Huntington Beach city councilors recently approved their 2023–24 fiscal year budget starting July 1—reporting a $5.4 million surplus—after an hours-long discussion that attracted over 100 residents, many of whom were concerned about a proposal posted online the Friday before the special meeting on June 26 that showed the possibility of some services being cut, including at the city’s libraries.
After being alerted to the issue of possible cuts via an email from Councilmember Dan Kalmick, the council received angry messages from constituents, and by Monday, just before the meeting, city staff produced a revised document, which ultimately removed many of the controversial cuts.
At issue was the previous document’s projection that in order to prevent a $7.4 million deficit for its 2024-25 fiscal year, things such as shutting down three of the city’s libraries—and limiting hours for others—and reducing city landscaping, maintenance and cleaning beach bathrooms might have to be cut.
Some who spoke during public comment were upset that the cuts were proposed at all. While others, like former Huntington Beach Mayor Debbie Cook, were angry they weren’t given ample time to review the 11th-hour changes just as the meeting started.
“We were given this document at the last minute that says you’re not going to close [libraries] ... It’s not appreciated when the public isn’t given the information they need up front,” she said.
In his email over the weekend, Mr. Kalmick said the deficit for next year was a result of having to budget $7 million to $8 million for a settlement agreement between the city and the operators of an airshow whose last day, in a three-day event in 2021, was shut down due to the October oil spill off of Huntington Beach’s coast.
He additionally wrote the city projected to be in the red “due to corruption and irresponsible spending,” and would need to cut back on services and public work projects.
Many residents during the meeting criticized the settlement, which is almost $5 million over the next six years, with a nearly $2 million payment due by July 31. An additional $2 million has been promised to Amplify, the operator of the pipeline that leaked, if the city wins a lawsuit it intends to file against the company.
“The settlement unfortunately has put our city’s budget in dire straits, jeopardizing the future of vital services such as our libraries and community programs,” one resident said.
But Councilmember Casey McKeon said the settlement wasn’t related to the city’s future potential deficit.
“The 1.9 million [paid] this year is already budgeted, and this is not to mention the massive economic impact the airshow brings [to] our city every single year,” he said.
The settlement has been an issue previously, as one local resident filed a lawsuit June 7 against the city after it refused to provide the settlement document in full per a California Public Records request.
“If the settlement with [the airshow operator] is such a great deal, why is it being withheld from the public? If I negotiate a great deal, I’m happy to publicize it and talk about it,” one resident said.
City Attorney Michael Gates has previously said and reiterated during the meeting that the city could not provide the document due to its pending litigation against the pipeline owner.
“At the end of the day I don’t want to be responsible for deviating from what the law requires me to do in a way that may ultimately compromise the city of Huntington Beach,” he said during the meeting.
Also during the meeting, which drew controversy from some in the public, the council approved four new positions for the city attorney’s office totaling $687,000. The office will add one senior legal assistant, two senior deputy city attorneys and a deputy community prosecutor.
Several speakers criticized the move, blaming such on the additional lawsuits the city has entered recently including one versus local control over housing against the state.
Councilwoman Natalie Moser also scoffed at the recommended new positions.
“The city attorney ... has said that there is no cost to additional litigation, and I think that it appears that that is blatantly false,” she said.
Another resident also disapproved saying all the litigation the city is currently entangled with is too much.
“City Attorney Michael Gates will be receiving an increase in funds no doubt necessary to handle all the upcoming lawsuits ... This is not responsible government and worse it is not representative government,” she said.
But Mr. Gates countered that hiring in-house attorneys is cheaper for the city’s increased legal demands.
“When we do work in house, the lawyer’s cost, the lawyer’s time, doesn’t increase with additional lawsuits,” he said.
Despite some naysayers blaming the additional lawsuits to recent actions by the conservative council majority, Mr. Gates also said 95 percent of the city’s lawsuits are where the city is a defendant, such as police or city staff being sued.
The council majority said the new positions were justified, since Mr. Gates has helped the city win several large lawsuits, including $32 million recovered this year from a lawsuit against the state for failure to pay or reimburse the city for old redevelopment loans.
Other new staff positions the council approved include a records keeper for the city clerk at $149,000 a year; a multimedia specialist for the city’s digital content and cable channel at $175,000 yearly; a graphic designer also for the cable channel at $94,000; one human resources position for the city’s risk management division at $118,000 and three positions in the city’s community development department for $389,000 yearly.
The approved budget includes removing city funding for so-called community café discussions at the Huntington Beach Central Library, which began last fall and could still be privately funded, and possibly cutting funds in January—if state expected state funds don’t materialize—to Circuit, a transportation system that costs $2 per rider for residents to travel on a limited route downtown.
Other changes include reducing the replacement of city equipment such as security cameras, halting plans to upgrade code enforcement sedans to trucks, and reducing city hall open hours.
Also cut was the city’s ice rink contract with Ice America at the Pier Plaza—which attracts around 15,000 skaters each season as the expansion of a summer swim program, which was last active in 2019 serving around 700 people, according to city officials.
Some revenue opportunities on the finalized budget include ads on lifeguard towers, license plate readers which will generate citation fees from unlawful drivers, and increased fees for emergency services to residents.
Councilwoman Rhonda Bolton said the process of coming up with this year’s budget was “chaotic,” before voting alongside the other Democrats on the dais with hesitation to approve the new plan.
“There are aspects of it that I’m still trying to figure out ... the public is still trying to figure it out. This is just not the right way to do this,” she said.
