Costa Mesa adopts $112-million budget for 2003-04

Deirdre Newman

Recreational opportunities for kids trumped extra money for code

enforcement as the City Council enacted a budget for the 2003-04

fiscal year on Monday.

The council approved the $112-million budget unanimously after

pulling a flurry of items for further discussion. The council decided

to address those issues in the future rather than cut from the budget

entirely.

The only loser was the city’s contribution of about $3,800 to the

Orange County Human Relations Committee. That money got diverted to

high school graduation night events in next year’s budget, as Mayor

Gary Monahan recommended.

The fact that the budget passed with only one adjustment is a

testament to the due diligence of City Manager Allan Roeder and his

staff, Monahan said.

“They really do take care of things the way the council wants them

to and promote our priorities and run a tight, conservative budget,”

Monahan said.

The budget is the culmination of months of number-crunching by

Roeder and his staff. A study session and community budget workshop

were also held last week to answer questions about the budget.

Councilman Allan Mansoor tried to stop funding two recreational

opportunities for kids -- Mobile Recreation, a program that visits

various neighborhoods that don’t have a lot of access to open space,

and a day camp for kids. Mansoor wanted the funds to be used for

overtime for code enforcement. Both efforts could not even muster

enough support for the council to vote on them.

“I would not ever support a decrease in funding for Mobile

Recreation or [the] day camp to go to the police or code

enforcement,” Councilwoman Libby Cowan said. “The recreation programs

we have play a role in the quality of life and safety of persons and

property. It’s unmeasurable -- an incredibly pure form of prevention

that’s so important to the community.”

Among the issues that got pulled for further public discussion are

the skateboard park, the Costa Mesa Job Center and increasing fees

like the transient occupancy tax. While increasing fees would have to

be put to a vote of the people, some residents expressed their

support Monday.

“I think we really need to consider increasing the business

license fee and some other fees in the city,” said Beth Refakes. “I

also think we should look at increasing fees for recreational

facilities to cover maintenance and fund improvements.”

Monahan suggested bringing the discussion on increasing fees to a

study session and inviting the Costa Mesa Chamber of Commerce and the

Costa Mesa Tourism Council to participate.

With new police chief John Hensley being sworn in Monday night,

the council gave him some time to determine what his deployment needs

are.

“Come back with an overall update on deployment on what you have

going out in the community and what you want,” Monahan said.

One of the items that sparked the most controversy among council

members was the funding of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education

program, which also was pulled for further discussion. The program

uses law enforcement to work with kids to prevent drug use.

Mansoor wanted to look at it further to make sure the funds were

being spent efficiently. Cowan suggested keeping the program, but

redeploying the law enforcement officers into the community and

having other people run the program.

Monahan and Councilman Mike Scheafer adamantly defended the

program as is.

“My three sons went through the DARE program and I’m glad they

haven’t given into any temptations,” Scheafer said. “If one kid stays

off drugs, [the program] has done its job.”

The budget allows the city to maintain programs and services at

existing levels. It estimates the city will take in about $38 million

in sales tax and about $15 million in property tax.

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers Costa Mesa and may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at [email protected].