SAN CLEMENTE : $19-Million Budget OKd; More Cuts, Fees

The City Council has adopted a $19-million budget for the fiscal year that, like last year’s spending plan, cuts services and city jobs. It also puts a new fee on property owners and increases water rates.

Under the budget, approved this week, City Hall will continue to close every other Friday and employees will have to take more unpaid days off, officials said.

But the biggest savings in the budget is the $2.1-million cut eliminating the city’s 65-year-old Police Department by contracting for law enforcement with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. That change took place earlier this month.

In other departments, eight full-time positions were eliminated. Last year alone, the city was forced to cut more than $2.4 million and eliminate 25 positions, about 8% of the city work force at that time.

The city, however, will add two new civil engineers and a public works director to handle an unprecedented amount of planned storm drain and other repair projects, resulting in a net reduction of five positions this fiscal year.

Former Police Chief Michael Sorg will fill the new public works director’s position.

The budget also includes a new fee on property owners to pay for storm drain repairs and a water rate hike to make up for a 27% increase in the cost of buying water from the Tri-Cities Municipal Water District.

With the water rate increase, homeowners on the average will pay about $5.40 more per month. And homeowners will pay a storm drain fee of about $3 per month.

Overall, the general fund budget is down by 7%, or about $1.5 million, over last year’s budget, officials said.

Councilman Tom Lorch cast the lone dissenting vote against the budget, saying cuts were not deep enough.

Lorch failed to gain council support for his list of $1.4 million in proposed cuts, including a proposal to cut salaries by 7% for the city’s 250 employees.

To balance the budget, city officials had to close a shortfall of about $2.6 million and a loss of about $400,000 in property tax funds to the state.

Anticipating more funding cuts next year, the council asked city officials to study hiring outside firms or agencies to take over other city services. All city departments will be considered in the study, which is expected to be completed by January, officials said.