Port Hueneme Considers Tight New City Budget : Finances: Plan calls for further cuts and elimination of two unfilled jobs. Twelve positions were already cut.

Faced with a continuing slump in revenues, the Port Hueneme City Council reviewed a proposed $6.4-million spending plan Wednesday that calls for further cuts in the city’s payroll to balance the budget.

Under the proposed budget, the city would eliminate two unfilled customer service positions as part of an overall belt-tightening that has seen spending decline by $513,000.

Groping for ways to save money, Councilwoman Toni Young asked the city staff to determine how much it would cost to remove some trees that require periodic trimming to reduce the cost of maintaining city parks. She also suggested that the city provide larger trash receptacles so that city crews would not have to empty them as frequently.

Community Service Director Brady Cherry said he would try to estimate the potential savings of Young’s proposal. He said the city has two full-time workers who maintain the 4,000 trees on city parks and median strips.

With the budget overdue since July 1, the city has continued to operate on an interim budget adopted in June. The proposed budget goes before the council Wednesday.

The belt-tightening comes while the city is still reeling from $900,000 in cuts the council approved earlier this year that included the closure of the Dorill B. Wright Cultural Center.

As part of the previous cuts, the council eliminated 12 staff positions, including two officers from the city’s Police Department, dropped all recreation programs at the city athletic center and slashed the park maintenance staff.

Meanwhile, the city has approved the creation of three assessment districts to help pay the cost of maintenance of the city’s parks, beach and street medians. The districts will raise an estimated $560,000 this year.

City Manager John R. Velthoen said that with the additional cuts the city has no money to restore any of the dropped services.

“The message we’re trying to convey is it will be difficult to hold on to what we’ve got in terms of city facilities and the cost of maintaining them,” Velthoen said.

During the study session Wednesday, Velthoen said city voters would have to approve a property tax override of $523,000 if the city is to retain its own Police Department and restore it to full strength. The price tag, which includes such previously overlooked costs as recruitment, training and insurance, surpasses earlier estimates by about $125,000.

He said the city staff will ask the council Wednesday to authorize placing the measure on the ballot in June. The measure would need the support of 66.7% of the city’s voters to pass.

Velthoen said if half of the voters support the tax but not enough to approve it, the council should consider adopting a utility users tax to raise the necessary money.

The council members reacted cautiously to the report, but conceded that the city would have to find new sources of revenue if the state, as is widely feared, raids city property tax revenues again next year.

“Who knows what the state is going to do next year,” said Dorill B. Wright. “We may have to bite some more bullets--including some heavy lead.”

Wright recommended that the city make sure that it recovers the full cost of some city services.

Before the meeting, Councilwoman Young said she was dismayed at the city’s difficult financial position.

“I ran last year on a platform of no new taxes,” said Young, who has been at odds with her colleagues at times this year.

“After I was elected, though, I learned that the council was actually spending their money very wisely, and I don’t know what to do.”

Velthoen told the council he saw no easy solution.

“Even if voters approve the property tax override, it won’t get the city back to where it was a couple years ago,” Velthoen said.