Council Weighs Budget Priorities

By Blair Clarkson
Staff Writer

Jan. 29 -- The City Council Tuesday night directed staff to maintain the current $3 million in ongoing funding to the School District and explore raising the hotel bed tax and leasing City properties to boost its support during another year of fiscal belt tightening.

The move came during the council’s review of its budget priorities, as advocates of everything from public schools to parks and the local symphony packed the chambers to plead for more funding in the 2004-05 fiscal budget expected to be approved in May.

To create an ongoing revenue stream for the cash-strapped school district, City Manager Susan McCarthy suggested raising the Transient Occupancy Tax -- which the City has historically held lower than LA's bed tax to promote tourism -- and exploring a variety of ways of using City properties to enhance revenues.

Even if the Council budgeted the $5.25 million it gave during the current fiscal year, the district would still face a $3 million deficit under the state budget proposed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, said School Board President Jose Escarce.

"Support enables us to maintain personnel and programs crucial to providing high quality education," Escarce told the council. "The quality of the community is inextricably linked to the quality of its public schools."

Superintendent John Deasy warned in a memo Tuesday that passage of the Governor's proposed budget would force the district to slash at least 23 programs and services, including Early Intervention for School Success, Advanced Placement Support, Bilingual Teacher Training and home-to-school transportation.

Concerned parents and school representatives appealed to Council members for "stable and predictable funding" to district schools, which is the goal of a proposed ballot measure sponsored by education advocates that would mandate that the council give the schools at least $6 million a year.

Later in the meeting Councilmen Ken Genser expressed trepidation about the "unfortunate dynamic" that might be created by the proposed Charter Amendment, which is opposed by the council members.

"It gives (schools) an advantage over programs that serve seniors or the disabled," Genser said, adding that any future cuts would then have to come from other areas.

But education advocates argued that the entire City would feel the impacts of cuts to school funding, which would lead to increased youth crime and lower property values for years to come.

"Healthy public schools are essential to keep our community strong," said PTA Council President Maria Rodriguez.

In addition to hearing from school supporters, the Council got input from some 60 members of the public on a wide variety of programs and services, including playground access, protection for the disabled, child care and youth programs, a living wage ordinance, the city Symphony and Historical Society and building inspections.

Education advocates Tricia Crane and John Petz asked the council to restore cuts to school playgrounds made during last year's budget crunch that reduced the hours they were open to the public.

"Our community must maintain access to our limited open space," said Crane. "The majority of residents live in apartments, and public parks are too few."

"Available open space benefits all of us," added Petz, claiming that the $58,000 in cuts wasn't worth the loss of park time for children. "We can't buy park space out there" for so little.

Genser agreed: "We need to do something in next year's budget about getting more time on the playgrounds."

The living wage also took center stage, as members of SMART (Santa Monicans Allied for Responsible Tourism) asked the council to the review costs and draft a Living Wage Ordinance mandating that City employees and contractors be paid at least $11.51 an hour (the level at which a family of four is no longer eligible for food stamps).

"The Los Angeles area is known as the capital of working poverty in the U.S.," said Sonya Sultan.

"Employers should pay their employees enough so that the workers do not have to depend on tax-supported welfare programs to support their families," added resident Edith Mendez.

In response, the council directed staff to examine various scenarios, wage levels and the experiences of other cities and make recommendations on a potential living wage ordinance as part of the 2004-05 budget development process.

As they draft the upcoming fiscal budget, the council also instructed staff to protect the interests of children, seniors and people with disabilities; consider additional ways to boost revenues, such as increasing transportation Impact Fees and Property Transfer Taxes; review raising the planning fees, and update the election Web site.

Prior to the 2004-05 budget development, Council asked staff to consider several immediate short-term needs, including implementing a schedule for a new Downtown parking plan, exploring the possibility of restoring playground hours, assisting the Historical Society with a new cataloging project, and considering how the City might hire more building inspectors.

However, Mayor Richard Bloom made it clear that the City would be reducing services and that programs should turn to the community for funding.

"We don't have extra money," he said. "The message from the council is that we're cutting, we're not adding."

The council's recommendations and the cavalcade of public requests came after Finance Director Steve Stark reviewed the council's success in reducing the City's $16.1 million budget gap last fiscal year by boosting revenues and making "hard decisions" on spending cuts.

Stark forecasted a $4 million deficit for the coming year, which could be reduced to $2 million through recommended capital improvement funding.