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Huntington Beach sets $500 million budget, addresses future deficit but avoids closing libraries

June 27, 2023

Huntington Beach will trim some city services in the coming year, but will avoid closing libraries and immediately eliminating a downtown shuttle service that earlier were on the chopping block as leaders plan ahead for an expected future budget shortfall.

City staffers projected that Huntington Beach would face a deficit of more than $7 million beginning in fiscal year 2024-25 that could swell to more than $13 million by 2026. The City Council and staffers started looking at ways to address the future gap between spending and revenues as part of the city’s upcoming fiscal year budget.

The City Council approved its half-billion dollar budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1 in a 7-0 vote Monday night. Cuts that will be made include eliminating the community cafe events held at city libraries and evaluating if unfilled staff positions should be eliminated. With decisions made this week the future deficits have been slashed by more than half, officials said.

When the proposed budget cuts for addressing the future shortfall were released as part of the City Council’s agenda Friday night, they called for closing three public library branches and eliminating the Circuit downtown shuttle service. Those proposals struck a nerve with residents, who pleaded Monday with councilmembers to not do away with city services they use.

Mayor Tony Strickland said in early June he directed city staffers to explore ways to cut department budgets after the projections came in that the city would be in a deficit due to staffing up on police officers.

“Unlike other councils and other cities that wait for an emergency situation where they don’t have many options,” Strickland said, “we are actually fixing the budget today to make sure we’re not in that position two years from now.”

Over the weekend, staffers further adjusted what the options for cuts were, eliminating the need for closing down libraries.

Councilmembers Rhonda Bolton, Natalie Moser and Dan Kalmick were upset about how little time they and the public had to review the last-minute adjustments to the budget. They were made aware of the changes on Monday.

“This is no way to run a half-a-billion dollar organization,” Kalmick said. “I found out this morning that we were making substantial changes to the budget and residents found out when we got here.”

The city will fund the popular downtown shuttle service until at least Jan. 1. Circuit’s Vice President of Business Development Daniel Kramer said the city needed to approve some level of matching money to access upcoming grants that could fund the shuttles.

James Hartman lives downtown and said he and his family enjoy using the shuttle service multiple times a week. Since the service began in 2021, it has pushed him to visit downtown more than ever, he said.

“It induces you to kind of stay and spend your money in the city,” Hartman said. “Otherwise, I’ll do what I’ve done most of my life. I’ll jump in my car and go to Newport where the dining options are much better”

Monday afternoon, before the City Council meeting, Kramer said, “No one wants to see the program go away. It’s strictly just a financial thing.”

The City Council approved four new positions for the City Attorney’s Office at a cost of about $687,000. There will be three new attorneys, one of which will focus on prosecuting misdemeanors. The city will also hire a legal assistant.

For the next fiscal year, the city will have about 1,000 full-time employees.

Property tax revenue will support more than $130 million of the city’s $500 million budget – at just over a quarter of the budget it is the largest revenue source.

To generate new revenue, the city will raise fees for its emergency medical services and add advertisements to the city’s lifeguard towers. The city is expected to end the 2023-24 fiscal year with a $7 million surplus.

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Huntington Beach sets $500 million budget, addresses future deficit but avoids closing libraries

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