COSTA MESA : $62.1-Million Budget for 1990-91 Is OKd

The City Council this week approved a $62.1-million budget for the 1990-91 fiscal year, and officials said it calls for no increases in property or other taxes.

Although the final version of the budget does not include two police positions proposed by City Manager Allan L. Roeder, the council expressed a willingness to juggle existing allocations to fund the positions.

Roeder had proposed adding the positions to the driving-under-the-influence team.

He also had proposed adding two police aide positions to help in crime investigations, a full-time park maintenance worker, a park ranger and an insurance risk manager.

He cut those positions, however, in order to balance the budget.

The current DUI team averages 1,200 arrests annually and virtually pays for itself through fines, Roeder said. The council also asked Roeder to hire the insurance risk manager by cutting some other area of the budget.

Altogether, the $62.1-million budget is $22.8 million less than the 1989-90 budget.

Although revenues from sales and property taxes are expected to increase $3.1 million this fiscal year, total revenue is down, largely because of a 36.7% decrease in interest earned on time deposits, which Roeder blamed on lower cash balances for the year.

Police and fire protection represents nearly half the total expenditures for the city.

Transportation, on the other hand, will receive the biggest cut, due mainly to an end this month of funds made available through Measure C.

Passed in 1987, the measure allowed the city to override the Gann limit on government spending and use sales-tax surpluses for street improvements for a period of three years.