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Officials Upbeat About New Budget

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With officials sounding upbeat about the coming fiscal year, the City Council is set to give final approval tonight to a $29.4-million budget that calls for spending more money on capital improvements and public safety.

City leaders say the financial picture has begun to brighten for Laguna Beach and that residents face no increases in fees or taxes.

“We don’t have the Orange County bankruptcy, we don’t have a fire, we don’t have floods, and the state is not usurping any more [property taxes] than they do already,” City Manager Kenneth C. Frank said. “It’s the first year that things have been pretty positive for quite awhile.”

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Other encouraging signs: Hotel tax revenue is at an all-time high, and property sales appear to be picking up, which would mean a boost in property tax revenue for the city, Frank said. “In general,” he said, “it looks pretty good.”

The proposed budget calls for increasing the Fire Department budget by $17,300 to convert three relief firefighter positions to full-time posts and paying $17,700 to add a part-time public safety dispatcher.

The city had planned to spend $25,500 for new lifeguard towers in fiscal 1996-97, but a memo from Frank to the council says the Marine Safety Department has been authorized to make those purchases out of the current budget so that the towers can be installed this summer.

The spending plan also calls for allocating $1 million from the city’s parking fund to launch the Village Entrance, project, which involves the redevelopment of a high-profile corner across from the Festival of Arts grounds.

“The main thing I’m happy about is that we’re not cutting services, we’re not raising taxes, we have a greater focus on long-term capital improvements than has been the case for a very long time,” Councilman Paul Freeman said,

In a tiny bonus for property owners, city staff is recommending a dip in trash collection rates that would amount to 65 cents a month for single-family homes.

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