Budget proposal includes street improvements

A second skate park, $4.8 million in street improvements and six new city employee positions are among the highlights of the $130.1-million budget Costa Mesa officials are proposing for the 2007-08 fiscal year, which begins July 1. That’s an increase of less than 2% over the current year’s spending.

In the new budget, the cost of operations — mainly employee salaries and benefits — would rise nearly 9% over 2006-07 operational costs, but capital improvements would decease by more than 54%. Of the six new employee positions, three would be in the police department, and about $329,000 would be spent on police recruitment.

Employee salaries are still something of an unknown, because all four of the city’s employee bargaining units will renegotiate their contracts this year. City officials were able to balance the budget by using nearly $4.6 million of carry-over funds from the current year. To review Costa Mesa’s proposed budget, visit www.ci.costa-mesa.ca.us. The City Council will vote on the budget June 19.

— Alicia Robinson