Vista officials upbeat, despite troubled economy

By: CRAIG TENBROECK - North County Times | Monday, January 28, 2008 10:44 PM PST ∞

VISTA - The unsettling topic of the economy crept into several speeches Monday at Vista's State of the Community luncheon, but most of the annual progress reports from civic leaders were upbeat and optimistic.

Mayor Morris Vance assured business and community leaders that Vista would be able to weather the fiscal challenges of the coming years.

The city may have to slice programs and leave positions vacant if property tax and sales tax revenues decline as expected, Vance told roughly 200 people at the Shadowridge Country Club.

"But I think the one thing that I'd like to emphasize is that we're ready to push on through it," he said.

(After the luncheon, Vance said it was too soon to say what programs could face the axe.)

The luncheon's five speakers - Vance, Vista Unified School District board President Jim Gibson, Tri-City Medical Center President Dr. Art Gonzalez, Sheriff's Capt. Ed Prendergast and Vista Irrigation District General Manager Roy Coox - used their time at the microphone to list highlights from 2007.

Prendergast drew applause when he announced that crime in Vista dropped 11.36 percent in 2007, with arrests up 36 percent at 4,460.

When the crime rate drops, Prendergast said, quality of life increases on several fronts.

"It's about people not being robbed," he said. "It's about people not being victimized. It's about your employees not having guns shoved in the faces. It's about people not having their cars stolen."

Prendergast acknowledged the troubled economy but said local law enforcement was prepared for the fallout.

"The economy is going south on us and that means there's likely to be an increase in crime," Prendergast said. "But not in Vista, because we're not going to allow that."

At Tri-City, employees have been preparing for an economic slump by "doing a lot of belt tightening" while still preparing for growth, Gonzalez said.

The hospital narrowly failed twice in 2006 to pass a multi-million dollar construction bond. Though hospital directors have not yet decided to put another bond on the ballot, Gonzalez pointed out the potential financial benefits to the community if a third attempt were successful.

"If we're successful in passing a bond in the future, that will pump about another $900 million dollars into the community - into the local economy - over an eight-year period," he said. "And that doesn't even include the spin-off effects that occur - the construction workers, the architects, the engineers, the businesses that would benefit from such a program."

In the school district, most schools did better on state tests in 2007 than in the previous year, Gibson said in a statistic-laden speech.

"Some of the things that we set out last year to do are now showing some results," he said.

The afternoon's most frank speech came from Coox as he outlined the region's water problems.

The irrigation district's local water supply at Lake Henshaw has suffered from several dry years, as has the Colorado River, another major source. A federal judge, meanwhile, has restricted water pumping through the fragile Sacramento-San Joaquin bay delta to save an endangered fish.

"I've seen droughts come and go ... and each of them had a temporary feel to them," Coox said of his 20 years in the water business.

"I'm not so sure this time," he said, adding that if residents and businesses don't conserve voluntarily, cutbacks may be on the way.

Contact staff writer Craig TenBroeck at (760) 901-4062 or ctenbroeck@nctimes.com.

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