HUNTINGTON BEACH : Proposals for Bonds to Get Further Study

The City Council has postponed allocating $10.2 million in unused bond money until proposals for spending the funds can be studied further.

The council also tentatively supported $1 million in street, lighting and landscaping improvements in the downtown area, placating merchants worried that the money might not be spent there.

The city had acquired the $10.2 million in bonds for a parking structure that had been planned north of the Municipal Pier. The council canceled that project earlier this year, however. Council members must now decide whether to spend the money.

The issue touched off a controversy last month when City Administrator Michael T. Uberuaga recommended that half the bond money be used for the Central Library expansion and that the other half go toward three beach parking projects. Downtown merchants protested, arguing that some of the money be used to improve the Main Street business district.

Uberuaga has since withdrawn his formal recommendations. At his request, the council agreed to delay deciding how the bond money will be used, if it will be used at all, while city staff officials detail plans on the library financing and the three parking projects.

Once the city issues the bonds, it will have to pay an annual debt service of $900,000. To cover that expense, Uberuaga said, he will continue favoring projects that generate income, such as the library and the parking projects.

Because of that potential debt, Councilman Don MacAllister called for the bonds to be sold back. Noting that the city projects a $5-million deficit for the current year, he said the yearly debt “would be equal to one-fifth of our budget shortfall. We need to prioritize that as compared to jobs” that could be lost because of spending cuts.