Measure AV spending faces questions
Palmdale Council discussing 2022-23 budget
PALMDALE — Members of the City Council questioned spending plans for the revenues from Measure AV, the three-quarter-cent sales tax approved by Palmdale voters, in 2020.
The Council, on Wednesday, discussed the proposed Fiscal Year 2022-23 budget, including designated Measure AV funds.
Receipts have been higher than originally anticipated, and the proposed budget includes $12.3 million in projected funds at the end of the current fiscal year that will roll over into 2023, Finance Director Janelle Samson said, in a presentation to the Council.
Revenues under Measure AV for the coming year are projected at $23.1 million, with expenditures proposed at $31.9 million.
As this was the first year the sales tax was in effect, there was a learning process in how best to deploy the revenues, Interim City Manager Ronda Perez said. This led to the relatively high balance at the end of the year, and a recalibration by the staff as to how to best use the funds in a transparent manner.
Measure AV was proposed as a means of diversifying the city’s sources of revenue and generating sales tax revenues that are strictly under local control. The ballot measure laid out the uses for these revenues, including public safety, infrastructure, community programs and economic development. Administrative costs are also included in the Measure AV budget.
The proposed 2022-2023 budget includes nearly $10.7 million for public safety, $15.8 million in infrastructure and capital improvements, nearly $3.5 million for community programs and $1.75 million in economic development programs. Administrative
costs are budgeted at $131,520.
“I think we have to watch this fund very carefully and be very judicious in the way this actually spent,” Mayor Pro Tem Richard Loa said.
A significant portion of the funds budgeted for public safety is toward the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department contract, easing the impact on the General Fund. The Measure AV budget for 2022-2023 includes $2.8 million for the general contract and another $4.5 million for community programs.
The budget proposes using Measure AV to cover the costs of adding six community compliance officers, at $587,120. These additional officers will allow for coverage seven days a week.
Councilmember Laura Bettencourt disputed using Measure AV funds to support these additional positions, stating the measure was not designed to cover salaries.
“I’m very concerned with how the public will see this,” she said. “I don’t think it was the public’s intent to have year after year after year of paying salaries.”
As salaries increase over time, Bettencourt said she is concerned they will crowd out other program spending.
Mayor Steve Hofbauer said his understanding of the measure was that it was to be used not to supplant existing salaries, but to allow for additional staff to be hired for these public safety roles.
The community compliance officers play a vital role in the city’s public safety plans, including providing coverage for the more minor criminal reports in order to free up deputies to answer other, more urgent matters, Neighborhood Services Director Mike Miller said.
The Council has previously expressed concern about the Measure AV community grant program, launched this year, with the first awards under the dedicated program to have been finalized earlier this month. However, given Council questions and some community complaints, the grants are being reviewed and are scheduled to come before the Council for approval, on June 1.
This grant program is taking the place of individual grants that were previously awarded to various community organizations, Perez said.
“Everybody has to be vetted through the community grant program,” she said.
“I think that needs a lot more scrutiny,” Loa said, adding he was concerned about the power of the committee that reviews the grant applications and makes recommendations for the awards.
While the Council has the ultimate decision on the awards, it doesn’t have information on the individual applications, he said.
After lengthy debate about the Measure AV budget, Councilmember Juan Carrillo wanted to shift the focus not on the difficulties in managing the new revenue source, but on its successes.
“I think we need to celebrate what we have been able to accomplish, because we have $22 million more,” he said.