New budget to let Palmdale 'move forward'

This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press June 17, 2000.

By BOB WILSON
Valley Press Staff Writer

PALMDALE - The city of Palmdale and its redevelopment agency will spend more than $137.9 million in the next fiscal year under a budget being prepared for adoption July 19.

On June 13, the city of Lancaster and its redevelopment agency approved a $129.4 million spending package for fiscal 2000-01.

Palmdale's budget is a conservative spending plan reflecting an anticipated 3% increase in city sales taxes, city Finance Director Bill Ramsey said Friday.

The actual sales tax increase this past fiscal year was 10%, but it is wiser to plan to spend less, Ramsey said.

"We have been able to budget through very tough times as a city," Mayor Jim Ledford said.

"Now we're seeing some positive influences on the local economy, and I think it allows us to move forward in areas where we may not have been able to in the past," Ledford said, referring to new retail and industrial firms that have come - or laid plans to come - to the city.

To accommodate the increasing workload in departments handling new projects, the city will hire 16 new full-time employees, giving it a total 240, Ramsey said.

One of the larger capital-improvement projects slated for the coming fiscal year is the improvement of Avenue S between the Antelope Valley Freeway and Sierra Highway.

Under the proposed budget, Palmdale would spend $14.9 million to improve that stretch of road, a major artery for commuters.

The city would spend more than $3.7 million to establish a transportation center near Sierra Highway and Avenue P-8, as well as $1.7 million to resurface streets throughout the city.

It also would spend $1.2 million to improve Avenue O between Sierra Highway and 10th Street West, to improve access to its new 120-acre Fairway Business Park.

In addition, it would pay out $1 million promised for its share of the cost of the recently completed new bridge on 25th Street West near Elizabeth Lake Road, plus $500,000 for continued improvements to Pearblossom Highway where it joins the AV Freeway.

City officials have earmarked $750,000 for construction of a new city park at 50th Street East and Avenue S, on land donated for that use in conjunction with the development of a new shopping center at 47th Street East and Avenue S.

They also have set aside $665,000 to extend the city's greenbelt park along Sierra Highway between Palmdale Boulevard and Avenue Q-14, and $900,000 for improvements to the intersection of 40th Street East and Palmdale Boulevard - the site of a new medical clinic to be built by Antelope Valley Hospital.

If adopted, Palmdale's spending package would be less than the $149.8 million budgeted for fiscal 1999-2000 but more than the $111.5 million actually spent during that period, which ends June 30.

The Palmdale proposal includes $34.3 million in expenditures from the city's general fund, which pays for public services such as building and safety, parks and recreation, and law enforcement.

Another $29.2 million would be spent on capital projects such as new parks, public buildings and roads, while nearly $53.7 million would be spent on debt payments.

The debt payments include $19 million in delinquent bond payments owed by landowners in four special-assessment districts, including the Ritter Ranch district and the Trade and Commerce Center district, Ramsey said.

While the city does not owe the money, it is responsible for collecting the payments and distributing them to the owners of the bonds, he said.

On Monday, City Council members and municipal department heads will hold a workshop to discuss the proposed spending plan for the coming fiscal year, which begins officially July 1.

Anticipating that the budget would be late, the Palmdale council voted in May to approve a resolution to continue spending at the $22.9 million general-fund spending level set under the 1999-2000 budget.

The new-budget workshop will begin at 6 p.m. in the chambers of the City Council, 708 East Palmdale Blvd.

If adopted as proposed, the city would retain an 8.2% operating reserve of $1.9 million. That situation would change at mid-year, when city administrators will ask the City Council to approve additional funds for the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, Ramsey said.

The funds cannot be approved until the election of two more council members in November. At present, one of three remaining members of the council, sheriff's Lt. Rod Penner, cannot vote to increase pay for his own employer.

Without Penner's vote, the council cannot adopt an increase in payments to the Sheriff's Department or add to its roster of peace officers.

After a full council of five members is re-established - with at least one of the two new members having no affiliation with the sheriff's department - the panel will be asked to adopt a budget increase of $754,920.

The money will be used to accommodate a 3.5% pay increase for Los Angeles County sheriff's personnel and the addition of one more sheriff's patrol car, Ramsey said.

Because of the loss of grant money, the department will eliminate two deputies who have been working in the city's Narcotics Division.

The increase in sheriff's funding will come from the city's 8.2% operating reserve, which will reduce the reserve to about 5%, Ramsey said.

Until the council again is fully staffed, the city will continue its current contract with the Sheriff's Department, making payments established under the 1999-2000 budget.

In December, the replenished council will ratify a new contract with the department at a higher rate of payment.

Last year, the council set aside nearly $10.4 million for law enforcement. City projections show it will spend slightly less than $10.1 million of that amount by June 30, the end of the current fiscal year.

For the coming fiscal year, the council plans to set aside $9.7 million for law enforcement, to be increased to nearly $10.5 million in December.

If the budget is adopted without changes, the city's general fund budget would reflect a less than 1% decrease in spending from fiscal 1999-2000 and a less than 1% increase in income, Ramsey said.

Of the rest of its general fund money, the city would spend:

$1,874,820 for library services;