Budget debate may focus on police

COSTA MESA ? The City Council will consider a $126.8 million budget at its meeting next week, but the most interesting discussion will likely be on which extras to add from a list totaling more than $2.2 million.

The council took a first look at the budget during a Tuesday study session, but members didn’t give a clear idea whether they’ll support adding line items such as Councilwoman Katrina Foley’s gang-elimination plan or Mayor Allan Mansoor’s immigration enforcement proposal.

The 2006-07 budget, proposed at $126.8 million, is up more than 7% from the previous year’s spending. It devotes $14.4 million to capital projects, including the start of a major expansion of the Police Department, building sidewalks on Broadway between Raymond and Irvine avenues, and adding permanent lights for two fields at the Farm Sports Complex.

The city’s projected revenue is $121.4 million, so city officials propose using $5.6 million in money left in the general fund from the previous year to balance the budget.

As in recent years, nearly half of the city’s income will be from sales tax revenues, and much of that comes from South Coast Plaza, which city finance director Marc Puckett called “the highest-grossing mall in the country.”

Beyond the basic budget, council members will consider proposals such as $200,000 for lights so the Bark Park can be used after dark; $1.3 million for a second street maintenance crew and materials to add 10 streets to the list slated for overhaul next year; a second worker to remove graffiti around the city; $367,102 for a plan to eliminate gangs; and $188,462 for a program to give some police officers federal immigration enforcement training.

The immigration plan may be set aside for now and brought back as an amendment to the budget later in the year, if at all. Costa Mesa officials have been waiting to see what kind of proposal Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona comes up with before creating their own, and City Manager Allan Roeder told council members that deliberations by federal legislators could delay the entire process.

Based on what he’s hearing from Washington, Roeder said, “we think it’s unlikely that we will be getting a response or the sheriff will be getting a response on immigration training very shortly.”

Asked whether the Police Department would benefit most from two new patrol officers or two new gang officers, as the gang program suggests, Costa Mesa Police Chief John Hensley said fighting gangs would be his priority.

“I don’t believe that we need to throw in more resources in patrol at this point,” he said. “The gang issue is troubling to me. I don’t want to see it get worse in the future.”

Mansoor said although he wants to eventually move ahead with the immigration plan, he intends to discuss it and the gang proposal with the city’s new police chief. Hensley is retiring at the end of the month, and a replacement has not yet been found.