Rolling Hills Estates committee reviews budget updates, weighs refuse-subsidy cut and line-item restorations

City staff presented updated revenue projections and proposed line-item adjustments to the Rolling Hills Estates Budget Finance Committee, focusing on revised property-tax, permit and interest estimates and on whether to continue a long-standing refuse subsidy.

The discussion mattered because the changes alter the city’s projected general-fund position for the coming fiscal year and could affect whether residents see higher refuse rates. Finance Director Robert Samario said staff had notified parcels that refuse rates “may be raising rates up to $1,400 roughly” while they awaited final county property-tax figures before making a decision.

Samario told the committee staff had revised several revenue lines since an earlier presentation and now show higher property-tax receipts (about $50,000 more) and an increase in building and permit revenue to $600,000. He also said investment interest earnings were increased by $50,000, though he cautioned those amounts remain “fluid” as staff waits for late-May tax confirmations. On that basis, staff presented a working projection that, if the refuse subsidy were eliminated entirely, would show a roughly $131,000 surplus; after the committee pared back some proposed…