City’s Revenue Exceeds Budget Forecasts

With cash to spare halfway through the fiscal year, City Council members Monday voted to buy new shotguns for the Police Department, hire a new building inspector and give themselves laptop computers.

The city’s annual midyear budget review found Simi Valley’s government flush with an extra $397,757 for the first half of the fiscal year. Most of the surprise revenue came from property taxes, rising along with home prices now that the local real estate market has emerged from its long recession.

Expenditures, meanwhile, were just $48,492 above what the budget projected. And since the budget includes a “fudge factor” of money that is allotted but not expected to be spent--$400,000 at the midyear mark--expenditures are actually $351,508 below what the budget calls for.

Councilwoman Sandi Webb said before the meeting that the budget numbers demonstrated the city staff’s skill at planning for Simi’s financial needs.

“I’m always amazed that they guess so close,” she said. “How do you guess something this size?”

With the city on a solid financial footing, council members approved spending $253,850 for items not included in the budget.

They voted to buy themselves Toshiba 430CDT Satellite Pro laptop computers for city business. Council members can currently access city computers through their own PCs at home. However, not everyone has the same, or comparable, equipment, Webb said.

The portables will allow the city to use the same software to interface with all council member computers and give council members the ability to take notes on city business during meetings.

The laptops will remain the property of the city and must be returned at the end of a council member’s term.

“This body has been good with supporting staff with equipment it needs to do its job,” said Councilwoman Barbara Williamson. “We need tools to do our job, too.”

The council also approved a sweeping reorganization of the Police Department, splitting the agency into four divisions at a cost of $40,800 for the first year. The reorganization was considered separately from the budget review, and its price tag was not included in the $253,850 in extra expenditures approved Monday night.

In the amended budget, the department will receive $37,600 to replace its 47 shotguns--all of which are 12 years old--as well as $7,300 for a replacement intoxilyzer, used to test the breath of suspected drunk drivers.

The council also approved $10,000 to advertise city programs on local movie screens. The money will go to create slides that advertise openings on neighborhood councils, for example, or remind moviegoers of the city’s graffiti hotline.

Other expenses approved Monday night included $34,000 to clean up tree limbs broken or felled during December’s windstorms and $54,950 to hire and equip a new full-time building inspector.