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
