Budget projects small surplus in the city’s general fund, while an increase in operating expenses from the County Sheriff’s Department has been passed on to the city.
By Knowles Adkisson / The Malibu Times
The City of Malibu’s proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2011-12 projects slight increases in revenues and expenditures, including a 3 percent increase to the city’s contract with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
Presented at a recent meeting of the Administration and Finance Subcommittee, the budget revealed an increase of $180,000 for Sheriff’s services, bringing its total yearly contract cost to $6.1 million. The increase is attributed to rising operating costs adopted by the county and does not reflect an increase in law enforcement services to Malibu.
The proposed budget will be considered by the City Council at its April 27 quarterly meeting. After a public budget hearing May 23, the finalized budget will be presented to the council June 13.
The total budget for Fiscal Year 2011-12 is more than $37.5 million, which includes capital improvement projects and other one-time expenditures. Projected revenues from the General Fund, the city’s main operating budget, are expected to rise to $20.7 million with expenditures of $20.3 million.
Assistant City Manager Reva Feldman said the budget can fluctuate depending on one-time expenditures, such as the $15 million spent on the purchase of the new City Hall.
Feldman said the actual yearly revenue for the city, which goes into the General Fund, stays fairly constant, at “around $20.6 million.”
The main sources of revenue for the city are property, sales, utility users and transient occupancy taxes. The city anticipates increased revenue from those sources in the 2011-12 fiscal year, totaling $123,000. According to the budget, “while slight, this increase represents the city’s strong and stable financial status.”
The city is projected to employ 61 full-time employees and the equivalent of 11 full-time employees working as part-time employees. Two positions will be added for next year, a maintenance worker for the new City Hall and a media information officer. The media position is being budgeted at a starting salary of $66,048. The city originally budgeted $90,000 for this position, which included benefits.
A city official told The Malibu Times that interviews are expected to be conducted for the media position within the next two weeks.
Capital improvement projects are allotted $12.5 million. The largest of these is the nearly $4.5 million budgeted for renovations to the Malibu Public Library. Almost $2.4 million has been set aside for an infiltration system to divert dry-weather and storm water runoff from eight storm drain inlets along a one-mile stretch of Broad Beach Road. Other projects budgeted for more than $1 million are the Las Flores Creek Restoration Project, Civic Center wastewater improvements and bike route improvements to Pacific Coast Highway.
According to the budget, the Las Flores Creek project will “restore the creek to a more natural condition as a complement to the Las Flores Creek Park improvements.”
Funding for Civic Center wastewater improvements will go to the design of a wastewater treatment facility and preparation of an environmental impact report for the facility. The bike route improvements “will improve the existing bike route, install safety improvements and upgrade [the] bike route from Trancas Canyon Road to the city limits near Leo Carrillo [State] Beach.”
The undesignated general fund reserve, a reserve fund for natural disasters and other unforeseen problems, is projected to total $9.7 million at the end of Fiscal Year 2011-12. The Administration and Finance Subcommittee recommended in March that the city council adopt a formal policy that the undesignated general reserve equal 50 percent of the General Fund operating budget. The city currently has an informal policy to keep at least $8 million in reserve. The new policy will be considered by the council at a future meeting. If the council chooses to adopt the new policy, the projected $9.7 million at the end of the next fiscal year would be about $650,000 short of 50 percent if the projections for next year hold out.
Other items of note in the budget are $110,000 for maintenance of Legacy Park and $65,000 for City Hall maintenance. The city projects $20,000 in savings for next year by capping annual employee raises at 3 percent.
The budget can be viewed on the Administration and Finance Subcommittee Web page on the city’s Web site, www.malibu.ca.gov, then clicking on the April 5, 2011 meeting agenda.