Coronado Cool to Proposal That It Take Over Troubled Imperial Beach : Broke: Mayor of nearly bankrupt city gets little encouragement in visit to richer neighbor.

Coronado Mayor Mary Herron reacted coolly Tuesday to an idea by Imperial Beach Mayor Henry Smith that Coronado take over nearly bankrupt Imperial Beach.

“It is time for us to seriously investigate our future options. One of the options is the city of Coronado,” Smith said in a letter he read to the Coronado City Council. “All that I would like to do today is to begin the process of our staff looking at the city of Coronado and assessing whether it is a viable option to consider our consolidation with your city.”

Imperial Beach officials have warned that the city will not be able to pay its bills in January, unless new revenue sources are found. To that end, a measure to raise $450,000 annually with a 5% tax on each utility bill was put to voters, but was defeated, Tuesday.

But even that wouldn’t have guaranteed financial viability for the ailing beach town, Smith said, and officials would still seek to merge with Coronado.

If Imperial Beach goes bankrupt, it might be forced to disincorporate, thereby coming under county control. Smith and the City Council have also discussed consolidating with San Diego.

On Tuesday, Herron made it clear that Coronado officials are not enthusiastic about annexing Imperial Beach.

“We would feel very cautious,” Herron said. “Coronado has worked long and hard to be where we are. It may be more of an undertaking than we can envision.”

Imperial Beach, a city of about 25,000 residents, is the only beach city in the county that has not developed its beachfront. Many of its residents are apartment dwellers, and it has a limited tax base. For almost a decade, the city was forced to dip into its reserves to continue providing services, and the reserve is now exhausted.

In contrast, Coronado, with its upper-middle-class community, has long cherished its exclusiveness and is well-known for the many Navy admirals who have retired there. The average cost of a home is $406,000 in Coronado, which has a population of about 20,000; the average cost of a home is $174,000 in Imperial Beach. The two cities are joined by the Silver Strand.

Herron expressed concern that Coronado’s resources would be strained if it were required to provide services such as police and fire protection to Imperial Beach, which is served by the sheriff and has a tiny fire department.

“I don’t know what the outcome will be. But no mayor will want to be faced with the condition you find yourself in,” Herron said to Smith.

Although Smith requested that Herron allow Coronado’s city manager to meet with Imperial Beach’s city manager to discuss the proposed merger, Herron did not make a commitment to the talks.

“They’re not going to jump into this, are they? All I ask for is exactly what the letter said,” Smith said after his brief appearance before the Coronado City Council.

In an interview with The Times last month, Coronado City Manager Homer Bludau said there is no incentive for Coronado to consolidate with Imperial Beach.

San Diego City Manager John Lockwood said that San Diego city officials would be willing to discuss consolidation with Imperial Beach, but he added that there were no immediate plans by San Diego to annex Imperial Beach.

San Diego County Supervisor Brian Bilbray has argued that the best alternative available to Imperial Beach is to consolidate with the county. Bilbray, a former Imperial Beach mayor, said the county would become Imperial Beach’s trustee for three years, then voters would have an opportunity to vote on incorporation again.

However, Smith and the majority of the Imperial Beach City Council favor consolidating with either Coronado or San Diego.