Vehicle license fees transported home





By Stephanie Bertholdo
bertholdo@theacorn.com

Agoura Hills City Council members are gnashing teeth over midyear budget concerns, but got some relief after accepting the state’s proposed Vehicle License Gap Program.


The state program will allow cities to recoup between 90 to 96 percent of the money taken by the state in recent years to help bridge California’s budget shortfall.


Agoura Hills will receive $371,000 of the more than $400,000 that the state owes the city.


Rather than wait for the borrowed money to be repaid—the state is not required to pay back the borrowed vehicle license fees until 2008—council members agreed that the one-time disbursement would come in handy at a time when several local programs need funding.


In addition to paying $250,000 to help acquire the Soka property (see page 1), city council members called for additional funding to complete the Morrison Park Improvement Project.


The project features adding tennis and basketball courts, restrooms and a storage facility to the Agoura Hills park.


The city had already allocated $200,000 from development fees for recreational facilities. But estimated construction costs have swelled to nearly $500,000 due to escalating costs for steel, masonry and cement.


City officials recommended phasing the project, although council members worried that costs would continue to rise and delay completion even further.


Councilmember Dan Kuperberg said that the council had promised to build the recreational facilities.


"We owe these residents something more than the promises they’ve had for 12 years," Kuperberg said.


While Kuperberg said that a portion of the "windfall" money from the car tax program could be spent on the Morrison Park project, Mayor Ed Corridori suggested that the entire $180,000 go toward the project, and that the remaining balance be allocated from the general fund.


"I don’t want to phase (the Morrison Park program), I want to do the whole thing," Corridori said. He explained that one of the advantages of CalTrans delaying funds for the 101/Kanan Interchange Project was that the city has time to build more reserves.


Councilmember Jeff Reinhardt voiced reservations about spending all the car tax money on the Morrison Park project when the Kanan interchange and the Reyes Adobe interchange projects still loomed.


Council members approved paying for all facilities design plans and bidding out the construction, and contributing extra funds to complete the Morrison Park project.


Other expenditures approved included building a shade structure at Sumac Park, and increasing funds to bring the Juvenile Intervention Program to all 8th-graders.


The report indicated a $1,555,200 increase in revenue, stemming from a $250,000 grant for the construction of a bike lane, income from a county parking agreement, and $1.3 million Metropolitan Transit Authority funds for the 101/Kanan interchange project.


After the dust settled on the mid-year budget review, some projects were put on the back burner, including web casting or live television broadcasting of the city council meetings, and changes to the Ladyface Specific Plan.



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