Laguna Beach City Hall to Make Switch to Voice Mail : Budget: The money-saving automated message center is part of a $19-million spending plan approved by the City Council. It also includes fee hikes for some services.

Despite worrisome talk that Laguna Beach will eventually be forced to raise taxes and reduce services to offset recent state funding cutbacks, the first casualty of the budget ax may be the human voice on the City Hall switchboard.

Voice mail is on its way to Laguna Beach.

The message center, which will likely be installed in several months, is part of a $19-million budget approved Tuesday by the Laguna Beach City Council.

The automated answering service will cost the city about $25,000 to install. But city officials say it will provide savings during coming years when budget cuts will become more painful.

Although the new fiscal year is already 10 weeks old, the council was forced to take a hard, new look at earlier budget projections when the recent state decisions to usurp 9% of the city’s property taxes took $711,000 from the current year’s fiscal budget.

Since Laguna Beach is heavily dependent upon property taxes for its economic well-being, the fiscal pinch will be keenly felt in the coastal city in coming years, city officials say.

The city will lose about $30 per person annually, a higher per capita loss than any other city in Orange County, according to a staff memo sent to the City Council on Tuesday.

To increase revenue this fiscal year, the city will take a variety of actions, including lifting the cap on business license taxes, hiking building and conditional use permit fees by about 10% and boosting animal license and animal shelter fees by 25%.

As of July 1, 1993, visitors to Laguna Beach will feel the sting with an increase in the hotel bed tax from 8% to 10%. Also beginning on that date, non-residents will be required to pay $300 for paramedic service.

The council also approved a list of relatively minor cutbacks intended to save the city money on things like clerical supplies and auto repairs.

A wish list of 29 items that the council had earlier identified as priorities was drastically trimmed, allowing funding for only four projects.

For example, the council agreed to spend $20,000 to help the Laguna Beach Community Clinic start an early intervention treatment program for people with the AIDS virus. In addition, the city will give $15,000 to agencies that provide direct AIDS services, $10,500 to repair windows and lights at Lang Park Community Center and $1,000 for Heritage Month activities.

The budget was approved 4 to 1, with Councilman Neil G. Fitzpatrick dissenting.

Deputy City Manager Rob Clark said it was easier to make the necessary adjustments to the budget this year than it will be in the future because the city had $300,000 in reserves at the beginning of the 1992-93 fiscal year.

Most residents are not likely to notice much difference in city services this fiscal year, officials said.

Except for those who call City Hall and find themselves leaving a “voice mail” message.

City officials say it is an appropriate time to install an “automated attendant” because the city’s switchboard operator resigned recently and a temporary operator is now filling in.

Currently, the city uses a message machine only during lunch and breaks. Even that annoys some callers, said Carrie Joyce, the fire services secretary who supervises the switchboard.

“I’ve had many complaints about it, but I guess it’s a thing of the future,” Joyce said. “I’ve had many people say they don’t like having to listen to that message and they never know if they’re hitting the right button for the right extension. It’s confusing to many people.”