Governor OKs Port Plan to Bail Out Imperial Beach

SACRAMENTO —  Gov. George Deukmejian on Friday signed a measure that allows financially ailing Imperial Beach to save more than $1 million a year by giving away its beachfront to the San Diego Unified Port District for upkeep.

The measure, sponsored by Sen. Wadie P. Deddeh (D-Bonita), was viewed by Imperial Beach officials as the key in helping them pull the south San Diego County city of 24,500 residents out of its financial tailspin.

A state auditor general’s report released earlier this year said the city would go broke by January, 1992, without the Deddeh legislation.

“We surely feel relieved that it’s through the process, and it gives us a firm base for a way to map out our future,” Imperial Beach City Manager Ron Jack said Friday about the signing of the bill.

The law immediately transfers 403 acres of Imperial Beach tidelands to the wealthy Port District, which has agreed to reimburse the city slightly more than $1 million a year to provide maintenance, lifeguards, fire and police services over the 3 1/2-mile beachfront, including upkeep for the controversial fishing pier.

The port will also take over about $350,000 in annual bond payments to pay off a $2.9-million renovation of the pier, where a sportfishing operation and tackle shop are more than a year late in starting up.

Without the reimbursement from the port, the financially strapped city would have been forced to shoulder the cost of upkeep on its own--an amount that has sapped the city of up to 30% of its municipal budget.

The expenses would have driven the city into bankruptcy by 1992, according to a state auditor general’s report released earlier this year. Without the responsibility of the tidelands, the city can expect to pull out of its tailspin and accrue a $1.2-million surplus by 1996, the report said.

Imperial Beach’s financial woes increased over the past decade when city officials began using financial reserves to make up for shortfalls in municipal revenues. Then, in 1986 and 1987, the city lost $300,000 on bad stock market investments.

Those miscues were compounded by the 1988 decision to renovate the 1,500-foot fishing pier with the expectation of making the money back through leasing it to commercial ventures. Although the city leased the pier, the businesses have yet to begin operating, leaving Imperial Beach holding the bag for the bond payments.