Costa Mesa eyes cuts

Costa Mesa may halt progress on some city improvement projects, forgo hiring people to fill vacant staff positions and hold off on replacing aging Police and Fire department vehicles as part of a plan to cut about $8.4 million in spending out of this year’s budget.

The city relies on sales and property taxes for the vast majority of its revenue, and with the economy in a slump and the housing market on the skids, city finance officials are projecting a $10.5-million deficit if the city doesn’t tighten its belt.

Although the cuts are significant — more than 5% of the total budget is on the table — city executives and Police and Fire department heads say their departments should be able to operate with few noticeable effects to residents.

About half of the total savings is expected to come from delaying improvement projects around the city. Some of the biggest projects that would be put on hold are the planned overhaul of the Joann Street Bike Trail, which runs along the Costa Mesa Golf Course, and the planned repaving of Red Hill Avenue and Bristol Street.

“[All of the projects] we have provided are things that we can live without for the next few months. These are generally projects that can wait,” said Public Services Director Peter Naghavi.

Staffing levels are also expected to be cut, although layoffs are not on the table yet, according to Finance Director Marc Puckett. The heads of various city departments have identified a number of positions that were vacated in previous months by resignations and retirements that the leaders think can remain vacant until the money is available to hire again.

The Police Department, for instance, has said that it could live without hiring two police officers, a crime scene specialist and a senior records officer — a savings of about $400,000 — in addition to a couple of other positions.

The number of patrol officers on the streets will not change, according to Sgt. Bryan Glass. Positions deemed to be necessary by the department will be filled with officers working overtime, Glass said, which will still cut costs because it eliminates the need to pay for health benefits and training for new officers.

Crime prevention programs would most likely be scaled back to save money, according to Glass.

“We will still have the same level of service and the same staffing out there. Programs outside of the basic responsibilities or expectations might be cut,” Glass said.

More than $1 million will also be saved by not replacing an aging firefighting vehicle at a cost of $825,000, and a slew of police and public services vehicles.

The present firefighting vehicle is 20 years old and should be replaced, but it’s in good condition, according to Fire Chief Mike Morgan, so the delay should not cause any problems.

The City Council will hear the cost-cutting proposals at a study session at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday at City Hall and deliberate on it.

Financial crises like the current one are “hundred-year events,” according to Puckett, but it’s not unheard of for Costa Mesa to cut its budget midyear. When the technology bubble burst at the turn of the millennium and also during the recession of the early 1990s, adjustments were necessary.

Puckett said the measures are preventive and are examples of the city’s conservative fiscal management over the last 40 years.

Whether or not the proposed budget adjustments are good enough to do the trick depends heavily on holiday season purchasing, according to Puckett, because almost half of the city’s revenue comes from sales tax.

“If we have a weak holiday season, there might be additional needs for reductions in the budget,” Puckett said.

ALAN BLANK may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or at alan.blank@latimes.com.