Newport Beach passes pandemic-dented but balanced $219-million budget

Newport Beach has officially girded itself for a $33.2-million gap in next year’s budget.

The economic impacts of coronavirus lockdowns led city finance staff to fill the anticipated revenue holes for fiscal year 2021 through a combination of operational savings, a temporary hiring freeze, setting aside less for savings along with dipping into existing savings, and, especially, deferring capital projects — but avoiding service cuts and layoffs.

The City Council unanimously approved the $219-million fiscal 2021 budget on Tuesday.

Mayor Will O’Neill, who also chairs the city finance committee, said the city is historically conservative on its sales and bed tax revenue projections. This year the city went even lower than its consultant’s estimates.

“We’ve always assumed low on our revenue and we’ve assumed high on our expenses. This is one of the reasons we’ve done so well long-term on fiscal issues and why we typically have a surplus — and actually we’re using last year’s surplus to help stopgap this, which is a good mark of why we did it in the first place,” he said.

City officials estimate sales taxes will dip about 17% and bed taxes will drop by 66% over the current year, which was also banged up as the pandemic’s effects tightened their grip starting in the spring.

Deferred capital makes up about $21 million of the proposed solution. Dipping into reserves chips in about $2.3 million.

Fiscal year 2021 starts July 1.

Board and commission appointments

The council selected the following board and commission candidates for terms to begin in July and end in June 2024.

• Board of Library Trustees: Paul Watkins (incumbent)
• Building and Fire Board of Appeals: Saum Nour (incumbent), Rolly Pullasky (incumbent)
• City Arts Commission: Marie Little (incumbent), Leonard Simon
• Civil Service Board: Robyn Grant (incumbent), Howard Herzog (incumbent)
• Harbor Commission: Gary Williams
• Parks, Beaches & Recreation Commission: David Granoff (incumbent)
• Planning Commission: Curtis Ellmore (incumbent), Erik Weigand (incumbent)

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