City May Have to Raise Utility Rates

Despite a faint improvement in Ventura County’s economy, Oxnard may have to increase utility rates and other fees to keep next year’s budget from incurring a $925,000 deficit, according to a financial forecast released this week.

The 1996-97 budget described under the forecast’s “best guess scenario” does not include more money for public safety, youth services, street maintenance and two other areas the City Council has suggested it wants increased.

The council’s wish list amounts to an additional $1.2 million in appropriations.

But the forecast predicts Oxnard will balance next year’s budget if services remain at existing levels and revenues increase by $925,000--possibly through hikes in utilities and public television access fees.

“We are looking pretty good,” said Dennis Scala, a city management analyst. “But it doesn’t leave anything to restore services that we had to pare back during the recession.”

Oxnard is expected to wind up with a balanced budget for the 1995-96 fiscal year, the forecast predicts.

But the 1997-98 year may be gloomier, especially if the city loses $506,000 in tax revenues when two department stores expect to leave The Esplanade mall for Ventura.

The financial forecast also includes a “slow-growth scenario” that predicts the city would face a $1.5-million budget deficit next year if it did nothing to increase revenues.

Scala said more defense cutbacks and the loss of more manufacturing jobs could push the city into a slow-growth track.

Scala said there would have to be a boost in residential construction for the city to fit the forecast’s “fast-growth scenario,” which would leave the city with a $1.39-million surplus in 2000.

“The Easter bunny would have to come and deliver something to us,” Scala said. “I don’t think that is going to happen.”