Revenue continues to sag, city looks again at options

Budget concerns have the city looking into ways to maintain the quality of life in Thousand Oaks.

A progress report on the status of the city's budget will be presented to the City Council by the end of the month. Then, before the next two-year budget comes out in June, a survey of residents will be taken to find out if they would tolerate tax increases or other options that would increase revenue.

Since sales tax revenue accounts for 40 percent of the city's general funds, city officials have great interest in how retail in Thousand Oaks has been doing.

"My guess is it's probably down since it's down nationwide," said Candis Hong, financial director.

"We can't substantiate the numbers right now because the numbers are not in from the state yet," spokesperson Andrew Powers said.

Vehicle licensing fees bring in 10 percent, property tax 5 percent and building permits 5 percent.

To be on the safe side, in anticipation of a slowing economy, the city made cuts in the budget in July 2008.

They haven't hired any new staff except for a city attorney. Employees, however, are still getting pay raises.

Eleven jobs were left open.

"Departments have to justify hiring or the jobs are not filled," Hong said.

Planning and development jobs are among those hard to justify since the city is nearly at build-out, she said.

Library employees and other departments are learning to do more with less, Powers said.

The city also cut travel and training budget in half, leaving about $175,000 for professional employees to use.

"We have less education choices now," Hong said.

The partial gym at the teen center was supposed to become a full-sized gym, but the expansion was postponed. That put about $6 million back into savings.

Painting the gray parking garage at the Civic Arts Plaza has also been postponed, saving $3.8 million, and the entry plaza outside the parking structure won't be getting its $2-million face-lift.

Those millions of dollars will stay in savings and continue to earn interest, Powers said.

The survey to test the waters for tax increases, fee hikes, bond measures and other ways to raise revenues will cost $60,000 and will probably be taken by phone, he said.

The school and park districts are sharing the expense with the city, each paying $20,000, Hong said.

Residents' priorities will also be assessed during the survey to see how much support there is for the Discovery Center, technology improvements in schools, park improvements and other items, Hong said.