Pomona Council Cuts 3 City Posts From Budget to Get Funds for Police

Arguing that the city desperately needs more money for police protection, the City Council’s new majority voted last week to eliminate three top-level staff positions and cut funding to the Pomona Economic Development Corp.

The council voted 3 to 1 Wednesday to eliminate the positions of Deputy City Administrators Sanford Sorenson and Dayle Keller and Executive Assistant Hector Godinez from the 1989-90 budget. In the same vote, the council moved to redirect revenue from a 30% surcharge on business licenses from Pomona Economic Development Corp. to the Police Department.

Council members C.L. (Clay) Bryant, Nell Soto and Tomas Ursua said the cuts were needed to help provide an additional $3.1 million for public safety services, including $1.7 million for police. Eliminating the three posts will save $226,290, and redirecting the business surcharge is expected to net the city an additional $180,000.

The action could result in the termination of longtime employees, such as Sorenson, who has been with the city 28 years. Soto said the council will let interim City Administrator Andrew Lazzaretto decide whether other positions can be found for the three staff members.

“That’s the city administrator’s prerogative,” she said. “We need to save money, and we need money for the Police Department. We have to find a way to get more policemen on the street.”

Series of Actions

The budget cuts were the latest in a series of actions by the new council majority that was created when Ursua took office April 18. And as in the case of last month’s firing of City Administrator A.J. Wilson and hiring of Lazzaretto, the actions of the majority were opposed by Mayor Donna Smith.

“I find it incredible that they can just wipe out three people, and I hope Mr. Lazzaretto is not going to be an ax man,” Smith said. “The new self-proclaimed majority is finally starting to unveil their plan for the new direction for the city that we keep hearing about and I think it stinks.”

Councilman Mark Nymeyer, who was absent during the votes on Wilson and Lazzaretto, was unable to attend Wednesday’s meeting. But in an interview last week, he said he opposed the actions taken by the new majority and what he perceived as a penchant for suddenness and secrecy among the three.

“This style of decision-making will only embitter the community toward their leadership,” Nymeyer said. “It also creates a great deal of tension and emotional upheaval among the city employees.”

Soto said the council’s decision Wednesday night “was not some capricious or whimsical act.”

“This is something that must be done,” she said. “For too long, we’ve been sitting up there on the council wringing our hands about not having enough police.”

Soto added that the criticism of the new majority’s actions is political sour grapes. “The problem is not Lazzaretto, the problem is not Wilson, the problem is the loss of power by the people who have run Pomona for the past 100 years,” she said. “The shoe is on the other foot now and it pinches.”