Dana Point : Council Approves $12.85-Million Budget

After a lengthy debate that resulted in few changes, the City Council on Tuesday approved a $12.85-million operating budget for the coming fiscal year.

Council members William L. Ossenmacher and Toni Gallagher voted against adoption of the budget, saying that the council had made no effort to cut expenditures.

“City staff prepared a council-approved budget that does not put our city in the efficient position it could be in,” Ossenmacher said.

The council should consider eliminating overtime pay for city employees and do away with such expenditures as the $70,000 in grant funding included in the budget for community organizations, he said.

“That grant funding is a luxury, not a necessity,” he said. “I think if we are going to continue the grant funding, then we should reduce the amount.”

But Councilman Harold R. Kaufman maintained that the budget was austere and that many of the changes recommended by Ossenmacher were policy issues to be discussed at another time.

“I think it’s a pretty rational budget,” Kaufman said. “What I was there to do was approve a budget and not to go over policies.”

The budget is about 4% more than last year’s, mostly because of a $132,000 increase in police services that the city contracts with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. City staffers said it also includes a $277,000 increase for street and park maintenance.

The council also approved a $55,555 addition for the city to participate in the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority.

Despite the increases, the city ends its current fiscal year with a surplus of $800,000 in its general fund--what it collects in taxes, licenses and fines. The surplus either will be placed in the city’s general fund reserves or used for capital improvement projects, city staffers said.