Costa Mesa council will discuss next city budget at special meeting

Costa Mesa City Council members will review the city’s preliminary budget at a special meeting Tuesday.

At $163.7 million, the proposed spending plan for fiscal 2018-19 is about $568,000 more than what’s currently approved. The fiscal year begins July 1.

While the overall bottom line isn’t drastically different, Costa Mesa is continuing to grapple with projections showing that “overall, revenues are increasing at a slower rate than expenditures,” City Manager Tom Hatch wrote in his budget message.

“Five-year projections show revenues increasing at an average of 3% per year, and expenditures are increasing at an average of 4% per year,” he wrote, with spending partially fueled by increases in “retirement, existing contracts and utility costs.”

Despite that, Hatch wrote that the proposed budget is balanced “without the use of general fund reserves and provides the highest level of service to the community within existing financial resources.”

“In preparing this budget, departments were asked to continue to look for innovative ways to deliver services without compromising service levels,” he wrote.

The preliminary budget includes various staffing changes — including the elimination of some currently vacant positions to reduce costs. Among those eyed to be scrubbed from Costa Mesa’s ledgers is the second assistant city manager role, which has sat unfilled since former employee Rick Francis left the city in June to take a position as assistant airport director at John Wayne Airport.

Overall, the budget would reduce the number of full-time city positions from 477 to 476.

Also proposed are changes to several city fees — most notably those for building permits, which haven’t been updated in more than 20 years. Staff suggests a 53% increase to reflect changes in the consumer price index — a measure of inflation — over that time and bring Costa Mesa’s charges in line with other Orange County cities.

Staff is also seeking council direction on whether to move ahead with a possible increase to the transient occupancy tax charged for motel and hotel stays.

The city’s Finance & Pension Advisory Committee has recommended boosting that rate from 8% to 10%. Doing so would require the council to place the item on the ballot for voter approval.

Tuesday’s meeting starts at 5 p.m. at City Hall, 77 Fair Drive.

A community meeting on the budget is scheduled for 5 p.m. Wednesday in Conference Room 1A on the first floor of City Hall.

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