HUNTINGTON BEACH : Measures Discussed to Close Budget Gap

The City Council this week discussed a number of cost-saving measures to close a $2-million budget shortfall, including a request by one councilman to ask city employees to take a 5% pay cut.

The council is expected to vote Monday on final budget reductions.

City Administrator Michael T. Uberuaga outlined various options at a budget study session Monday that included elimination of 10 full-time and 10.5 part-time positions and an increase in business license and beach parking fees.

Proposed are $15 application fees and $10 renewal fees for business licenses and a beach parking fee of $6 a day. Visitors currently pay $6 to park in city parking lots on weekends and holidays during the summer, but $5 the rest of the time.

Uberuaga also proposed cutting back part-time security guard service at the Newland House Museum and delaying resurfacing of tennis and racquetball courts. He also recommended transfers from several funds to bolster the city’s general fund.

Councilman David Sullivan urged his colleagues to ask municipal employees to take a 5% pay cut that he said would save $3.5 million.

Sullivan said city employees received pay increases totaling 19.5% during the last three years, far exceeding what other municipal and school district employees in the area have received. In addition, he noted, they are also exempt from paying for their own retirement benefits and medical coverage because the city pays the bill.

Only Councilman Jim Silva responded to Sullivan’s request, declaring that he “totally disagrees” that employees’ pay should be cut.

The City Council has asked employees to do more with fewer people because jobs were eliminated in previous years, and to ask them to take a pay cut would damage their morale and likely diminish services to residents, Silva said.

The round of budget cuts is required because the state is taking a larger share of local property taxes to balance its budget and because of a falloff in sales tax revenues, according to Uberuaga.

The city’s shortfall would dip from $2 million to $1.5 million if voters approve a statewide ballot measure in November to extend a half-cent sales tax beyond Jan. 1, Uberuaga said.

If the vote is successful, recommendations would be scrapped to eliminate three sworn police officer positions and two Fire Department positions that are included in the job reduction phase of the cuts, Uberuaga said.