Newport Beach City Council thinks about its priorities for upcoming year

Over the next several months, the Newport Beach City Council will prioritize future capital improvement projects, allotting funds for those they deem of greatest importance and placing others on the back burner.

The council, along with city staff, met for a four-hour council planning session Saturday morning to review the city’s finances, as well as construction projects currently underway and those on the horizon.

However, unlike similar sessions in the past, the council was not required to set its priorities during Saturday’s meeting. The discussion was a time for the new members of the City Council — councilmen Scott Peotter, Kevin Muldoon, Marshall “Duffy” Duffield and Mayor Pro Tem Diane Dixon — to familiarize themselves with the direction set by previous leadership, said City Manager Dave Kiff.

“The next couple of months will be a great time for you to weigh in on these projects before staff spends any money,” Kiff said to the councilmembers.

The council plans to specifically review the city’s Arts & Culture Master Plan — responsible, in part, for the sculptures arranged at Civic Center Park — as well as the development of the West Newport Community Center and the replacement of the aging sea walls that surround Balboa Island.

Dozens of capital projects — including traffic signal modernization throughout the city, residential paving and concrete street replacement, a new Corona del Mar library branch, undergrounding utilities, and the proposed Balboa Village Fine Arts Center — were also highlighted by city staff during the meeting.

While the city is in good financial health, increasing expenditures means the council will have to prioritize how best to spend its money. The council is able to spend about $125 million from the city’s budget, said city finance director Dan Matusiewicz.

Budget documents show that the city ended last fiscal year with a $9.7 million surplus.

“While overall our revenues are increasing, so are the expenditures necessary for growth,” Matusiewicz said. “We are trying to be aggressive in tackling those fiscal challenges.”

Peotter suggested creating a debt reduction fund for next year’s budget that would continue with the trend of improvement projects while still keeping the city’s finances in good shape.

About 50 Newport Beach residents attended the planning session Saturday morning, some bringing forth ideas of which projects should be prioritized.

Several speakers spoke strongly about the necessity of replacing the sea walls around Balboa Island. A 2011 city report stated that the sea walls, some of which were built 90 years ago, are nearing the end of their useful life.

However, replacing all the walls will likely cost the city between $20 million and $70 million, according to city documents.

“The structure failure of sea walls is critical,” said Balboa Island resident Lee Fellinge. “Please move this to an action point and get it into a financial plan so that we can rest assured this isn’t just more talk.”