BREA : City Revises Ways to Balance Budget

The City Council has backed off from plans to charge admission fees at the city gallery and raise building permit fees as it tries to plug a $310,000 budget shortfall.

The council, however, voted 4 to 1 Tuesday to raise fees in other areas. It will also delay hiring two police dispatchers and has eliminated a drunk-driving enforcement position in the Police Department.

A proposed $1 admission fee at the city gallery would have raised about $2,000, but council members said the amount was too insignificant to even bother with and risk the ire of residents.

Increasing fees for building permits would have raised an estimated $45,000 this year and $90,000 next year. However, with the lingering recession, council members said they feared an increase would further hurt the local economy.

“The increases are not significant, but it would send the wrong message,” Councilman Glenn G. Parker said.

The council did approve increases for blueprint, research and grading fees for the Development Services Department. It also approved higher charges for frequent false alarms and raised prices for Brea Fest tickets.

At the same time, the council reduced allocations for meetings, conferences and employee orientations, and cut back such perks as meals during council meetings. It also decided to delay hiring employees, including a full-time and a part-time police dispatcher.

Parker cast the dissenting vote, saying he was concerned about the elimination of an officer assigned exclusively to drunk-driving enforcement.

Capt. Lawrence Baker, the acting police chief in the absence of Chief Donald L. Forkus, who is on sick leave, said that only the drunk-driving enforcement position was eliminated. The officer who held that position has been transferred to routine patrol, he said.

Another drunk-driving enforcement officer was transferred to routine patrol in July, Baker said. However, both officers would still be involved in enforcing drunk-driving cases along with their other duties, he said.

“We feel confident we can be as aggressive as in the past in the detection and enforcement of drunk driving,” Baker said. “We’ll continue to monitor the situation and, if in fact there is a change, we’ll come back to the council in three months” to request that the positions be restored, Baker said.

The cuts will save the city an estimated $386,000, while the fee increases will generate $110,000 in revenue, according to financial services director Larry Hurst.

Hurst said the cuts and fee increases would result in a $186,000 surplus. He said the city has $6 million in reserves.