Fullerton officials have grappled with rocky budgets for years but revelations just this week put the municipal spending pool in peril after city staff erroneously accounted for $10 million in reserves.
Instead of being in the contingency fund, that money’s already been spent across a host of programs – leaving city reserves dangerously low while officials grapple with a nearly $14 million budget deficit.
Now, city council members are considering what types of spending cuts to make as budget season nears – with some floating ideas of a potential sales tax increase measure this November to bail the budget out.
Cities throughout Orange County are grappling to keep up with the surging demand for senior ride services – programs that haven’t lost funding, but the demand is outpacing money as more people get older.
As Orange also faces budget woes, one councilwoman proposed changing to a charter city in order to gain $10 million a year in utility taxes.
Garden Grove City Council members are looking to model the city’s response to dangerous e-bike riders after Huntington Beach’s program, which has educational outreach efforts and a diversion program for certain offenders – a potential model for other OC cities.
As part of that program, the Huntington Beach Police Department teamed up with local school districts to give e-bike safety classes to students before they can take the bikes to school. E-bike crashes were the leading cause of trauma cases in the local children’s hospital last year.
It could get tougher to get certain permits and zone changes in Huntington Beach as council members consider removing that process from an administrator and giving it to the planning commission – a move the local chamber of commerce said will hurt businesses.
Costa Mesa officials backed off tracking the rental market through an online registry and having landlords report at-fault evictions after interest groups railed against the proposals.
Three mountain lions have been killed by cars on the Ortega Highway in the past six months, raising questions over how to best help protect the species – with the possibility of building fences along the road.
The Aliso Viejo library is slated to reopen next week after being closed for two years as part of a nearly $6 million renovation project – an effort that was supposed to be finished last year, but was stalled by water damage and the permit process.
