Council continues safety support

Costa Mesa City Council members over the last few years have emphasized police and street repairs, something they intend to continue with notably larger expenditures in the 2008-09 budget, city officials said at Tuesday’s study session.

City officials outnumbered the 20-or-so community members present as staffers tried to make a long and detailed budget accessible to the average resident. A slide presentation filled with pie charts and statistics showed how spending on police — the biggest allocation in the budget — has increased from less than 35% of the general fund to almost 40% in the last decade. This money has gone toward adding more officers to Costa Mesa’s force, staff said. The general fund represents about 90% of the budget.

“I think this shows a reflection of the council’s priorities in the last five years,” said City Manager Allan Roeder. “Public safety has been more important to recent councils than it was 10 years ago.”

Finance Director Marc Puckett addressed how the ailing economy has affected revenues, noting that many of the consequences of the housing slump will not be seen until future budgets are drafted.

This “lag factor” is caused by the way that tax revenue is accounted for.

“We’ll see the largest effect of the current economic crisis not in this fiscal year’s budget, but in the 2009-10 fiscal year’s budget,” Puckett said.

A video presentation touted all of the street improvements planned for the coming year, and Roeder trumpeted some of the construction projects that are soon to be underway.

One of these projects was a proposal to rearrange Lions Park to add two additional soccer fields with no extra construction and add lighting to the entire complex.

Council suggestions were limited. Mayor Pro Tem Allan Mansoor urged the council to rein in spending by cutting professional development spending for council members and adding money to the city’s emergency fund as a precautionary measure.

Both suggestions met with stern opposition from the other two members present and the city manager.

Councilwoman Linda Dixon pointed out that November might bring three new council members and said they need to be trained.

“You are elected leaders, and it’s really important that you’re well-educated,” Roeder said.

Staff also brought up a last-minute expenditure of about $300,000 on two new 20-foot-high signs on the local freeways welcoming people to Costa Mesa — projects that were delayed due to a slow Caltrans response, according to Public Services Director Peter Naghavi.

“We started this process three years ago, and Caltrans just got back to us a month ago,” Naghavi said.

The signs were requested to show that “Costa Mesa is not just a wide, flat spot on the way to Newport Beach,” Roeder said.

ALAN BLANK may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or at alan.blank@latimes.com.