NEWPORT BEACH : City OKs County Cut in Lifeguard Funding

The City Council has given grudging approval to the phase-out of an agreement with Orange County that has provided $110,000 a year to support city lifeguard services.

“We get at least 25,000 extra visitors every summer and now we’re being asked to pay the (full) cost of lifeguards as well as cleaning (the beach) up,” Councilman Thomas C. Edwards said. “This is one of the things where we should press the county as best as possible.”

Council members also authorized sending the county a letter expressing the city’s disapproval of the county’s fiscal take away and voted to try to recoup the subsidy from other sources.

The county began paying subsidies to Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, Laguna Beach, Seal Beach and San Clemente years ago, when there were no county-operated beaches, the cities were smaller and had less revenue, and the unincorporated area in the county was much larger.

Since 1982, the total county contribution has been $248,248, with $110,420 going to Newport Beach, City Manager Kevin J. Murphy said.

Orange County officials notified the cities in June that they planned to reduce the subsidy by 25% per year in the next four years because the state is keeping part of property taxes that once went to counties.