by Garth Meyer
After four hours of deliberations, spreadsheets, motions, substitute motions, questions and allegations Tuesday night, June 18, in the third of three public hearings for the Redondo Beach city budget, a package passed 3-2 – followed by a looming, rare, potential violation of the city charter.
“Vote carries, I would be prepared for a special meeting,” said Mayor Jim Light, who suggested he would veto the approved budget if its expenditures were not more spread out across the five city districts.
After the vote, City Manager Mike Witzansky noted that if a veto did occur, a special session to resume negotiations, by law, required a 10-day public notice.
According to the city charter, a new budget must be passed every year by June 30.
Mayor Light asked what would happen if fiscal 2024-25 was not agreed upon by that date.
“We’re in uncharted territory. In my 19 years as city attorney, this has not come up,” said Mike Webb, city attorney.
A discussion followed. Councilman Nils Nehrenheim made a motion to reconsider the just-approved budget, which he and Councilman Todd Loewenstein voted against. Webb informed the council that such a motion would need to come from a councilmember who voted affirmatively.
“I would strongly suggest we take the time to do this,” Witzansky said.
Obagi soon made a motion to resume the subject and a deal was reached in minutes.
The price of annual parking permits was dropped from $200 in the just-approved budget to $175.
The single-week of free parking in Riviera Village at Christmastime was raised to two weeks.
The final budget passed 5-0.
The $171 million package leaves between $90,000 – $125,000 for the future, according to Obagi. The eventual total may be influenced by people’s willingness to pay the new fees.
The unusual finish to the budget process completed three weeks of public hearings, in which fee rates were debated, as well as how much to allocate toward a new police shooting range, whether to commit to putting a pickleball complex at Aviation Park, and which of dozens of city projects to fund.
“I want three weeks of free parking in Riviera Village (in December),” Councilman Nehrenheim said Tuesday.
“Definitely not three weeks, max of two weeks,” said Obagi, Jr.
Witzansky and Wendy Collazo, financial services director, monitored the discussions and attending numbers in real-time.
Before the initial vote passed – from a motion by Obagi, seconded by Scott Behrendt, and supported by Councilmember Paige Kaluderovic – Councilman Loewenstein made a motion, supported by Nehrenheim. Later, Mayor Light attempted to piece together a compromise.
“This is heavily favoring one area of the city over another,” Loewenstein said of the competing motion. “We gave you everything you wanted and you left us with nothing.”
“I don’t want to veto this, but I’m hearing no balance,” the mayor said to Obagi and Behrendt, who represent District Four and Five on the north end of the city.
“Every district benefits in ours; yours is heavily north,” Loewenstein said.
The mayor, Behrendt and Obagi asked Nehrenheim and Loewenstein what they would want included to draw their support.
“Small things we can do now,” Nehrenheim said, as part of their answer.
Items were added, but not enough to produce more than a 3-2 vote, favored by the District three, four and five representatives.
Councilmember Kaluderovic said early in the evening that a police shooting range was her no. 1 capital improvement project – to cover the soft costs of a potential grant-funded, joint project with the Los Angeles Air Force Base. She also sought to aggressively raise city fees, citing other South Bay city’s rates.
“I don’t think we should be at the bottom of anything. I think we should be in the middle,” she said.
Others on the council suggested gradual increases.
Loewenstein and Nehrenheim’s motion left $69,000 remaining as surplus. Obagi and Behrendt’s left $159,000.
Kaluderovic suggested residents will accept increased city fees if they understand it pays for items such as crossing guards, another of her top priorities.
Loewenstein agreed on the importance of funding crossing guards but said “the school district really needs to step up” and help cover the costs.
Funding pickleball courts was talked about, and Wilderness Park improvements.
“Wilderness Park has been derelict a lot longer than pickleball has even been around,” Loewenstein said.
Obagi and Behrendt reiterated their call for only measured city fee increases.
“We can’t bring everything to median in one fell swoop,” Obagi said. “When these hit, I don’t want there to be an uproar.”
“I’m more of a rip the Band-Aid off kind of person,” Kaluderovic said.
Mayor Light asked City Attorney Webb about veto rules, confirming he would have five days to veto, after a resolution passes.
“I feel like this is ‘Let’s Make a Deal,’ so let’s make a deal,” Loewenstein said. “I really think there is something in (our proposal) for everyone.”
Councilmembers debated further – whether to increase street sweeping tickets from $35 to $40 to raise $100,000; how much money to designate specifically for Wilderness Park and pickleball.
Near the end – or what appeared the end – a substitute motion from Loewenstein, a substitute to an Obagi substitute, ended in a 3-2 “no” vote. Obagi’s substitute then passed 3-2.
The budget also included $1.157 million for expected litigation costs regarding Metro and the AES site. ER
