City in No Hurry to Formally Pass Budget : Government: Two public hearings have been delayed to allow more City Council scrutiny of a plan for the fiscal year that began in July.

City officials have canceled two public hearings on the budget this month, and will delay adopting a formal budget at least until January--more than six months into the fiscal year.

Mayor Jaime Zukowski on Wednesday criticized the decision, saying the council should not wait until after the holidays to adopt the $57-million spending plan.

“I believe we’re ready to go,” Zukowski said. “Input has been received and it should be able to get accomplished.”

The city government has been operating without an adopted budget since July 1. Budget proposals were delayed while a citizens panel studied potential cuts and council members prepared spending proposals of their own.

In the meantime, the city has been operating under a special resolution passed earlier this summer that calls for maintaining the same levels of funding as last year while a new 1995-96 spending plan is considered.

The proposed budget, which calls for hiring more sheriff’s deputies and extending library hours, would leave a potential deficit of $1.5 million if every program advocated by city officials is funded. But council members have said they are very likely to close the deficit before a final budget is adopted.

Two public hearings originally scheduled for this month have been delayed by City Manager Grant Brimhall until January, in part to allow the council members to scrutinize the budget more and to incorporate recommendations from a specially convened citizens task force.

“In years past, the city manager presented a budget and the council approved it,” Councilman Andy Fox said.

A better method, Fox said, is to appoint a citizens panel to make recommendations on funding and to allow people to review those suggestions. The citizens panel made its recommendations in September.

“The next budget cycle we’ll be on time because we’ll be used to the [new] budget process,” Fox predicted.

Trouble is, no one told the mayor about the latest delay.

Zukowski complained Wednesday that she learned of the cancellation of the hearings only when asked about it by a reporter.

“Maybe the mayor didn’t talk to the city manager or the city finance director,” snipped Councilwoman Judy Lazar, who frequently votes against Zukowski.

Lazar said she would like to adopt a budget this month, but that it is better to give people more time to review proposals than to rush to approve a plan.

“I would rather have a budget that everybody can be informed about,” she said. But “it would concern me if we went much beyond [January].”

Despite the delay, city employees are still receiving a cost-of-living raise that their union negotiated earlier this year. But some positions remain vacant.

“Does that mean these positions will not be filled?” asked Doris J. Lucas, union representative for the Thousand Oaks City Employees Assn. “We were hoping to receive some of those positions a lot sooner.”

Aside from the issue about when to adopt a budget, council members disagree over several recommended expenditures. Zukowski and Councilwoman Elois Zeanah, for example, want to do away with subsidized vehicles for the city’s top two executives.

“One of the first perks that major corporations eliminate is the car,” Zeanah said. “Government should do the same.”

The council last month approved spending about $23,000 toward a new car for the city manager, as well as providing him a $12,000 low-interest loan for the car. Zeanah and Zukowski both opposed the expense.

Another proposal to spend $150,000 opening an economic development department within City Hall is being opposed by Zeanah. She said the money is not a worthwhile investment because there is limited vacant land in Thousand Oaks, and the city already spends more than that on economic development.

But Fox disagrees. He said a city the size of Thousand Oaks needs an economic development specialist.

“It’s not like we’re blazing trails here,” he said. “All of the cities in Ventura County, with the exception of one or two, have economic development positions.

“We should have had one a long time ago,” he said.

Two items that most council members appear to agree on are providing more police services and increased library hours. Three council members already have said they support both propositions.