha Anderson and

Treasurer Laura Parisi; increased monthly retainer and hourly rate

for legal services, which City Atty. Philip Kohn agreed to defer for

three months; and the city’s annual appropriations limit.