The 2004-05 revenue is $700,000 more than was originally budgeted. Also at the quarterly review meeting when this is announced, the City Council hires a consultant to help raise private donations for the municipal purchase of the Chili Cook-Off site.
By Jonathan Friedman/ Assistant Editor
Administrative Services Director Reva Feldman told the City Council at its quarterly review meeting on July 27 that the city’s revenue for the 2004-05 fiscal year was more than $700,000 greater than was budgeted. The final totals are not available, but Feldman said she would know them by the council’s quarterly meeting in October.
The projected general fund revenue for 2004-05 was $15.2 million. Feldman said the city actually received more than $15.9 million, mainly due to the continuing strength of the real estate market, which led to greater than anticipated property tax and documentary transfer tax revenue. Also, more coastal development permit applications have been made than were expected by city staff, further increasing the revenue. Additionally, the city recently received word that it was receiving $225,000 from the state in vehicle license fee money that had previously been taken from the city.
Once the city knows the exact amount of extra revenue it received for the past fiscal year, that money will be added to the budget for the current fiscal year. The council will be asked at a later meeting to decide how that money should be used.
Also at the meeting, the council unanimously voted to hire Susan Shaw of Shaw & Associates to help the city seek private donations toward the Chili Cook-Off site acquisition. Shaw was active in the successful Malibu cityhood campaign in the early ’90s. She also worked as a campaign consultant for former Councilmember Carolyn Van Horn. City Manager Katie Lichtig said the hiring of Shaw was recommended by The Malibu Times publisher Karen York.
Councilmember Jeff Jennings said the idea of hiring Shaw did not “sit right with him” at first because she was a formerly political active person in Malibu, adding that it “felt like a Malibu-insider thing.”
Barovksy interrupted Jennings, pointing out that Barbara Cameron was hired to be the city’s grants consultant after previously managing Jennings’ City Council campaign.
Jennings eventually agreed to Shaw’s hiring after the council decided some sort of performance standards must be established for Shaw to meet. Lichtig said she would negotiate what those standards would be with Shaw. She will receive a three-month contract beginning in September in which she will receive no more than $5,000 per month.
At the request of Councilmember Pamela Conley Ulich, the city will continue to seek applications for a private donation consultant who would work on seeking funds for the Chili Cook-Off site acquisition or other fundraising necessities. The council will decide whom to hire at a meeting in November, and that person could be Shaw if she were to apply.
Malibu Bay Co., which owns the Chili Cook-Off property, has given the city until Dec. 31 to come up with $25 million to buy the 20-acre property, which stretches along Pacific Coast Highway from Cross Creek Road to Webb Way. The city, which wants to acquire the property for the purpose of removing it from the possibility of commercial development and to include it as part of a wastewater/storm water treatment program, is attempting to accumulate the money through private donations and grants.
Also at the meeting, Public Works Director Yugal Lall said the city expects to be able to begin construction of a traffic signal at the intersection of Pacific Coast Highway and Corral Canyon Road in February 2006. For several years, community activists have been trying to get a signal installed at the intersection, which has been the site of numerous collisions involving pedestrians. The California Department of Transportation, which has the power to decide on Pacific Coast Highway issues, agreed earlier this year to install a signal at the intersection.
The city is currently working on the design for the project and is expected to complete the permitting process by November. In January, it will award a contract for the project. Construction is expected to conclude in April.
Corral Canyon was also a topic of discussion for another public works issue, with the city’s maintenance manager, Richard Calvin, telling the council that the high volume of water in the area due to the recent storms has caused the road to move slightly. The sinking of the road also occurred in the 1990s. Calvin said he is investigating the matter and expects the Federal Emergency Management Agency to pay to repair the road.