Budget Plan Calls for New Sources of Revenue

After months of community discussion, a proposed $135.3-million, two-year city spending plan was released Monday that would force the City Council to find new sources of revenue to pay for several new programs it desires.

For example, the budget recommends adding more police patrols and opening the city’s library on Fridays--ideas that the City Council unanimously supports--but only if council members can generate additional revenue.

However, the budget includes money for other proposals, such as hiring an economic development manager, creating an Internet site for the city and spending $500,000 to fix sidewalks.

The City Council, which is scheduled to hold a public hearing next week to debate the two-year spending plan, decided last year to postpone the budget process so that a residents’ committee could explore a variety of issues.

Despite a slight anticipated increase in revenues, the city’s overall expenditures will continue to decrease, from $68.3 million for 1995-96 to $67 million for 1996-97. That is because the city plans to replenish some of its reserve accounts--a suggestion made by the residents’ committee, said City Manager Grant Brimhall. The 1994-95 budget is $69.2 million.

The spending plan incorporates 15 of the 24 recommendations made by the Community Budget Task Force, including the refinancing of several city bonds, increasing fees at the Los Robles Golf Course and designating an accounting department staff member to perform internal audits.

*

Now the time for tough decision-making has come: Where will the money come from to pay for these new proposals? If the City Council decides to add two more police patrols or keep the library open an extra day, what other services must be cut?

“That’s not going to be able to be done without some extra funding,” said Councilman Mike Markey, a Compton homicide detective, about the proposed increase in police funding. “Being in that profession, that subject is close to my heart. But we have to be realistic. We might not be able to do it if we don’t find some new revenue sources.”

Beginning in June, Thousand Oaks will be able to contribute less of its General Fund to pay for the construction of the East County sheriff’s station, using interest from another city account instead. That will leave the city with an extra $605,000 a year, Brimhall said. City officials have said they expect from $400,000 to $1 million in extra revenue from auto leases now that the state Assembly has passed a law to share those taxes with cities. But that will not cover all the proposals.

Brimhall is recommending that the City Council consider raising the annual $50 fee for nonresidents to use the Thousand Oaks library system.

Councilwoman Jaime Zukowski said that increased fees may be worth considering, but noted that Thousand Oaks has already come under fire for the current rates, which some out-of-towners consider much too high.

“The city has found that many people outside of the city use the library, so having a fee is important,” she said. “But there comes a point when charging that fee will go too far. Some people felt it was already too much to spend.”

Instead of added library fees, the city might want to look within itself for ways to save money, Zukowski said. She criticized recommendations for increased travel and vehicle accounts in the city manager’s and city attorney’s departments, saying such expenditures should be kept to a minimum.

For example, the budget recommends a $26,400 budget to cover vehicle expenses for the city manager’s office--more than six times last year’s amount, she pointed out.

“I find some of these increases remarkable,” she said. “I am concerned about what it may represent. I think those jumps are too, too much.”

Markey, meanwhile, criticized fellow council members Elois Zeanah and Zukowski for shooting down an increase in business license fees last November, and then voting against an attempt by the rest of the council to put the issue before the city’s voters. The increase needed a 4-1 vote to pass.

*

He said the business tax would have given the council some extra money to increase police services and to pursue other council initiatives. It would cost the city $285,000 annually to add two police patrol cars and staff them for 40 hours a week--through the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department--and $114,000 a year to keep the city-funded library open on Fridays, according to the budget.

“I was disappointed the council didn’t put that measure forward,” he said. “We needed that money.”

Zeanah, in turn, believes that the city’s financial situation is better than the spending plan indicates. She said the budget should have included the police and library proposals and left out what she called Brimhall’s “pet projects.”

“We’ve had considerable increases to our General Fund,” she said. “We’ve got a lot more money than we had before. If this council makes it a priority to hire more police officers, we should be able to do so.”

One thing appears certain about the budget: It will be fought over many times before it is implemented.

“There is going to be a much more lengthy meeting next week than we would have otherwise needed,” Zeanah said.