Seal Beach’s budget for the next 12 months is balanced and has a surplus.
“In addition to fulfilling all of the council adopted fiscal policies, the surplus is estimated to be between $25,000 and $50,000,” said Victoria Beatley, finance director and city treasurer, the day following the Monday, June 2, budget workshop.
More precise figures will be available when the council meets again on Monday, June 9.
“Before all of the changes that were presented last night, the reserves were projected to be $24.727 million. After all of the approved changes last night that number could go as high as $27.777 million,” Beatley said.
The City Council will hold a public hearing on the proposed budget on Monday, June 9. The council held budget workshops on Thursday, May 29, and this past Monday.
“The budget is balanced,” said Mayor Ellery Deaton the previous week. “As in past years, there is money that is taken out of savings to pay for capital improvements. These are carefully planned for in advance and contain such items as deferred maintenance, vehicle purchases and infrastructure needs,” she said.
Budget highlights include:
• Staff has recommended keeping the city’s utility use tax at 11 percent. The UUT is expected to generate $5.3 million in revenue next year.
• The Seal Beach Police Department remains the largest item in the city budget, representing 35 percent of the overall budget, according to a recent staff presentation.
Figures for expenses and revenues have been changing throughout the budget process, such as the original surplus projection.
For example, after the Thursday, May 29, budget workshop, the budget for the city attorney’s office was revised.
City attorney’s office
In the staff report for next Monday’s budget hearing, City Attorney Quinn Barrow said the proposed budget for his office had been reduced to $490,000.
The original budget request had been $30,000 higher.
According to Barrow’s report, the city does not anticipate costly litigation.
However, Barrow told the council this week that you cannot predict litigation.
Barrow said the budget for his office was increased from last year because of a court ruling that requires the city attorney to hire an outside law firm to handle personnel issues and possibly code enforcement.
Seal Beach had income as well as outgo from its legal department.
Barrow said the California Finance Department was reimbursing Seal Beach $1.3 million for sewer funding.
He also said Seal Beach received $140,000 that Orange County had improperly withheld.
Barrow also said that any time the city has a major project, the developer reimburses the city for legal fees.
Beatley said those revenues would be going into a specific account so they could be tracked.
Mayor Deaton asked if adding special counsel fees wouldn’t cause Barrow’s firms fees to go down. Barrow said the budgeting process began at mid-year, when only five months of data were available. When the city attorney’s office budget was revised, 10 months of data were used.
Capital Improvement Program
Public Works Director Sean Crumby presented the five-year capital improvement program.
“The proposed CIP includes 50 projects to be delivered during the next five years totaling over $32 million in value,” Crumby said in the introduction to the CIP.
Seal Beach currently has 10 projects in construction, including the annual concrete program, the relocation of the traffic management center, and the installation of emergency generators at City Hall and Fire Station #44.
The proposed 2014-2015 CIP budget is $15.1 million, of which $3.1 million will come from Seal Beach’s General Fund, $22,000 will come from a public donation, and the remainder from other outside agency payments, such as OCTA, Measure M, etc.
Mayor Deaton proposed having Main Street cleaned weekly during visitor serving periods and bi-weekly the rest of the time. “I think cleanliness is the first thing we need,” she said.
The three council members who were present June 2—Deaton, Gary Miller and Michael Levitt—discussed funds for the Seal Beach Centennial and for the Salon Meritage memorial. Gordon Shanks and David Sloan had excused absences from the meeting.
Staff had proposed $150,000 for the centennial.
Deaton proposed lowering that to $100,000. Deaton said she wanted to create a safety net for both the centennial and Salon Meritage projects in case fund raising efforts did not come through.
Miller said he does not care who pays for the Salon Meritage memorial, he just wants it built by this fall. Deaton said let the fund raisers do their jobs.
Deaton said she would support a budget amendment for the Salon Meritage project if fund raising efforts did not come up with the money.
Ultimately, the three council members voted to budget $80,000 for the Salon Meritage Memorial and $100,000 for the Centennial.
Grants
Seal Beach received 44 grant requests from 17 qualified community organizations this year. Thirty of the requests are new. The requests for direct support—cash and direct costs to the city—totaled $75,364. Indirect costs—staff costs, permit waivers, etc.—totaled $64,622.
