Clearlake City Council joined by newest member; council approves new fiscal year budget
- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake City Council on Thursday held the swearing-in for a new member and approved its new fiscal year budget.
The council met at 4 p.m. to hold a budget workshop ahead of its regular evening meeting.
At the start of the workshop, City Clerk Melissa Swanson administered the oath of office to Russell Perdock, who the council voted last week to appoint to succeed former Mayor Nick Bennett, who resigned in May due to health reasons, ahead of a move to South Dakota.
Perdock previously had served on the council but resigned in February 2018 to pursue the city’s police chief job, which ultimately went to Andrew White. Perdock also ran unsuccessfully for the council in November.
He said at Thursday’s meeting that it was Bennett who had called and encouraged him to apply for the vacancy. The term has 18 months remaining.
Following the swearing-in, Mayor Russ Cremer shook Perdock’s hand. “Welcome back,” Cremer said.
One of the main items of business on Thursday was budgeting work, both during the workshop and later during the meeting.
This year’s budget has $17.6 million in appropriations – with transfers, appropriations total $23.6 million across all funds – with $6.6 million in the general fund, according to City Manager Alan Flora.
During the budget workshop, ahead of the final approval that took place during the regular meeting, Flora went over some of the city’s key economic indicators that impact the budget.
Inflation is the lowest in four years at 1.8 percent, which he said is primarily due to falling fuel prices and used vehicle sales. Wages are flat.
Flora said interest rates are expected to decline, and despite national trends California continues to add jobs, with construction and manufacturing leading the way.
He said the city’s residential property values have been doing pretty well, and are showing a 13 percent increase, which is better than Lakeport and county as a whole. “We’re making up a little bit of ground.”
Key city revenue sources are property and sales tax. He told the council during the budget workshop that sales tax projections have been up and down.
Flora’s written report explained that city revenues remain stable, “but the same growth seen over the past few years is not anticipated to continue.”
Sales tax – which he said supports community services – have shown meager growth over the past year, a trend which Flora’s written report said isn’t unique to Clearlake or Lake County but is being seen across Northern California. He said the opening of Big 5 and Tractor Supply last year helped smooth the overall decline in retail sales.
“While there is not a current reason for concern, fiscal restraint must be used in General Fund expenditures as well as Measure P (police sales tax) and Measure V (road sales tax),” he wrote in his budget message.
Flora’s budget focuses on two key categories of investment for the new fiscal year – infrastructure and investment.
In infrastructure, the Measure V road tax is projected to generate $2 million for road work in the coming year.
The design plans for both Austin and Highlands Parks are expected to be completed within the next month, and Flora reported that the priority focus for the year is starting the Austin Park project. It’s expected to cost between $1.5 to $2 million to complete both phases, and the budget includes $1.8 million to complete.
The city also is working to maintain existing staffing levels, as well as fund an additional police dispatcher, and planned upgrades to city facilities and technology.
Flora also wants to address the city’s image, which he proposes to tackle through investments such as $120,000 for vehicle and property abatements and $75,000 to hire a public relations or strategy firm to help the city “share its message of success and change with a focus on attracting investment,” according to the budget narrative. There also is $65,000 set aside for economic development and marketing collaborative efforts.
After doing the bulk of the budget review during the workshop, the council accepted it as proposed during the meeting.
The council also unanimously approved its appropriations, or Gann, limit for the new fiscal year as well as the city fee schedule.
In other business, the council held a public hearing and approved the first reading of an ordinance requiring registration of vacant, abandoned or foreclosed commercial buildings. A second reading and final adoption of the ordinance is anticipated to take place on June 27.
The ordinance requires that any commercial building vacant for 30 consecutive days must register for an initial cost of $100 plus a pro-rated cost of $12.50 per month. The penalty for failing to register after notice by an enforcement official is set at $500 for the first violation and $1,000 for every 30 days the property remains unregistered.
Buildings subject to registration must have posted on them a sign providing the name and phone number of the owner or agent responsible for inspections and, for foreclosures, the contact information for the lender; liability insurance for the property in the amount of $1 million except as approved by the city manager; be secured from trespassers; and monthly inspections by the owner or their agency with submission of an inspection report to the police department.
The council also began discussing traffic calming measures, voting to have staff identify trial locations for speed reduction efforts; updated the mayor’s appointments for the year by having Perdock step into committee positions Bennett had held; approved an agreement between the county of Lake and city of Clearlake regarding a road maintenance program for 40th Avenue, Davis Avenue and Moss Avenue for Fiscal Year 2018-19 through FY 2023-24; presented a proclamation declaring June as LGBT Pride Month; and tabled discussion of a two-year agreement between the county of Lake, city of Lakeport and city of Clearlake for support of Lake County PEG TV station.
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