5 Months Late, Carson Reviews $33.7-Million Budget Plan : Government: Transition to a new type of budgeting and the retirement of the city finance director complicated the process.

Almost five months into fiscal year 1989-90, the Carson City Council began reviewing its $33.7-million preliminary budget in a workshop last week.

City officials said budget preparations began late and that the budget was further delayed by the retirement of former Finance Director William E. Parrot in July and by the transition to a two-year plan.

“The thought process is different,” said Scot I. Yotsuya, deputy city administrator. “You have to plan your spending and set your priorities on a longer range. There’s a lot to talk about. It all takes time.”

Yotsuya said preparation of the budget for fiscal years 1990-92 will begin in January.

The budget workshop, which is open to the public, will continue Monday at 10 a.m. in the City Council Chambers.

Although the budget forecasts only $29.3 million in revenue, Yotsuya said the city can make up the projected $4.4-million shortfall by calling on its reserves.

“The city is in the black,” Yotsuya said. “We have $7 million in reserve funds for operating expenses.”

Revenue forecasts for the fiscal year that started July 1 show a decline of $1.1 million compared to the amounts recorded for fiscal year 1988-89.

Yotsuya said the numbers are “conservative . . . (because) we base our estimates on the economy, which we believe has slowed in the past year.”

Carson draws about two-thirds of its income from taxes. Sales taxes, projected at $14.2 million, account for about half of the city’s total revenue. It is a source of income that officials say fluctuates with changes in the economy.

Mayor Michael Mitoma said an issue facing the city is how to increase constant revenue.

Mitoma said the city always spends less than its budgets predict. “(But) revenues based on sales taxes are not predictable,” he said. “If there is a recession next year, there is no way we will be able to balance the budget” with the remaining reserves.

“We will try to reduce costs and raise revenue wherever possible so that we don’t have to go to the reserves.”

If the city is unable to do so and must draw from the reserve fund, a recession would deplete the remaining amount, Mitoma said.

Last year, the city drew $2.5 million from reserve funds for operating expenses and to pay for fringe benefits of temporary and contract workers who were converted to permanent, full-time employees. In December, 1987, a $1.6-million supplemental budget was passed for fiscal year 1987-88.

Mitoma said the city is studying ways of generating income. “We may become our own utility,” he said. “We may purchase our electricity wholesale from Southern California Edison.”

Carson, which was not levying property taxes when Proposition 13 was passed in 1978, has been prohibited from imposing such taxes since then. Recent state legislation requires counties to share a portion of their tax revenues with low- and no-property-tax cities such as Carson, and the city budget includes $450,000 the city expects to receive from the state by the end of the year.

The Parks and Recreation Department proposed two plans that would add between $280,000 and $399,000 to the income brought in by its programs. Eric W. Forsberg, the city’s recreation superintendent, said details of the suggested increases were not available.

Also included in the budget are requests for capital equipment totaling $2.6 million.

Among the requests are standard supplies, such as typewriters, fax machines, copiers, shredders, tape recorders, cameras, microwave ovens, chairs and tables and such unexpected items as a bridal kneeler and a Santa Claus suit for events at the Carson Community Center.

The Public Works and Parks and Recreation departments have asked the City Council to spend about $600,000 to replace 20 trucks bought between 1974 and 1982 because of recurring costs for repairs. Three trucks in the Public Works Department needed a total of $10,000 in repairs last year. Repair costs for the Parks and Recreation trucks were about $38,000 last year.

Other items in the budget include the proposed elimination in a variety of departments of seven positions, which are either vacant or filled by temporary or part-time workers. The requests also include the addition of several administrative and supervisory personnel or reclassifications of employees to higher status. Requests to convert the positions of three part-time utility workers and four youth services workers to full-time status also are included. The net cost to the city for the personnel changes would be $118,703.

Harry T. Foisia, manager of the youth services division, said the conversions would ease the work load in his department, which offers counseling and referrals to “ ‘wannabes,’ kids who are in danger of becoming gang members.” Last year, he said, one full-time and four part-time youth service workers counseled about 500 children in the city’s schools and parks.

A hiring freeze imposed by the council last year has been lifted, and the budget includes salaries to fill vacancies.

According to the city, there are 56 vacancies, ranging from utility workers to the director of the Finance and Administration Department. Phil Smyth, a personnel analyst, said about half of the positions are in the process of being filled.

In anticipation of a new computer system, the budget includes requests for $241,000 in new software and personal computers. The city will begin testing new software in January and plans eventually to integrate the data of all the city’s departments.

The Redevelopment Agency has proposed expenditures of $3.5 million. Among the agency’s plans are land use and development studies, graffiti removal programs and negotiations with a developer for a 150-unit senior citizen housing complex in the redevelopment area south of the San Diego (405) Freeway.