City’s Revenue Loss Threatens 45 Positions

Thousand Oaks officials on Wednesday announced that they may trim the city’s work force by at least 45 full-time employees because of a decline in state and local tax revenue.

City Manager Grant Brimhall said the losses are forcing the city to reduce spending next year by about 10%.

In addition to cuts in staff, the city is considering reducing municipal services. Department heads already have been ordered to cut back 5% on expenditures, Brimhall said.

“It’s a crisis,” he said. “I don’t see how we can see any service that will go untouched.”

It has not been decided what positions might be cut, he said. The City Council is expected to make a decision on the proposed staff reduction by June 30.

The cuts are designed to prevent the city from operating at a deficit next fiscal year, which begins July 1, he said. The proposed budget still has not been released.

Just last week, Thousand Oaks imposed a hiring freeze that will result in the loss of 10 positions.

To eliminate the remainder of the 45 jobs, positions left vacant by retirements would not be filled, and workers would be laid off. It is anticipated that at least half of the reduction would result from layoffs.

The proposed layoffs drew fire from representatives of two employees unions.

The Thousand Oaks City Employees Assn. and the Thousand Oaks Management Assn. are negotiating new contracts with the city. Their current contracts are set to expire at the end of June.

Barry L. Hammitt, a spokesman for the 337-member Thousand Oaks City Employees Assn., said the city is exaggerating the seriousness of its budget crisis.

“I think every city is doing their form of the Chicken Little dance. You know, ‘The sky is falling, the sky is falling!’ ” he said.

Hammitt said he expects that low-level workers, not management, will be hurt by the layoffs.

“My gut reaction would be that they will cut from the bottom,” Hammitt said.

David Cochran, a representative of the 135-member management association, said he expects to learn more about the proposed layoffs during negotiations scheduled for today.

Although upper-level managers probably will not be laid off, they may be asked to take on extra work if staffs are reduced, Cochran said.

Brimhall said the crisis is real and already has taken a toll on this fiscal year’s budget.

Over the past nine months, the city has collected less money from state property, local sales and hotel taxes than it had anticipated, according to a report issued last week by the city’s finance director.

Assistant City Manager MaryJane V. Lazz said the city will get about half of the $1.2 million it had projected from state property taxes by the end of the fiscal year. Local sales taxes will be 1% less than the 1989-90 fiscal year, and hotel taxes will be 7% less, Lazz said.

All told, the city will see a loss of nearly $2 million in general funds by the end of this fiscal year--from a projected $28 million to $26.3 million--and the trend is expected to continue next fiscal year, she said.

Because of the hard times, the city has considered adopting new fees for services, such as use of the library. The City Council is considering an annual $55 fee for non-residents to borrow books.

It is also considering charging drunk-driving suspects fees for being arrested and booked into jail.

Mayor Frank Schillo said the city has not seen such tough economic times since the 1970s, when a recession forced Thousand Oaks to lay off workers.

“This is the first time that I can remember having this kind of a problem,” Schillo said. “We’re just not getting revenues.”

However, the city will not abandon its controversial plan to build a new $63-million city hall and arts auditorium at the former Jungleland site. The project is being financed with redevelopment taxes, which cannot be transferred to the city’s general fund, Schillo said.