Taxpayer-Impacting Details On What Council Approved In FY19 City Hall Budget

LBReport.com

News

LBREPORT.com is reader and advertiser supported. Support independent news in LB similar to the way people support NPR and PBS stations. We're not non-profit so it's not tax deductible but $49.95 (less than an annual dollar a week) helps keep us online.

(Sept. 5, 2018) -- At roughly 1:50 a.m. Sept. 5, the City Council completed its Sept.4 agendized approval of a FY19 City Hall budget. In salient items, the Council approved budget:

Restored Fire Engine 17 (Argonne Ave.)

Restored 5 citywide deployable police officers (six Mayor-recommended bike patrol officers, minus one officer redirected to Airport contracted work) leaving 186 officers unrestored. The graph below, with text details here, shows the per capita police level for Long Beach (L.A. County's second largest city) with that of Los Angeles (County's largest city) and Signal Hill (one of the County's smallest cities.)

[Scroll down for further.]

As previously reported by LBRPORT.com, Mayor Garcia recently defended the current pace of officer restorations and balked at fully restoring the 180+ remaining officers he voted as a Councilman (2009-2014) to erase. LBREPORT.com coverage (with audio) here.

The FY19 budget adds two "quality of life" (homeless tasked) officers who'll fill two vacant FY18 budgeted positions. Two other quality of life officers were added but not by the Council; they're anticipated to be funded by Metro, and will thus be contracted (restricted) to deployment along the Blue Line.

No public speakers, individuals or groups, or Councilmembers addressed police staffing issues at the Sept. 4 budget meeting; the Council simply adopted the Mayor's recommended police/fire restorations.

Sponsor

Approved and incorporated Water Dept. rate increase [based on the Measure M utility revenue transfer/diversion] with no comment on testimony by taxpayers Diana Lejins and Angela Kimball. Ms. Lejins read from a lawyer's letter (previously reported here by LBREPORT.com) contending the Measure M-based rate increase violates Prop 218. The law firm letter also raised a separate issue (for residents like Ms. Kimball in the LA County "island"/Woodruff at Harco) alleging that they now pay a Measure M-generated Water Dept. rate increase on which they couldn't vote. (City Hall has previously denied Measure M is a tax.)

Sponsor

Approved (7-2, Price and Mungo dissenting on differently stated grounds) allocating $250,000 for a justice fund/deportation-immigration legal defense fund. The vast majority of Council budget discussion was spent on this item. Public testimony centered on allocating [not yet expending pending future Council discussion] $250,000 for a "justice fund" (immigration/deportation legal defense fund), a sum increased in July 31 budget recommendations by Mayor Robert Garcia.

In August, a well-organized coalition of LB groups (on the left-progressive side of LB's political spectrum) united to propose a "Peoples Budget" that (among other things) supported Garcia's recommended $250,000 deportation legal defense fund.

Councilmembers Price and Mungo dissented on differently stated grounds. Price repeatedly stressed that she objects on principle to using taxpayer funds to represent individuals on individual legal claims of any type, calling public funding for individual claims a "slippery slope." Price said she'd support allocating the sum for legal-related items that might include information/education/guidance, outreach and the like on various issues but not public funding to pursue individual claims of any type.

A few hours earlier in chairing the Budget Oversight Committee, Mungo (supported by Committee members Price and Austin) recommended reducing the Mayor's recommended allocation for the item in half, with review at midyear with some sums going to Council district items as well as $100,000 (taken from $200,000 recommended by the Mayor for a youth "participatory budgeting" process (see below.) Multiple groups supporting the "Peoples Budget" expressed dismay with reduction of the Mayor's deportation defense fund and participatory budgeting items, signaling they'd say so at the prime-time full Council meeting.

A few hours later at the full Council meeting, Mayor Garcia swiftly announced that Councilwoman Mungo planned to make changes to what she'd previously sought in her Committee...and a few minutes later, Mungo announced she now supported the Mayor's original funding allocations.

However on the deportation defense fund, Councilwoman Mungo indicated she preferred to have the city money go to local organizations (she cited the LB Bar Ass'n) instead of the out-of-town non-profit (Vera) from which city staff has previously indicated it plans to seek a matching grant to provide immigration/deportation defense services.

Nearing the end of a lengthy and polarizing Council discussion on the issue, Councilwoman Mungo was more blunt, saying the positions advocated by Vera conflict with the views of others in the community...and she cited the CA Police Chiefs Ass'n and the LB Police Officers Ass'n.

Councilman Supernaw indicated he'd vote for the deportation defense fund allocation because it merely sets the money aside as a budget matter for now, and if the non-profit group offers a matching grant, it would return for future Council discussion. Mayor Garcia sought to dampen the hot button issue, urging respect for dissenting views but said he supports the item based on his personal family experiences with immigration law issues. The $250k justice fund/deportation defense fund allocation item carried on a 7-2 vote (Price and Mungo dissenting.)

Sponsor

Approved $200,000 to support youth engagement in "participatory budgeting" or possible other issues. At one point, Councilman Price squared off with Councilman Richardson on the issue. Price sought and received assurances that the youth-participatory item would include outreach and involvement in Council districts citywide, not just some districts on some issues...but Price was absent on the voted approval, which carried 8-0

Added a $100,000 contingent expenditure for senior programming

Support really independent news in Long Beach. No one in LBREPORT.com's ownership, reporting or editorial decision-making has ties to incumbent Long Beach officials, development interests, advocacy groups or other special interests; or is seeking or receiving benefits of City development-related decisions; or holds a City Hall appointive position; or has contributed sums to political campaigns for Long Beach incumbents or challengers. LBREPORT.com isn't part of an out of town corporate cluster and no one its ownership, editorial or publishing decisionmaking has been part of the governing board of any City government body or other entity on whose policies we report. LBREPORT.com is reader and advertiser supported. You can help keep really independent news in LB similar to the way people support NPR and PBS stations. We're not non-profit so it's not tax deductible but $49.95 (less than an annual dollar a week) helps keep us online.