Laguna council nixes employee housing program

A 17-year-old program that allowed some of Laguna Beach’s high-ranking employees to live in the city will stop, the City Council decided Tuesday

In a unanimous decision, the council voted to discontinue a housing program that provided financial help through a combination of loans and equity sharing. The city pays a portion of the purchase price in exchange for corresponding ownership interest in the property.

The council established the program in 2000 to encourage employees with “essential emergency response duties” such as department heads to live in Laguna and respond quickly to emergencies, according to a staff report.

But council members said times are different and pointed to real estate as one of the contributing factors in their decision.

“The economic circumstances in the city in terms of housing costs and also on the compensation side have changed dramatically since it was passed,” Councilman Bob Whalen said. “It’s been used sparingly. We’ve demonstrated in the last few years that we can hire excellent staff without the assistance.”

If the program continued, the city said it would likely need to pay $1.8 million upfront as opposed to $625,000 in 2000.

The median price for a Laguna Beach house is $2 million, which eclipses the county average of $775,000, the city said.

Ongoing costs for repairs, taxes and insurance could reach $8,000 per property.

Resident George Weiss said the program is an unnecessary perk.

“I see the program may pay for itself in the long-term, but it’s a lot of money out for the city in the meantime,” Weiss said.

“You could fly them in on a helicopter [during an emergency] for that kind of money you are talking about.”

When Laguna officials approved the program in 2000, it was thought the city could make money or break even by investing funds into the program normally used to invest into the city’s portfolio, the staff report said.

Since 2000, the council approved agreements with six employees: former Fire Chief Mike Macey, Fire Chief Jeff LaTendresse, who will retire in August, Fire Division Chief Tom Christopher, former Water Quality Supervisor Graham Wright, Public Works Director Shohreh Dupuis, and City Manager John Pietig.

Agreements with Christopher, Dupuis and Pietig will continue, Finance Director Gavin Curran said Wednesday.

As of June 26, Laguna has a fire division chief on duty at all times to respond to emergencies, LaTendresse wrote in an email.

bryce.alderton@latimes.com

Twitter: @AldertonBryce