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Mayor gives city's budget clean bill of health
"I'm here to tell you we're doing just great," McDonald said in the opening of her brief State of the City address on Tuesday at Spanish Hills Country Club before a room of business and city leaders. McDonald gave a quick summary of the city's budget, which she called "balanced and healthy." This year the city reported $83.5 million in revenue. At nearly $26 million a year, taxes remained the largest revenue source for the city, she said. The city, however, will spend $122 million this year. McDonald said reserve money that has already been set aside, the city's Capital Improvements Projects Fund, will be used to pay for the $38.5 million difference. Over the next year, the city will begin an ambitious and expensive slate of capital improvement projects expected to total some $44 million. McDonald said the city has been saving money to pay for the new construction for a number of years. "It's a time that we have to be very, very careful with everything we have because we are rapidly running out of vacant land, and we have to learn to live without the income that development brings," McDonald said. At $8.5 million, the largest capital project expected to begin this year will be the Springville Drive interchange. The new interchange between Las Posas and Central Avenue will provide freeway access for a 1,500home development just north of the 101 Freeway between Las Posas Road and Central Avenue. McDonald said that in conjunction with the Springville Drive interchange, the city plans to begin a $7-million project to underground utility lines and storm drains along Ventura near the Target and Home Depot stores just west of Old Town. In the Mission Oaks area of the city, the widening of Upland Road between Hillridge and Paseo Noche and the addition of a traffic light at Mission Oaks Boulevard and Upland Road is expected to help ease traffic along the highly traveled road. The project will cost $5 million. McDonald said the completion of the new $27million Camarillo Library on Las Posas Road in March was the highlight for the city this year. The mayor said the city will also soon finish the third and final phase of the Ventura Boulevard redevelopment project. Started last summer, the third phase will complete the five-year plan to give the historic boulevard a fresh look with lighting, landscaping and street upgrades between Arneill and Lewis roads. The mayor briefly touched on the city's partnership last year with the Area Housing Authority of Ventura County to purchase the 305unit Mira Vista Senior Apartment complex to save the apartments as affordable housing for seniors. She also mentioned the 315-unit Navy housing project on Catalina Heights near Las Posas Road, which is expected to break ground in 2008, and the Camarillo Commons, a redevelopment plan to turn 55 acres of commercial real estate at the city's heart into a mixed-use development. The mayor said the city is talking to state officials to help renegotiate the number of homes cities are required to build as mandated by new state laws. Currently, McDonald said, the city is on track to meet their requirement of 400 new units a year. It's a number, she said, that is consistent with the city's general plan. The brief luncheon speech was followed by a 30minute video featuring city amenities, local businesses and public safety services. "I thought it would be more interesting than hearing just one person talk," McDonald said of the video. "We thought that so often we spend so much time on new development that it would be a great opportunity to give a nice snapshot of the whole city because that really is the state of the city." Luis Villegas, Pleasant Valley School District's interim superintendent, said the mayor's address gave "solid information that really describes who we are." |
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