Finance Commission Hears Budget Presentations
Notables from the 4/8/19 Finance Commission Meeting which is deep into the budget season. The proposed budget will be present to City Council on May 28th.
City Manager’s Office –
- A new function: Economic Development was established that will focus on the Great Park and to attract more business to Irvine.
- The City’s communications, marketing, and branding efforts in social media, etc. are being retooled.
- A key deliverable for this department is to develop a business plan for the Great Park Cultural Terrace with land use themes identified by the City Council.
Key goals for next 2 years
Community Services –
Long discussion on the Great Park balloon and carousal operations and fee schedule. Discussion centered on the City seeking sponsorship/partnership opportunities and other cost recovery options such as fee increases and/or reduction in operating hours.
Department recommends combining the best of both the Global Village Festival and the Spooktacular events for a 2-day event. Two key revenue drivers are the Great Park facility rentals (fields, stadiums) that generate $4.5M annually & Great Park tennis programs $1.0M annually.
Public Works-
Key goals are:
- A facilities condition assessment for long-term maintenance and rehabilitation needs
- A strategic energy plan
- A high tech pavement management program that will improve the accuracy and conditions of the city roadway infrastructure.
- The use of goats for vegetation management was a big success. The goats will be back!
Capital Improvement Projects (CIP)- $145M in projects for the 2-year budget cycle. Projects are in four improvement categories: Street & Mobility 56%, Great Park 29%, Facility 11%, Landscape 4%.
Notable projects
Transportation-
Key goals:
- Expansion of the iShuttle program within the Spectrum area and the Irvine Business Complex
- Installation of 16 additional electric charging stations for a total of 24 citywide.
- Pilot “adaptive signal technology” on one major corridor and numerous signal synchronization projects.
Community Development –
A trend is to move from new construction to neighborhood preservation. Two General Plan Updates are scheduled in 2019. Expenditure items are for technology investments for electronic plan submittal & review and to replace a legacy technology ($4-6M) that will become obsolete. The Eden replacement – it manages plan checks, permitting and inspection citywide.
notable accomplishments for community and development
Public Safety –
- This department is requesting to hire 5 police officers and a police sergeant in 2019-20 and 4 police officers and 1 crime analyst in 2020-21.
- Proposed Key revenue generators: reinstate the business license fee and the addition of part-time parking officers.
