Libraries, Service Groups Win Funding in Ventura

VENTURA —  Facing a slim budget for next year, the City Council embarked on the difficult task Monday night of balancing a proposed $49.5-million operating budget with an ambitious wish list of projects.

The council must adopt the fiscal year 1996-97 budget by next week. In the meantime, city leaders must figure out how to stretch a shrinking pot of money to pay for basic services, city improvements and numerous requests for new projects and programs.

To the cheers of library supporters who packed the council chambers, the panel agreed to spend $270,000 to maintain hours, buy new books at two of the city’s county-operated branches, and spare the Ventura Avenue Library from closure.

The library, the smallest of the city’s three branches, was slated for closure next week because of a lack of funding.

Earlier, after listening to pleas from several local service groups, the council unanimously voted to allocate $421,000 during the next two years to 28 local programs that assist youths, families and seniors.

The council also agreed to dip into a contingency fund to give $50,000 to the Boys & Girls Club of Ventura. The money will be spent on supporting two teen centers.

“We really need your money,” said Jane Goldschmidt, executive director of the organization.

At the request of Ventura school officials and parents, the council also agreed to dip into reserves to give $26,000 to a primary-grade school program.

Saticoy Elementary School Principal Nancy Bradford asked the council to find the money to support the Primary Intervention Program, which provides additional instruction and counseling for students with behavioral problems.

“Our predicament is we wrote a grant for $169,000, but we have to match it with $26,000--$13,000 this year and $13,000 next year,” Bradford explained.

The board was scheduled to discuss a recommendation to modify city fees and services Monday night as well.

The budget under consideration proposes a conservative spending plan that provides for no new jobs but leaves room for a first-year 6.5% salary increase for firefighters and a meager 2% salary increase for all other city employees.

It also recommends setting aside $1.24 million to modernize technology in city departments to make local government more efficient.

The tight two-year spending plan, of which $49.5 million is budgeted for next year, leaves no money for new programs because the city’s revenue has been lagging.

Next year’s proposed budget fell short of expectations by $1 million as a result of lackluster sales and property taxes--the city’s leading revenue sources. City officials were able to close the gap with money left over from last year.

But how Ventura will make money to pay for a growing population and its demands on services is still in question.

City officials have recommended new investments to boost sales tax revenue, such as tourist-targeted improvements to the downtown area and the expansion of the Buenaventura Mall.

And added to the funding scenario are ambitious plans for an $18.7-million baseball stadium known as Centerplex and an $8.2-million movie theater and parking structure.

Neither project is budgeted in the two-year spending plan. But they are being carefully looked at by the City Council, and each is expected to come back for funding requests in the coming months.

“Because neither are actually consummated projects at this time, you can’t budget for them,” Councilman Ray Di Guilio said before the meeting.

Di Guilio said the budget can be fine-tuned to work the projects in if they are approved by the council.

But he acknowledged that city leaders will have to look carefully at the city’s reserves during the budget process and eventually may have to take money away from other programs.

Money intended for improvements to the Ash Street corridor in downtown Ventura, for example, may have to be redirected if the movie theater project comes to fruition, he said.

“The Ash Street projects may get put off a bit,” Di Guilio said. “In the case of Centerplex, the issue is one of going to existing city assets.”