Redondo Beach Council Approves City Budget

With little fanfare, the approved the city manager's budget for the 2012-2013 fiscal year Tuesday night.

The $100 million budget includes new revenue from increases in parking meter fees, group rates for and the and Perry Park senior centers, among others. Additionally, the budget sets aside money the city will use as part of its intervenor role when the California Energy Commission considers AES' application to repower its on Harbor Drive.

"This budget permits us to live within our means," City Manager Bill Workman told the council during Tuesday night's meeting. "There are stiff winds forecasted for this year and the next few years."

The new budget sustains the 6-percent pay cut city employees have taken over the past few years; however, there are no layoffs.

"I have to tip my hat to the council for making all these big choices to keep us in financial health during the worst budget times that we’ve seen since the depression," Workman told the council.

Nevertheless, problems at the state level will affect future city budgets, Workman said. The rising costs of pensions through the California Public Employees' Retirement System are placing a bigger burden on the city's general found.

Additionally, "realignment"—Gov. Jerry Brown's term for moving nonviolent convicted felons from state prisons to already crowded county jails, which are forced to release inmates convicted of lesser crimes to make room for the state prisoners—has caused a 20 percent increase in crime, Workman explained.

Police Chief Joe Leonardi said realignment was like the dissolution of the redevelopment agencies "on steroids."

"It will get worse," Leonardi said. "There are many layoffs and reductions in the number of parole officers in the state, and eventually parole supervision will be pushed to the county level in the next few years."

The only member of the public to speak to the council about the budget Tuesday was former councilman and current Planning Commissioner John Parsons.

In addition to approving the budget Tuesday night, the council also approved an increase in fees for the Police and Recreation and Community Services departments and lifted a fiscal emergency declared several years ago.

More stories:

• Redondo Beach Approves New Budget With Guarded Optimism [Daily Breeze]
• Redondo Beach Fiscal Emergency Lifted by City Council [Easy Reader]