The mayor and council lauded the city’s staff for their pandemic performance during Monday’s meeting, but even their hard work could not forestall a looming budget shortfall caused by the lockdown.
“I have never seen so much fluidity; it is unprecedented,” said interim Finance Director Craig Koehler, as he explained the city’s rapidly changing financial position.
Koehler said the economic uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus crisis makes it difficult, if not impossible, to determine where the budget numbers will eventually end up.
Nevertheless, the city’s finance director said the city’s losses were offset by a variety of things, including unfilled vacancies, reduced service costs and a projected surplus, now absorbed by the crisis.
City manager Chet Simmons also praised the staff, this time for their efforts to compose the mid-year budget analysis. The work was done “under less than ideal conditions.” “It was very impressive,” he said.
Koehler ran through the numbers with the Council and presented various spreadsheets during their meeting, which included video feeds of all the participants.
“We’ve had significant reductions in revenue,” said Koehler, but said there had been savings as well. In short, Koehler said currently, it appears as though the city’s shortfall will be between $150-250,000.
Simmons said the city is already looking into emergency reimbursement grants and told the council to not expect an ordinary budget cycle this year. “We will get to a budget,” he promised them, “but there may be extra steps required to ensure budget projections are correct.”
Otherwise, said Koehler, all of the city’s business units were operating.
Already facing long-term financial challenges before the pandemic, the city had in 2019 established a dialogue with citizens, a majority of whom expressed support for a future ballot measure to raise revenue.
Budget Standing Committee members Mark Chirco and Shelley Hasselbrink both said they have been monitoring ongoing meetings with financial officials to closely monitor the city’s financial situation.
Hasselbrink briefly asked about the impact of the CalPERS loss during the pandemic, wondering if it “will have any prolonged effect.” She said the pension situation could “devastate cities of all sizes.”
Simmons said he had discussed the situation with other city manages, even looking at a couple of models. They were “less than encouraging,” he said.
Mayor Richard Murphy thanked city employees, most working from home, for doing a “great job” during the emergency. He also encouraged citizens to continue helping small businesses. “Buying locally can help a lot of people,” he said.
Murphy said someday, the COVID-19 crisis would be “a bad memory,” but asked citizens to be patient and continue social distancing. “We don’t want to blow what we’ve already accomplished,” he said.
Chirco said he had been encouraged during the pandemic by the response from the community. Chirco also thanked the city’s parks and recreation department for the innovative ideas (drive-by zoo, et al) and said it was nice to see the community “really coming together.”
Council member Dean Grose said he has been active with the California League of Cities and federal officials, staying abreast of the many ongoing initiatives and policy changes.
Hasselbrink, who also serves as Chair of the Orange County Fire Authority, reported that seven of the eight firefighters who tested positive for COVID-19 are back at work. She said the “community support was outstanding.”
Former OCFA Fire Chief Ron Roberts, who now serves an emergency coordinator for the city of Los Alamitos, reported that he continues to coordinate with other emergency officials, providing Personal Protective Equipment, tracking expenses, cheduling emergency staffing, etc.
In other action, the council:
- Learned from Recreation and Community Services Manager Ron Noda that the city was in discussions with the school system, and that most of the city’s staff was working remotely. Noda also said the city’s red, white and blue campaign was ongoing and being well received by the community.
- Heard Recreation Manager Emeline Noda explain the various activities they have instituted trying to provide recreation during the pandemic, a virtual community center, Facebook Live and many other events, and she said the city’s annual brochure would be only available online this year because so many things are changing.
- Heard Interim Development Services Director Leslie Roseberry said the city continues to facilitate needed permits, maintain code enforcement and generally keeping the department operational.
