Malibu has already received more Vehicle License Fee money than it expected to obtain the entire fiscal year. Public Works Director looks to resolve Malibu’s dispute with Caltrans on debris removal at Las Flores Creek.
By Jonathan Friedman/Staff Writer
The city is expected to conclude the fiscal year in June with at least $250,000 more in general fund revenue than it budgeted for. Administrative Services Director Julia James informed the City Council about Malibu’s good fortune at its quarterly review meeting Jan. 28. She said the extra income comes primarily from the increased sales tax and Vehicle License Fee (VLF) revenue.
When the council approved the city’s budget last June, Malibu was not expecting to receive the VLF backfill money. The backfill is a sum of money the state has given to local governments since 1998 when the state first instituted its VLF rebates to residents. Since the 1940s, the VLF has been determined by taking 2 percent of the total value of a car. The state gave the revenue accumulated from these fees to local governments. In 1998, the state approved a rebate for the fees. To prevent this from affecting the revenue of local governments, the state chose to subsidize the difference. But that subsidy has been removed because of state budget constraints, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger tossed the idea of raising the VLF back to pre-1998 levels.
However, the city has received some of the backfill money this year and Schwarzenegger has come up with a new method to restore the backfill. Because of these factors, at the mid-point of the fiscal year the city has already surpassed the total amount of VLF revenue it had budgeted for. But James said the city is still making a conservative prediction of how much money it will receive by year’s end, $144,000 more than budgeted, because the governor’s method of restoring the backfill is being challenged as unconstitutional. Schwarzenegger made reductions to the state general fund to restore the backfill.
City says flooding hazard exists at Las Flores Creek
Also at the quarterly meeting, Councilmember Andy Stern inquired about a conflict between the city and the California Department of Transportation over the removal of vegetation and debris under Las Flores Canyon Bridge. Mayor Ken Kearsley had written Caltrans with a concern that the build-up of debris and vegetation in the event of a storm could result in the overflow of Las Flores Creek onto Pacific Coast Highway. But Caltrans would only do minimal work on removing the debris because it did not want to disturb the steelhead trout, an endangered species living in the creek. In a letter to the city, Caltrans District 7 Director Douglas R. Failing wrote that the department was satisfied that both environmental and safety concerns had been met with its work. However, city officials said the work had not been sufficient enough to eliminate a potential hazard. Public Works Director Yugal Lall told the council that he is in the process of setting up a meeting with the planning department of Caltrans to discuss the matter.
In addition, Environmental and Community Development Director Vic Peterson said the department has developed a plan internally on how it will deal with coastal development permits once the city’s battle with the California Coastal Commission is resolved. He said the department would soon educate the community on how this would be done. No coastal permits have been issued since September 2002 because of the dispute over the Local Coastal Program. Since then, an enormous backlog has been created of people waiting for permits, with the number nearing 200.
“Expect that there is going to be a huge demand on staff,” Peterson told the council. He said he hoped there would be money to hire contract staff to handle the overload.
Lastly, political activist Lloyd Ahern apologized for not having mentioned that he was fined for making an illegal contribution in a Los Angeles City Council campaign when he suggested the city of Malibu hire a monitor for the April City Council election. Ahern said that, in his situation, he had gotten bad advice from somebody, and that it was an example of how helpful a consultant could be.