Escondido council gets first glimpse at $87.7 million budget

By: DAVID FRIED - Staff Writer | Wednesday, April 26, 2006 10:54 PM PDT ∞

ESCONDIDO ---- Following a year of robust economic growth, finance officials presented the Escondido City Council on Wednesday with its first look at the proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

Escondido officials plan to spend $87.7 million on the city's operations for the 2006-07 fiscal year, the same amount they expect to receive in revenues and transfers.

While the balanced spending plan met with little comment on the dais, council members tussled over how to spend a $4.5 million budget surplus from 2004-05, with a majority making two last-minute changes to finance officials' recommendations.

The proposed budget for the 2006-07 fiscal year represents a 13 percent increase over the $77.4 million budget for the current year.

The heftier spending plan reflects the city's higher tax and fee receipts, nearly all of which have jumped by double digits over the last year, finance officials said.

Revenues through February were up 11.2 percent over the same period the previous year, and the proposed budget was calculated on that trend, according to Joy Canfield, the city's finance manager.

"Things have been looking very positive lately," Canfield said. "We're hoping the growth will continue."

The council unanimously approved the budget assumptions, and will consider the final, detailed document on June 14, with the budget taking effect July 1.

As in prior years, the largest swath of the budget would go toward public safety. Salaries, maintenance and equipment for the city's Police and Fire Departments total $54 million, and make up 65 percent of the proposed budget.

Spending on police would increase $2.9 million, or 9 percent, to pay for rising salary and pension costs, as well as the addition of four additional officers.

The Fire Department's budget would go up $1.3 million, or 7.6 percent. Most of that increase, $900,000, would cover increased salary and pension costs, as well as additional full- and part-time personnel. The remainder would be spent on needed vehicle maintenance and replacement.

Other departments would also receive budget increases under the proposed plan.

For example, the city plans to spend $791,000 on senior services, a 30 percent increase over this year's spending. The added dollars will be used for needed maintenance at the Joslyn Senior Center and other facilities.

Discussions went less smoothly over how to spend an unanticipated windfall.

The city ended the 2004-05 fiscal year with a $4.6 million surplus, mostly a result of higher-than-anticipated tax revenues and state reimbursements.

The proposed budget presented Wednesday called for several different uses for that money, including spending $170,000 for the relocation of Fire Station No. 1, which will be torn down and rebuilt as part of the city's $84.3 million public safety facilities expansion program.

Another $1 million would be funneled back into next year's budget to cover purchases for needed equipment in 10 different departments, including $422,000 for police patrol cars and other resources. And $800,000 would cover reimbursements for unused vacation time for retiring employees over the next couple years.

And $30,000 was set aside for additional consulting fees for the city's efforts to help La Jolla-based developer C.W. Clark build a 196-room Marriott hotel and 127-unit condominium project downtown.

City finance officials also recommended placing $1.5 million in the council's economic investment reserve account. But a council majority swatted down that suggestion, arguing that the money would be better spent to address the city's graffiti problem.

Councilman Sam Abed insisted $1 million be used to help pay for graffiti abatement, an idea he had pitched when the surplus was first announced in February.

"For me, and what I hear from the community, there isn't any more important issue than this," Abed said.

Abed also agreed to a last-minute request from the Boys & Girls Club for $200,000 to help pay for a $500,000 expansion of the organization's swimming pool at its facility in Grape Day Park.

Mayor Lori Pfeiler said making such last-minute revisions and allocations without fully reviewing them was not fiscally prudent, and was the only council member to vote against the proposal. Councilman Ron Newman was absent.

Contact staff writer David Fried at (760) 740-5416 or dfried@nctimes.com.

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