OJAI : City OKs Budget, Spending Freeze

The Ojai City Council approved a $4.4-million city budget on Tuesday, but voted to freeze spending in a number of areas in anticipation of state cuts in property and vehicle registration revenue for cities.

The council’s action means that more than $440,000 of planned expenditures will be withheld until more is known about the proposed state budget cuts.

Included in the freeze is a 3.5% cost-of-living increase for city employees, pre-scheduled training and education programs, hiring of employees to fill several open positions and funding for social services supported by the city.

“The idea is that we don’t want to end up spending money that we don’t have,” Ojai City Manager Andrew Belknap said. “We have no idea at this stage what the state will actually do and how that will impact us.” The $440,000 figure reflects a worst-case scenario of how deep the cuts could affect the city, Belknap said.

If the city loses the entire amount, future cuts could close or severely limit operations of the Ojai Trolley Service and limit city support of an anti-drug program in Ojai schools, Belknap said.

“When we get some indication on what the state is going to do, we’ll come back with some formal adjustments to the budget,” Belknap said.