HUNTINGTON BEACH : Council to Hold Hearing on Budget

The City Council will hold a public hearing tonight on the city’s proposed budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

In a move related to the budget, the council also will hold a public hearing on a proposal to raise city trash fees from the current $10.68 a month to $12.

City Administrator Michael T. Uberuaga has recommended raising the trash fee to reflect the city’s increased cost for its disposal contract.

Uberuaga has said the city must both cut expenditures and raise some fees if the city is to balance its budget.

He said users of city services should be required to pay as closely as possible what the services cost.

Uberuaga recommended a wide range of fee increases, including the one on trash collection.

“If no action were taken in the 1992-93 budget to reduce expenses or increase revenues, an estimated budget shortfall of $4,184,689 would occur in the (city’s) general fund,” Uberuaga said.

Most of the fee increases recommended by Uberuaga were also endorsed by a private consultant’s study earlier this year.

The study said that Huntington Beach has been unduly subsidizing the expense of many city services, such as the cost of city planning work for developers.

The new budget proposes ending 29 full-time jobs on the city staff. But Uberuaga said these would be phased out by attrition. He said there would be no layoffs.

Last year, the council encountered a storm of opposition when a 5% fee was imposed on cable-TV customers in the city. That new fee was enacted last year to prevent budget cuts in the police and fire departments.

Uberuaga is recommending that the 5% cable-TV fee be continued in the new budget.

Even if the City Council adopts all of the budget cuts and fee increases recommended by Uberuaga, Huntington Beach will still be running behind, he said.

“This budget will represent a reduction in the quantity and quality of service provided to the community because of the expense reductions occurring while demands and requirements for city service are growing,” Uberuaga said.

Although the public hearing will be tonight, the council is not expected to vote on the final budget until its June 15 meeting. The hearing will be at 7 p.m. in council chambers, Main Street and Yorktown Avenue.