ENCINITAS — The Encinitas City Council has allotted funding in the next fiscal year to hire consulting firms to help develop a native plant ordinance and search for a new fire station in Olivenhain.
Both spending requests were granted during a May 15 council meeting, in which the proposed fiscal year 2024-25 budget was announced.
However, the votes were not unanimous.
The native plant ordinance was approved in a split 3-2 vote, with Mayor Tony Kranz and Councilmember Allison Blackwell voting against it. The ordinance, which decides where native plants should be placed throughout the city, sparked pushback last month due to the hefty $350,000 in consulting fees when it was initially proposed.
An alternative proposal was floated during the meeting, with Councilmember Joy Lyndes offering a $200,000 cheaper solution that wouldn’t include computer mapping of the city’s existing native species.
Even though the price reduction wasn’t enough to sway Kranz, who said spending $150,000 on a consultant was “not something that I prioritize,” the council approved the proposal.
As part of the same proposed budget, the city’s fire department is set to hire a consultant to find a new location for Fire Station 6 after the council agreed to spend $50,000. Fire Chief Josh Gordon said they need help identifying a suitable building site in Olivenhain.
“There are a lot of floodplains and different areas that we don’t have experts in, so we just need someone to point us in a direction and say this is a viable piece of property that we can use,” Gordon said.
Councilmember Kellie Hinze was the sole opponent of the item, arguing Olivenhain residents should be asked where they would like a new station to be located before hiring a consultant.
According to city staff, the city’s proposed FY 2024-25 budget, which begins on July 1, is balanced and completely funded. The budget proposal will be up for approval at the council’s June 12 meeting.
The next fiscal year operating budget consists of $135.1 million in revenue and $131.8 million in expenses. If approved, capital and work project appropriations total $13.4 million. The city’s general fund expects $107.5 million in revenue against $100 million in expenditures, with $5.5 million for debt service and $3.9 million for capital projects.
The proposed budget also includes funding for the following new programs: $777,000 for the Second HOPE team ($335K start-up with $442K ongoing); $200,000 for a full-time equivalent Homeless Solutions Coordinator; $650,000 for part-time personnel for Pacific View Arts Center operations; and $347K debt service related to the $6 million purchase of two parcels known as Surfer’s Point. (In April, the city of Encinitas agreed to issue $5.7 million in lease revenue bonds to cover the land purchase, with annual debt service payments of around $347,000 annually for 30 years.)
