COSTA MESA : Council Mulls Cuts to Close Budget Gap

Facing a $2-million revenue shortfall, the City Council met with several staff members over the weekend and on Monday to discuss a variety of cost-saving measures.

Budget-cutting possibilities discussed by the council members, who must deal with a $4-million budget gap that officials attribute to a drop in sales tax revenues caused by the recession, included reductions in services, contracting some services to private companies and raising taxes and fees.

Council members said they would prefer looking at several alternatives before raising fees or taxes.

Many favored exploring “entrepreneurial management,” or running the city more like a business by taking on some private-industry practices, such as allowing departments to hold excess budget allocations in reserve instead of forcing them to spend their entire appropriation in a given fiscal year.

Currently, departments that don’t spend their entire budget face the possibility of having the difference subtracted from the next fiscal year’s budget, said David Jones, a consultant with Sentient Systems based in Aptos. Jones has been hired to help the city figure out long-term solutions to its shrinking budget.

Council members also said they would be interested in privatizing services at a lower cost. The city already is taking bids on several operations at the two municipal golf courses. Eventually, private contractors could take over the majority of operations at the courses.

The drawback to that plan, said Bill Folsom, city employee association president, would be that the city may lay off workers if private contractors are hired.

Folsom, a mechanic, said the city’s 300 employees are regularly in contact with the general public and have a good feel for what the community wants.

“We talk to the guys in the trenches and find that those people’s opinions contrast sharply with the City Council. We want the best for the city. We want to make sure they respond to the community as a whole rather than just the special interests,” Folsom said.

But Jones said privatization may be more palatable to council members who are facing a political climate that will not withstand a tax increase.

“I’m finding more people are saying, ‘No new taxes,’ so (council members) are saying, ‘Let’s look at our roles. Let’s do it differently.’ ”

Any official action on the budget cuts will not be considered until the Feb. 3 council meeting, City Manager Allan L. Roeder said.