City employees have come up with 217 ways to help the city overcome a $3.2-million budget gap. Their ideas were presented during the City Council's goalsetting session on Feb. 24 at the Los Robles Golf Course.

Nothing appeared to be sacred as the workers took a hard look at how the city could come up with more cash.

"As I mentioned in the goalsetting session, the staff actually went to the employees, who came up with creative cost-cutting and revenue-generating measures for us to look at," Councilmember Jacqui Irwin said.

Some of the ideas that came from their brainstorming session:

•Offer notary and passport services and coffee sales at the Grant Brimhall/Thousand Oaks Library.

•Offer rental of a small business center/conference facility service with video conferencing at the library or city hall, or both.

•Install parking meters on Thousand Oaks Boulevard, in the lower Civic Arts Plaza parking lot and throughout the city. Charge for parking at the arts plaza using automated system.

•Raise $12 million annually by increasing city sales tax by 0.5 percent.

•Increase towing fees from $140 flat rate for all tows to $160 for standard towing and $230 for towing for general arrests. Unlicensed and suspended license towing would be $300, and DUI towing would be $400.

•Charge a city utility tax of 5 percent, which could add $7 million annually.

•Utilize business permit staff to canvas streets to ensure businesses have active licenses. Have code compliance officers cite businesses that do not have current business licenses.

•Sell advertising for TOTV, buses, bus shelters and the city website.

•Better enforce two-hour parking at city hall, streetsweeping citations and all parking violations. Send past-due citations to collections.

•Eliminate some city grants.

•Bring in WalMart to increase sales tax.

•Charge all water customers for removal of shrubs to read water meters.

•Place capital projects on hold.

•Sell biosolids from wastewater treatment plant for use as fertilizer.

•Charge Conejo Recreation and Park District for services the city provides to them.

•Use city's open space to set up solar-generation systems. Add solar panels to the library.

•Sell permits for real estate and garage sale signs.

•Charge residents for household hazardous waste events.

•Sell excess city-owned land.

•Tap into city's reserve fund.

•Sell copper curtain on the side of the Civic Arts Plaza. Turn off and drain fountain at city hall.

•Get help from school district to pay for school crossing guards. Supplement paid crossing guards with volunteers. Eliminate crossing guard program.

•Sell or lease the city hall spaces at the Civic Arts Plaza and move operations to lower-cost buildings.

•Eliminate 5 percent to 10 percent of city's programs.

•Close city hall between Christmas and New Year's to save on utilities and employee salaries for those who don't have vacation time. Close city hall every other Friday.

•Eliminate promotions for supervisors and managers for two years.

•Reevaluate council compensation and benefits.

•Close community art gallery. Eliminate city support for Arts Festival.

•Discontinue citywide bicycle safety improvements.

•Expand volunteer base.