CALABASAS : Funding Assured for a 2nd Park

Thanks to careful budget calculations and a seeming immunity to the regionwide recession, the city of Calabasas will spend about $1 million to build its second park and other capital improvements next fiscal year, the city manager said Friday.

Although plans for the eight-acre park at Calabasas Hills and Lost Hills roads are incomplete, funding should not be a problem, said City Manager Charles Cate.

City officials expect well over $250,000 in Proposition A funds, gifts from developers and other grants for the park--the first major public construction project since Calabasas was incorporated in 1990.

About $800,000 more will be earmarked for road and storm drain work, wheelchair access ramps and improvements to Grape Arbor Park, as part of the city’s anticipated $5.7-million spending plan next year, Cate said. Grape Arbor is the city’s only existing park.

Unlike some of its larger, older neighbors, Calabasas is in good fiscal shape due to the stable tax base of its 28,000 residents and a conservative approach toward budgeting taken by city handlers, he said.

“The older cities have trouble because over the years their staffs got big, and now they have to make cuts,” Cate said. “We don’t have that problem because during our short existence we’ve been able to grow slowly, keeping our expenditures in line with our revenues.”

However, the City Council will hold off on approving a final budget until the state issues its own spending plan this summer, he said.