An anticipated increase of $6.7 million into the city of Lompoc’s General Fund for the next two-year budget cycle won’t result in much change to business as usual, according to a draft budget to be presented to City Council members Tuesday evening.
The $57.5 million budget prepared by city staff for fiscal years 2013-15 assumes a 13-percent increase in General Fund revenues from the prior budget, including more than $2 million in grants to fund nine public safety positions, a $2.4 million increase in funds for streets and roads, and a $1 million increase in sales tax receipts.
The draft budget, prepared by City Administrator Laurel Barcelona and Management Services Director Brad Wilkie, includes a total of $6.6 million in reserve funds — about 24 percent of the city’s budget for one year.
“This budget reflects the council’s goal to deliver a balanced General Fund budget without use of reserves,” Barcelona said Friday. “We have achieved that.”
Increased expenses from unfunded, new federal and state mandates, the loss of redevelopment funds and increased employee salary and benefit expenses will deplete the projected new revenue, leaving essential city services and workforce — including employee furlough days — largely status quo.
“CalPERS retirement and healthcare cost increases place the highest level of challenge and pressure on the budget in this fiscal year and increasingly in the years ahead,” Barcelona wrote in her budget message to council members.
The draft budget assumes that previously negotiated employee concessions — including eight unpaid furlough days per year and no cost-of-living increases — will continue, though employee salary step increases are budgeted.
Negotiations with bargaining units representing city employees are still continuing, thus the potential impact of the outcome of the negotiations on the budget remains unknown. Employee salaries and benefits, including pension contributions to PERS, account for 73 percent of the General Fund budget.
Five employee positions were eliminated after the adoption of the 2011-13 budget — resulting in a reduction of total employees from 371 in the prior budget to a proposed 367. Positions previously eliminated include two department managers, a library assistant and a position at both the city’s waste water and water treatment plants.
An additional two positions are proposed to be eliminated in the draft budget. A victim’s advocate position, working out of the Police Department as an employee of the North County Rape Crisis and Child Protection Center, and a part-time literacy program coordinator at the Lompoc Library were both paid for from General Fund reserves after grants expired in 2011. Council members are expected to be asked to fund one or both positions from reserves during the budget discussion.
A previously approved — but never funded in the last budget cycle — position for a second assistant city planner is included in the draft budget. Barcelona said funding the additional position was essential to process an increasing number of development requests in the city.
The 226-page detailed budget document assumes modest increases in sales and property taxes, and a 5-percent increase in tourism-related revenue from the Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT). TOT tax receipts fell far short of projections built into the current budget cycle, but are expected to rise with the opening of Hancock College’s Public Safety Training Complex this December.
Six new firefighter positions and three new police officer positions, funded by federal and state grants announced earlier this year. Most of those slots have already been filled.
$210,000 of a total of $870,000 in one-time funds from the dissolution of the redevelopment agency and a property tax settlement with the county will be used for security updates and a new heating/air conditioning system in council chambers. The $660,000 remaining is proposed to be added to general fund reserves.
The General Fund subsidy of the city’s Aquatic Center operations is proposed for the same amount as the prior budget — $420,000 — despite an increase in revenue from user fees. Increased operating expenses from the recent addition of a dehumidifier to prevent corrosion of metal structures offset the revenue increases achieved.
Approval of property tax assessments for the Park Maintenance and City Pool Assessment District is also on the agenda, along with final approval of the city’s revised parking ordinance, now written to cite pavers as an approved paved surface if installed per manufacturer’s specifications.Click on their website www.ecived.com/en for more information.
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