Ventura Trims 70 Jobs and Imposes Freeze

The Ventura City Council has adopted its $44-million operating budget, eliminating 70 jobs, instituting a hiring freeze and cutting costs in every department.

City leaders decided to discard the city’s pre-dawn July 4 fireworks, disband the team of police officers that focuses on traffic enforcement and cast aside all crime prevention programs except for Neighborhood Watch.

The city initially proposed to trim $24,500 from nonprofit groups providing various services to the poor. But after hearing pleas from nonprofit group leaders, the council voted to save programs for the needy and drop this year’s fireworks instead.

Altogether, the council on Monday slashed $4.3 million from its 1993-94 fiscal budget to make up for an expected shortfall in revenue. City officials blamed the austere budget on the poor economy, faltering sales tax revenues and anticipated losses in property tax revenues allocated by state officials.

“I’m sure we’ve all got a big pit in the bottom of our stomachs now,” Mayor Gregory L. Carson said moments before the council voted to pass the budget. “None of us relish this.”

After more than two hours of public debate, the council voted 4 to 1 to approve the budget. Councilmen Todd Collart and Jack Tingstrom were absent. Councilman Jim Monahan cast the dissenting vote.

“I’m not going to support any budget that has cuts in the fire or police department,” Monahan said.

Councilman Gary Tuttle said, “It’s easy to say keep public safety and let the rest go, but I’m not sure the public wants that.”

City officials said they did not know yet how many people would be laid off under the new budget. Many of the positions that have been targeted for elimination are already vacant.

At least 13 city employees, most of them from the city’s Parks and Recreation Department, have received layoff notices, said Steve Dunn, the city’s personnel officer. An additional five to 10 employees may lose their jobs, he said. The hiring freeze will last for an indefinite amount of time, officials said.

Despite pleas from city employees, the council made sweeping cuts to balance the budget. Only the nonprofit groups managed to persuade the council to spare their funding.

Initially, city staff had recommended a 10% reduction in the annual $245,000 doled out to 28 nonprofit groups that provide services to the needy in Ventura.

Clyde Reynolds, director of the Turning Point Foundation, told the council that the city has a social responsibility to support nonprofit agencies that directly serve residents.

In an attempt to keep city dollars coming in, officials from Project Understanding, Meals on Wheels and other nonprofit groups outlined to the council the benefits of their community service.

The council decided to continue funding the groups at the same level as last year, and to use the money from the $15,000 annual fireworks show to help pay for it.

Police and fire union officials unsuccessfully lobbied the council Monday to spare their departments from proposed cuts. Twenty-one police and three firefighter jobs were targeted. The positions will be eliminated gradually over the next two years.

“We are in shock,” said Cpl. John Garner, treasurer of the police officers union. “We’re not happy.”

Garner said that by eliminating the traffic section of the Police Department, more work would fall to patrol officers who are currently assigned to other duties.

The council also decided to reduce staffing of the Ventura Avenue fire station and the hazardous materials team, and council members voted to scale back fire prevention programs.

“We do not provide any nonessential services,” said Kevin Rennie, president of the Ventura City Firefighters Assn., who argued to save fire prevention programs.

Cuts were widespread among all six city departments. As a result of a reorganization, the Parks and Recreation Department will no longer exist after June 30, and its duties will be divided between the Public Works and Community Services departments.

Money for maintenance of parks and streets has been sliced, code enforcement officers will begin charging for repeat visits and the police ammunition budget has been slashed in half.

Tim Downey, a tree maintenance worker who has been with the city for nine years, told the council that it should avoid laying off employees who provide direct services to residents, such as maintenance workers and police officers.

“We’re the backbone of the city,” said Downey, who is not being laid off but anticipates an increase in his workload.

Russ Smith, director of the Ventura Visitors & Convention Bureau, also pleaded with the council to save funding for his organization, which is responsible for promoting tourism.

“If we cut the budget, we’re self-defeating. We don’t want to cut off the source of revenues,” Smith said. The city received $1.7 million in hotel bed taxes last year, he said.

The council reduced funding to the bureau by $42,200, more than 10% of the agency’s $400,000 budget.

Carson warned residents that the council will begin preparing for the 1994-95 budget soon, and that additional cuts are expected at this time next year because the economy may not turn around by then.

“We have some very strong realities we’re going to have to deal with,” he said.