Doing it right: Making the budget choices needed to live within our means

Last night the City Council tackled the looming budget challenges for next fiscal year, zeroing in on the alternatives for continuing to "live within our means."

The Council focused on the four basic alternatives for further reducing costs in line with further declines in sales tax, property tax, building fees and other revenues hammered by the economic reckoning:

• Further reductions in lower priority programs and expenses
• Continuation of employee compensation reductions
• “Re-inventing” services to reduce costs
• “Muddling through” by a combination of the first three and/or project delays, funding shifts and other short-term measures
  

"Muddling through" or "kicking the can down the road" is not, of course, sustainable. It's what has gotten the State of California into the dire fix it is in. But cutting programs, reducing compensation and revamping services are difficult and unpopular. Creating a balanced budget that is sustainable for what looks like a long period of hard times requires more than political courage. It requires an informed public that understands and supports the choices being made. There is no shortcut to solvency in a down economy. Even those who call for more "economic development" and support "business-friendly" policies recognize those won't bring tangible gains for years to come. If Ventura is to prosper in the years ahead and protect our quality of life, we are going to have to make intelligent -- and difficult -- choices as a community.

The problem, of course, is far larger than Ventura. The Federal government is racking up trillion dollar deficits, the State of California struggles with an ever-deepening budget crisis and cities across the State are slashing services, cutting jobs, furloughing workers and rolling back compensation (including $2.2 million in mid-year cuts approved last night by the Simi Valley Council as reported in this morning's Ventura County Star.)

In Ventura, the City Council has already taken unpopular action to ensure we "live within our means." Balancing this year's budget required cutting $11 million in spending, eliminating 40 jobs. The entire City staff took at least 5% reductions in compensation. Lower-priority expenses and services were targeted:

• Eliminated the 40-hour roving Fire engine, increasing response times to fires and medical emergencies
• Reduced Crime Prevention efforts and staffing and reduced four Police storefronts to two Community Resource Centers
• Eliminated Downtown Foot Patrol that targeted low-level crime and disorderly behavior
  
• Discontinued investigation of non-injury traffic accidents
• Discontinued unverified alarm response during daylight hours
  
• Reduced Building & Construction staff, increasing wait time for permit-processing and inspection requests
• Reduced lifeguard services
• Reduced Land Development staff, increasing wait time for permit-processing
• Reduced street repairs and resurfacing and eliminated sidewalk repair program
• Reduced call out response for traffic signals
• Reduced service frequency on bus routes
• Eliminated Holiday Street Fair and Starlight Cinema
• Reduced cultural and social services non-profits grants and technical assistance
  
• Discontinued funding for Community Homeless Outreach Supervisor
• Reduced hours at Senior Centers and Community Services counter hours
• Reduced maintenance to neighborhood park landscaping and park amenities (drinking fountains, barbecues, playgrounds etc.) and eliminated replacement of deteriorating park amenities
• Reduced litter pick-up throughout the park system
• Reduced trimming of City street trees
• Reduced landscape maintenance throughout the City, including street medians
  
• Eliminated new tree planting, except in new developments or Maintenance Assessment Districts
• Sand removal services for Pierpont lanes reduced to once a month.
• Reduced Treasury staff, increasing wait time for transactions General Government
• Discontinued handling cable service complaint function
• Closed City Hall during Christmas week
  

Many other internal reductions aren't visible to citizens, but inevitably slow down and reduce city government's responsiveness to citizen concerns.

But even steeper declines in sales, property tax and other revenues hit hard by the downturn have meant that another $4 million must be saved by the end of the year. So another 40 jobs are being left vacant and further belt-tightening is taking place in every department.

Next year, revenues are projected to continue to fall. That means more than belt-tightening. It means making fundamental choices about what we can afford and what we can't. "Muddling through is not an option," Councilmember Brian Brennan insisted. But the rest of the Council argued it should be listed, if only as a warning of what happens if smarter choices aren't made.

All wanted to engage Ventura citizens in the hard choices ahead, knowing that they usually hear only from those outraged about a cut that affects some particular interest group or geographic area. Councilmember Carl Morehouse continued to press for efforts to acquaint citizens with the realities of City budgets -- where the money comes from and where it goes, including the legal restrictions on how it can be spent.

The Council returns to the budget in two weeks. Mayor Bill Fulton, who has emphasized the themes of "prosperity and sustainability," wants to staff to return with a proposal for how to reach citizens, both face to face and through surveys. As he said in his recent State of the City Message when he appealed to Venturans: "we need all of your to help us through this time of need in laying the foundation for the future."