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Revenue swells, spending jumps in 2001-02 budget
by Jason Dietrich
A slowdown of the regional economy and the state’s looming electrical crisis has resulted in modest recommendations from Redondo’s financial planners in the proposed budget for 2001-2002.
The city released the proposed budget Thursday, May 17, listing the amount of money it expects to pull in during the coming year on everything from library fines and parking meters to property taxes. City financial planners balanced that against what they think they’ll need to keep the city running smoothly.
The city expects total revenues of $84.1 million in fiscal 2001-2002. That’s $1.4 less than was raised in 2000-2001 according to the latest budget revision, and $7.9 million more than was raised in 1999-2000.
City Manager Lou Garcia said that most of the increased spending came from increased salaries to employees. The city also budgeted an extra $1.5 million to deal with rising energy costs. New computers for city employees also bumped the budget up $318,000.
"Basically it’s a status quo budget. We’re very concerned about the slowdown of the economy and potential meltdown of the state budget," Garcia said.
The city is undertaking several major projects including an infrastructure renovation and implementation of e-government, along with planning for the revitalization of both Artesia Boulevard and the waterfront.
Redondo plans on expenditures of over $91.3 million. The budget will be balanced using reserves from previous years, Garcia said.
The city released a proposed five-year capital improvement plan in tandem with the budget, outlining 94 projects competing for funds. The total cost of those projects is estimated to be $86.2 million. Of the $21.4 million requested by city planners for this year, close to $10.2 million is budgeted for capital improvements in 2001-02.
The city’s biggest single expense is police, fire and emergency services, which accounts for 57 percent of expenditures from the city’s general fund.
The police department is projected to need $18.8 million this year. That doesn’t include the $5.1 million not approved for the construction of a new police station. But this year the police department will get specially-equipped SUVs that will serve as mobile command posts for sergeants responding to "major incidents" in the field.
Budget planners determined that the fire department will cost Redondo Beach $9.6 million dollars in 2001-02.
The only city department to receive a serious funding reduction is the office of the city clerk, which was cut from $1.1 million in last year’s budget to $650,050 in 2001-2002.
The clerk’s office’s responsibilities also have changed, following a tug of war over the control of the financial services department with the city manager’s office. The city manager has proposed shifting the printing and graphics division of the city clerk’s office to the financial services department. The financial services department also has taken over the purchasing function from the city manager’s office. The financial services department, which now operates under the oversight of the city manager, has a proposed budget increase from $662,861 last year to $1 million this year. ER