The Signal Hill City Council approved adoption of two items it had discussed at previous meetings that impact the City’s next fiscal cycle– the 2018-2019 budget and a new schedule of city-service fees. The council also agreed to extend the City’s contract for animal control and enter into an exclusive right-to-negotiate agreement to expand the Mercedes-Benz auto dealership.
Budget adoption
After receiving no public comment, the council approved adoption of the operating-and-capital budget for fiscal year 2018-2019 that city staff had presented at a public budget workshop on May 31, as reported in the Signal Tribune.
City Manager Charlie Honeycutt restated that the balanced budget is structurally sound and includes adequate reserve funds in case of economic downturn.
While he noted that the City is heavily dependent on tax revenue, which represents 80 percent of total revenue, with 68 percent from sales taxes, business prospects still look promising.
“The City’s low sales tax and not having a utility-users tax creates a competitive advantage for businesses located in Signal Hill, and there’s a number of development projects in the works that look promising in the long term,” he said.
Nevertheless, he said, the City’s revenue stream is threatened by SCA 20, the Bradley-Burns Uniform Local Sales and Use Tax Law, which would change the point where tax is assessed for online sales and reduce Signal Hill tax revenue.
Finance Director Scott Williams recapped highlights of the budget presented at the May 31 workshop and Public Works Director Kelli Tunnicliff summarized the capital-improvement projects that the budget includes, such as completing the new library and the Los Cerritos Channel stormwater-capture project at Long Beach Airport, as well as park and street maintenance.
Though all councilmembers were appreciative of the work that staff put into the budget, Councilmember Edward Wilson suggested that staff also implement a three- to five-year budget forecast, which he had discussed as a best practice at a recent Council of Governments (COG) meeting.
“We used to do that,” he said. “And I would like us to get back to doing that.”
City fees
The council also adopted a resolution amending the Uniform Schedule of City Service Fees and Charges after conducting a public hearing and receiving no comment. The council had held a public workshop on the new fees on May 1.
Williams said that the new fee schedule will be implemented in January 2019, before a ballot measure takes effect that would possibly limit the council’s ability to update fees without a public vote.
He also noted that, though most fees increased as a result of examining actual costs for services, a couple of community-development permits actually decreased.
“Technology changes [and] sometimes processes change, so we actually had a couple recommended for decrease,” he said.
Mayor Tina Hansen noted that during the May 1 workshop, the council resisted increasing fees that would unduly burden lower-income households dependent on certain services, such as park, camp and sports programs for youth, but suggested these should continue to be evaluated.
“One of the things we really grappled with was community services because we want to keep our fees low,” she said. “But they also may be too low.”
Nevertheless, Wilson objected to the resolution, based on his past experience of studies like this, saying that the new fees were based on subjective assessments by city staff, which are less accurate than time-motion studies.
“The problem is everybody […] has to guess what it takes to do [a task],” he said. “We as individuals are not robots and are not 100-percent efficient.”
Wilson maintained that fees representing 80 percent of estimated city staff costs would have been more accurate.
“For me, the issue of governance is questioning what’s presented in front of you,” he said. “The amount that’s shown as full cost is charging people too much.”
However, Councilmember Lori Woods reminded the council that the new fee schedule had been discussed in detail and approved in principle.
“There’s been extensive time on this,” she said. “I don’t want the fact that Member Wilson said to look into why we are doing something [to imply] we haven’t done that. This has been thoroughly vetted, thoroughly analyzed by all five members of the council and by staff.”
Though Wilson voted against, a sufficient quorum of three councilmembers– Woods, Hansen and Vice Mayor Larry Forester (Councilmember Robert Copeland was absent)– approved the resolution.
LLMD levy
The council conducted another public hearing before approving an annual levy on residents of the California Crown neighborhood for public-space maintenance.
The Lighting and Landscape Maintenance District No. 1 (LLMD) was formed in 1992 to provide funding for the maintenance of landscaped areas within the California Crown Tract.
“This is an action that must be taken each year in order to assess the property owners within the California Crown neighborhood for the costs associated with maintaining their common-space area,” said Honeycutt.
The new assessment for the 2018-2019 fiscal year increased by 2.794 percent to align with an increase in the consumer price index (CPI), bringing the total operating budget to $77,000.
The budget includes $43,000 for landscape-maintenance services and $5,000 for services needed to assist staff in conducting a protest hearing on Proposition 218, the Right to Vote on Taxes Act.
Though the total levy assessed will be $60,062, the difference will be made up from a reserve fund of $63,714.
Maintenance projects include irrigation and valve repair, installation of street-sweeping signage and plant material, and special landscaping for 95 individual lots.
Animal control
The council approved extending a contract with the City of Long Beach Animal Control Services Bureau (ACS) by two years. The first-year cost of $102,818 includes an increase of $20,000 after an audit by the City of Long Beach showed that the agency was undercharging the cities with which it contracted.
Community Development Director Aly Mancini said that ACS has been serving Signal Hill and a few other area cities for 26 years, helping to enforce local animal-control ordinances by patrolling streets for stray animals, impounding them and issuing pet licenses.
She noted that ACS has made several improvements to its facilities and equipment over the past six years that have benefited the animals of Signal Hill, funded by grants and donations at no cost to the City.
Ted Stevens, manager of ACS, presented on the agency’s core services, including veterinary and medical services, adoptions and rescues, and spay and neutering.
He said ACS services extend not just to dogs and cats but snakes, pelicans, lizards, seals, chickens and parrots. ACS shelter services impound over 7,000 animals per year, or about 200 per day, and is currently caring for over 300 animals daily. It spays or neuters over 17,000 animals per year.
Stevens noted that the number of impounds have gone down for dogs and cats from over 10,000 in 2011 to under 6,000 this past year due to increased spaying and neutering and also the public’s increased use of social media to reunite stray pets with owners.
“We’re very proud of our shelter and the improvements we’ve done there,” he said.
Mercedes expansion
As successor to the Signal Hill Redevelopment Agency, council members approved an exclusive right-to-negotiate agreement (ERNA) with the Shelly Group, owners of the Mercedes-Benz auto dealership.
Economic Development Manager Elise McCaleb explained that the group is interested in expanding to a property bordered by Cherry Avenue, East 27th Street and St. Louis Avenue.
A representative of the Shelly Group explained that it would use the property to showcase its pre-used vehicles.
“We believe that we can provide a stream of [pre-used] vehicles that we could represent here in Signal Hill on Cherry,” he said. “We believe that Cherry is going to be a more dominant corridor which will bring more traffic to the auto center.”
City Attorney Dave Aleshire explained that the agreement would be for six months with a 90-day extension option so the company could explore the idea.
“The main concern that the Shelly Group had […] in mind is not something they’ve done before,” Aleshire said. “They are trying to arrange financing and other matters to let it go forward. They think it would very much complement their existing operations.
Business spotlight
Kimberly Hocking, director of Greenly Art Space, located at 2698 Junipero Ave., presented on her business during the council’s “small business spotlight.”
“Greenly Art Space is dedicated to enriching lives and cultivating community through art,” she said. “We create many contemplative art shows and provide space for art-making [and] art therapy.”
Hocking said she has trained as interns a number of local college students who are interested in art and psychology.
“We hope to keep our unique business in Signal Hill,” she said. “And to use our talents and dreams to encourage the soul of our community.”
The next Signal Hill City Council meeting will take place Tuesday, July 10, at 7pm in the council chamber at 2175 Cherry Ave.
