Long Beach City Council to vote on $79M budget

A proposed $79.2-million budget that the Long Beach City Council is set to vote on Tuesday would raise the city's property tax levy by 3.16 percent.

Tax rate increases for homeowners could range between 1.98 percent and 3.98 percent for the fiscal year beginning July 1, city officials said. Homeowners would pay the higher rate unless state lawmakers take action to shift more of the local property tax burden to commercial property owners.

The council's two minority Democrats and some residents have criticized as unrealistic some of the plan's projections on revenues and expenses such as overtime.

For example, the plan allocates $450,000 for police overtime, less than half of the $1 million the department has spent on overtime in the first 10 months of this fiscal year. Similarly, the city has paid $300,000 in beach maintenance overtime in that same 10-month period - six times the budgeted amount - but is proposing only $150,000 for next year.

"The city has been spending too much," said resident Lawrence Benowitz, who questioned the budget at a public hearing last week.

Councilman Len Torres, who disapproved of spending on recent hirings such as six new police officers, said the city has failed to rein in spending in response to declining revenues.

An independent auditor's report for 2008-09, the most recent year available, found that revenues declined by 4.9 percent from the prior fiscal year to $67.29 million, while spending rose by 12.9 percent to $77.58 million.

"Some of the new hires . . . cannot be sustained at this point, not without raising taxes," said Torres, adding that homeowners have already been hit with a 5-percent hike in water rates and now face a proposed $300 rise in sanitation fees.

City Manager Charles Theofan, in a budget message, said the proposed 1.12 percent spending increase is the lowest on record. He defended the police hirings, saying they were part of a larger plan to reduce overtime. And, he has said, a proposed water rate increase amounts to less than $10 a year.

He also defended the city's use of up to $2.5 million in surplus funds to pay for recurring expenses this year, which critics have said is unsound policy. He said they were rainy day funds allocated in the last budget to offset a greater tax increase.

Torres and Councilman Mike Fagen said they would vote against the plan if no changes are made before the vote, scheduled for 7 p.m. The measure is likely to pass with the support of the three-member Republican coalition majority.