HUNTINGTON BEACH : Residents Sought for City Budget Panel

The City Council has agreed to set up a committee to allow residents to propose suggestions about balancing the city budget during the next two years.

The committee, whose nine members will be appointed next month by council members, will be asked to propose ways to save the city between $3 million and $5 million. The city is accepting applications for the advisory committee through Aug. 9.

The council slashed nearly $3 million before approving this year’s budget, and City Administrator Michael T. Uberuaga has warned the council that it might have to cut as much as $5 million more within two years.

Residents’ budget-tightening ideas will be critical to the process, Uberuaga said.

“I very strongly support this to give an official forum for the public in addressing our budget issues,” Uberuaga told the council.

The committee will be asked to suggest spending cuts and potential new sources of revenue, as well as ways to make city government operate more efficiently.

The community task force is one of several components of Uberuaga’s yearlong effort to revamp the city’s budget. Since becoming city administrator a year ago, Uberuaga has pointed out that the city has developed a pattern of spending more to provide services than it is collecting.

At his request, the council has hired a financial consultant. The consultant’s final report, due in November, will suggest ways to cut spending and revamp city fees and will recommend whether to set up an assessment district to charge property owners for some city services.

The council will consider that report, community task force suggestions, and city staff recommendations before deciding which budget changes to enact.