DANA POINT : City Revises Revenue Figures Downward

City officials are blaming the recession for revised midyear revenue projections, released this week, that show a decrease of $530,000 for fiscal 1991.

While officials are confident that the city remains in a strong fiscal position, any decrease is a cause for concern, council members said.

“We anticipated some adjustment, but $530,000, that’s a big number,” said Councilwoman Eileen Krause. “It’s one more indication of our recessionary times.”

Loron C. Cox, the city’s director of finance, said the revenue decrease is actually about $400,000 “in real numbers” because $130,000 of the total came from the postponement of a citywide recycling expansion.

Cox said the numbers reflect the economy and the recession, which “hit harder than anyone expected.” But with expenditures also down, the numbers are not as excessive as they might appear at first glance.

“Our revenues are down about $400,000, but our expenditures are cut by about $200,000,” Cox said. “On a $12-million annual expenditure total, a couple of hundred thousands dollars is not real significant.”

The city’s fiscal position is “still very solid,” Cox said.

“There are no real glaring numbers in the report, just a trend we don’t like to see. But our finances are still real solid,” Cox said. “Our revenues still exceed our expenditures.”

The largest projected decreases were reflected in the transient occupancy tax from hotels--often called the bed tax--which is down by $200,000, and from sales taxes, also down $200,000, according to the city report presented to the council this week.

The report blamed the bed tax decreases on two separate factors--$100,000 lost because of the recession and another $100,000 loss blamed on the delayed opening of the new Hilton Hotel near Doheny Beach and the closing of the Capistrano Bay Inn in December.

Bed taxes from the city’s 10 hotels account for about one-third, or $3.4 million, of annual revenues, Cox said.

The report indicated that city expenditures were also down $236,965. A large portion of that comes from the postponement of $117,637 in street maintenance expenditures, Cox said.

One expenditure that was up over projections was city attorney fees, which are $118,000 over budget, according to the report.

Mayor Mike Eggers said Dana Point is doing much better in a down economy than many other cities.

“Overall I think the budget’s on target,” Eggers said. “We’re not looking at million-dollar deficits like many cities are today. By and large, our city has been very careful in how we spend the taxpayers’ money. The revenue decreases are strictly a reaction to the economy.”