Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Municipal Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Community Services presents $2.62 million draft budget; commissioners question fireworks, teen services
Summary
The Community Services Commission received an informational briefing April 14 on a draft department budget of $2,617,374 (programmatic costs), with commissioners asking staff for clearer actuals, revenue breakdowns and justification for a $75,000 placeholder for a possible 2026 hybrid Fourth of July show.
The Community Services Commission received an informational presentation April 14 on the department’s draft 2025 budget, which staff said proposes $2,617,374 in programmatic funding (personnel costs excluded). The presentation described allocations across recreation and youth services, senior services, Community Development Block Grant-funded activities (CDBG), Dial-A-Ride transit planning supported by Prop A funds, and the Arroyo Seco Golf Course Enterprise Fund, which staff said accounts for more than $1.6 million of the total.
Why it matters: commissioners said they need clearer actuals and revenue breakdowns to evaluate program changes and to judge whether proposed line items reflect inflation and community needs. Several commissioners flagged items that appeared to diverge from prior direction, most notably a $75,000 placeholder in next year’s budget for a possible hybrid fireworks/drone Fourth of July show.
Staff described the presentation as informational only and said the draft budget will go through finance, the city manager, budget study sessions, the finance commission and ultimately the City Council for adoption. Melissa, Community Services staff, said the figure shown is a proposal and not a finalized appropriation.
Commissioners asked for details the packet did not include. Vice Chair Plotkin asked whether the numbers shown were actual expenditures or budgeted amounts; Lucy, Community Services staff, said the slides reflected budget figures and that reliable year-by-year actuals likely can be provided only through fiscal year 2022–23 because the city’s finance records are still under review by consultants. Commissioners asked staff to provide departmental revenue projections broken down by division; staff agreed to supply the revenue detail by email.
Fireworks: Several commissioners asked why staff included a $75,000 placeholder for a hybrid fireworks/drone show in the 2026 column after the City Council voted to proceed with a traditional fireworks show for 2025. Staff said the placeholder is intended to keep options open: council asked staff to research a hybrid option for 2026, and staff inserted a contingency figure so that, if council later directs it, funds would already be identified rather than requiring midyear reallocations. Staff said the money would revert to the general fund if it is not used.
Teen programming and volunteers: Commissioners pressed staff about teen services after the teen center line item showed zero in the draft. Staff said the formal teen center was removed previously because of low participation, and that the department is shifting toward a volunteer-based model and a counselor-in-training program aimed at ages 13–16 to build a pipeline for seasonal recreation staff. Natalie, Community Services staff, said summer outreach to potential teen volunteers yielded applicants and that staff plan to continue recruitment and to pilot training and volunteer opportunities before proposing a larger program budget.
Other line-item questions: commissioners asked about a large contract-services line for the golf shop, increases in porta-potty and skate-park maintenance expenses, and a roughly doubled senior-services newsletter cost tied to outsourcing printing and mailing to save staff time. Staff explained that CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) is a federal grant administered through Los Angeles County and that Prop A funds are Metro transit funds used for specified transit planning and garage maintenance obligations.
What’s next: Staff agreed to provide updated revenue projections, department-level actuals where available, a month-by-month look at golf-course and facility figures requested by commissioners, and clear documentation of the proposed fireworks contingency. Commissioners suggested staff consider modest across-the-board inflationary adjustments and flagged Prop A garage obligations for additional review by the city manager’s office.
Ending: The draft budget remains subject to review by Finance and City Council; staff said they will forward the requested clarifications to the commission before the next budget study sessions.
