Huntington Beach weighs $373 million budget for 2018-19
Huntington Beach’s proposed budget for the 2018-19 fiscal year would commit 55% of the general fund to public safety and 15% to infrastructure.
The City Council reviewed the spending plan at a public hearing Monday night with guidance from the Finance Department in preparation for adopting the budget next month.
The council could have adopted the proposal Monday but decided to continue the matter until its next meeting June 4 to get input from council members Erik Peterson and Lyn Semeta, who were absent. The new fiscal year begins July 1.
The proposed budget for all funds totals $373.1 million, a 3.27% increase from the adopted budget for 2017-18, and $228.4 million for the general fund, a 2% increase.
City Finance Manager Carol Molina-Espinoza said officials project a modest 1% increase in general fund revenue. “We’re keeping a close eye on it,” she said.
Revenue from property and hotel occupany taxes will continue to grow, Molina-Espinoza said, but money from licenses and permits may begin to drop as developments such as the Pacific City shopping mall along Pacific Coast Highway fill out.
In public safety, the Police Department is slated to receive $3.55 million more than in the current fiscal year — a 1.5% increase — and the Fire Department $773,000 more — a 2.1% increase. A large chunk of money will go toward replacing vehicles and other equipment, upgrading aircraft, refurbishing marine safety rescue boats and replacing a lifeguard tower as part of an ongoing project.
Molina-Espinoza said the proposed budget doesn’t fund a request for an additional police detective and four officers.
Molina-Espinoza said the city’s employee pension costs will continue to strain annual budgets but added that plans the city implemented four years ago — including paying an extra $1 million a year toward pensions beyond the required minimum — are helping.
Water well project
In other business Monday, council members approved a $3.896-million construction contract with Perris-based Pacific Hydrotech Co. to put a well house, pump, motor, emergency generator and chemical treatment facilities at water well No. 1, which the city built around 1962 in a residential tract near Springdale Street and Bolsa Avenue.
Heil and Indianapolis avenues
Council members awarded a $2.882-million contract to Orange-based R.J. Noble Co. to assist in rehabilitation plans for Heil and Indianapolis avenues.
The contractor will lay asphalt on Heil between Bolsa Chica and Springdale streets and on Indianapolis between Beach Boulevard and Newland Street.
The company also will regrade the intersection of Heil and Graham Street to remove two cross gutters where vehicles are bottoming out. Planned improvements also include replacing concrete curbs, gutters, sidewalks and access ramps where needed.
‘Research and technology’ zoning
The city awarded a three-year, $148,700 contract to RRM Design Group to prepare an amendment to the city’s zoning and subdivision ordinance for a new “research and technology” zoning designation.
The zoning will be broad enough to cover a wide range of uses, according to a city staff report.
The company will help prepare zoning standards for the amendment, a zoning map and technical studies on parking and will help implement public outreach programs.
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