Budget Including 3% Raises Adopted

With Ojai in what officials describe as the best financial shape in five years, the City Council adopted a $6.3-million municipal budget this week that includes a 3% wage increase for city employees.

The salary hike for the approximately 30 workers will cost about $50,000, Finance Director Cynthia Burell said.

The city’s general fund budget, which excludes all money that must be used for specific purposes, totals about $3.7 million, about $700,000 more than the previous year. The largest chunk, $1.4 million, will be spent on law enforcement during fiscal year 1997-98, about $100,000 more than the present year.

A healthy economy that has translated into stable sales taxes and hotel bed taxes will enable the city to catch up on deferred maintenance and capital expenditures, and in some instances improve services, City Manager Andy Belknap said.

For instance, the city has increased the street maintenance budget from $100,000 to $130,000 and recreational spending by about $30,000 over the previous year.

However, in the wake of Simi Valley’s withdrawal from the county’s animal-control department, increasing costs for the service mean Ojai must consider other options for that service, Belknap said.