Newport Beach plans for $2.2M surplus

NEWPORT BEACH — The city plans to finish the fiscal year with a $2.2-million budget surplus, and to keep Newport Beach in the black, City Manager Dave Kiff said Monday he needs to trim between $7.5 million and $8 million in expenses.

At a Finance Committee meeting, Kiff and Finance Director Tracy McCraner presented their revised revenue forecast for this year, and proposed cuts for the 2011-12 fiscal year.

In April, Kiff said he wanted to cut $9.2 million, including laying off about 25 employees. It is unclear if fewer employees would now be laid off.

The cuts are needed to make up for increasing pension costs, negotiated salary increases and other non-employee costs such as street repairs, Kiff said.

“We’re not talking about temporary cost-increases here,” said Mayor Mike Henn, who is also a Finance Committee member. “Once they get ‘larded-in’ they stay, and that’s why we need to have structural solutions.”

At Tuesday’s 2 p.m. City Council study session, the department heads with some of the largest proposed cuts — police and fire — will detail their planned reductions.

The forecasted $2 million more in revenue than last fiscal year includes a 5% bump in the transient occupancy tax, or the hotel bed tax. Also, sales tax revenues are expected to rise slightly to $25.5 million, up from the low of $22.4 million in the 2009-10 fiscal year.