LAGUNA BEACH : City OKs Tentative ‘Status Quo’ Budget

The City Council has adopted a tentative budget for the coming year, but officials say the spending plan could crumble when Laguna Beach learns how much it will be affected by the state’s financial crisis.

The council on Tuesday unanimously approved the $32-million budget, which Finance Officer Richard Hasenohrl called “kind of a status quo” spending plan.

Mayor Robert F. Gentry, however, said Laguna Beach could lose up to $900,000 if the state withholds vehicle license fees and property tax revenue to close its deficit, a situation which would require that the city “dramatically alter our expenditures by that amount.”

“If we take $800,000 to $900,000 out of our budget, I frankly don’t know what we’re going to do,” Gentry said. “We will be cutting at the core of what we provide to our residents, and that scares me.”

Those concerns hung over council members Tuesday night as residents took turns at the podium asking the council to set aside money for items such as AIDS services and the Chamber of Commerce.

The tentative budget includes a $19-million general fund and $4 million to go toward the purchase of Laguna Laurel, land in Laguna Canyon that the city is buying to keep it from being developed.

Because the city is in the process of improving its beleaguered sewer system, the new budget calls for a monthly sewer service rates to rise 4.6%, which amounts to $1 more per household.

The council is expected to meet again later this month or in July to refigure the spending options in light of decisions at the state level, and to adopt a final budget package.