Simi Budget Plan Calls for Restraint

Concerned about a sluggish economy that is producing fewer tax dollars for the city, Simi Valley officials Friday unveiled a proposed $28.3-million budget that calls for sharp restraints on spending.

City Council members will spend the next four weeks conducting special meetings on the 1992-93 budget, weighing new equipment purchases and service cuts that could alter the final spending plan. The council will also consider proposed increases in water and sanitation fees.

Residents will be allowed to comment before the plan is adopted, tentatively on June 22. The budget covers the fiscal year that begins July 1.

Mayor Greg Stratton predicted Friday that council members will not be free spenders.

“I think for the first six months, at least, we’re going to be very conservative in operating because the projections of income are down,” he said. “We want to make sure any economic recovery is there before we start spending.

“Besides, the Legislature is still in session. When they’re looking for money, I hold onto my wallet. They have a tremendous ability to change our financial situation overnight.”

In June, council members adopted a 1991-92 budget that called for $28.5 million in spending. But in 1992-93 budget report to the council, City Manager Lin Koester said city revenues--including sales taxes, business taxes and developer fees--”were severely impacted by economic downturns.”

He said the city made up for the shortage of income in 1991-92 by imposing a hiring freeze and by cutting other spending.

Under the proposed budget, the hiring freeze would be lifted, but the size of the city’s work force--about 540 employees--would remain stable, said Laura Herron, acting director of the department of general services.

Beyond the proposed base budget, city departments have requested several new employees and special purchases that would add $372,300 to the spending plan. These proposed extras include everything from two new police detectives to implementation of an automated tree management system to inventory the city’s street trees.

The council also must decide whether to buy, lease or delay the purchase of $340,200 worth of other equipment, such as police cars, police motorcycles and typewriters.

Finally, Simi Valley officials said the proposed budget does not include pay raises, expected to cost $1.3 million, for city employees. Wage negotiations will be completed later in the year.

In his budget report, Koester said these extra expenses can be offset by drawing from a surplus in the city’s workers’ compensation insurance fund and by using redevelopment funds for a major street-widening project.

The city staff has also provided a “reverse priority” list of additional spending cuts that the council could adopt, ranked from least to most painful. These range downward from elimination of visitor information funding to reducing the size of the police force.

Stratton said the council will probably not cut police staffing but will carefully examine the requests for extra funding.

“There’s a whole bunch of them that we may look at cutting,” the mayor said. “I would have to say it’s going to be a tough year for added items.”