CAMARILLO : City Council OKs 19% Budget Increase

The Camarillo City Council has approved a $22.6-million budget that includes major street improvements, plans for a curbside recycling program and a new police station.

The budget, which shows a 19% increase over last year’s $19-million plan, calls for a new four-tiered water billing system that penalizes residents for wasting water. But residents who cut back their water use by at least 10% will see no increase in their monthly bills, City Manager J. William Little said.

The 1990-91 budget, which projects about $3.5 million in reserves, reflects continuing improvement in the city’s financial position since the devastating losses of 1987, in which $25 million in reserves were wiped out through high-risk investments.

But the budget also reflects the continuing cost of those losses, Little said.

Camarillo will pay $565,200 in interest next year on money borrowed to build a bridge and street to connect Las Posas and Upland roads. The city had planned to pay cash for the $6-million bridge project until the losses were discovered in late 1987.

“That was the way we operated back in the days when we had the money,” said Joyce Marsh, assistant director of finance.

Instead, Camarillo residents will pay $9 million in interest alone over the 20-year life of the debt. The city also has attorney fees for continuing legal battles to recover some of the lost money, Little said.

“The losses continue to cost us in more ways than one,” he said.

For the first time since the losses were discovered, the city will be able to add new positions to its staff, Little said, including a senior accountant in the city’s Finance Department and a recycling coordinator to oversee a planned citywide curbside recycling program.

The budget, approved last week, also includes $4 million for street improvements, to be financed largely by developers’ fees. The improvements include new signals and resurfacing projects delayed after the 1987 losses.

The budget also includes $400,000 for planning a new police building.