MAKING WAY FOR MORE PEOPLE CITY MANAGER SUBMITS BUDGET FOR FUTURE GROWTH.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Population growth - and planning for it - are two themes emerging in Lancaster's proposed $134.6 million budget, the first under a new city manager.

To deal with rapid growth that added nearly 4,500 inhabitants last year, City Manager Bob LaSala has proposed adding 19 city employees and boosting spending on Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department services by 10.7 percent.

The proposed 2005-06 fiscal blueprint includes a general fund operating budget of $55.7 million, a 28 percent increase over the current budget. Not included is more than $1 million the city is promised from a state repayment of a loan of vehicle licensing fees and $500,000 from gas tax revenue under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed state budget.

``We are not going to anticipate those monies until we have them in hand,'' LaSala said Tuesday in a briefing for reporters.

LaSala, who took over five months ago from longtime City Manager Jim Gilley, said he was starting a series of strategic planning efforts to help guide the future budgeting efforts for the city of 133,700 residents.

Those efforts include a five-year financial forecast, which LaSala said would help avoid the wild swings that occur year to year in municipal budgets.

Other planning efforts include a six-year capital improvement plan to anticipate what the city must build to accommodate growth, a downtown specific plan for preserving the neighborhood and its businesses, a plan to address city maintenance of streets and other facilities, and a neighborhood preservation and code enforcement strategic plan.

LaSala said he also wants to look at how the city communicates with its residents, to see how that communication can be improved.

``Let's get closer to the customer,'' LaSala said. ``If we can communicate better, we establish trust.''

In public safety, the proposed budget calls for upping its contract with the Sheriff's Department to $15 million, an increase of $1.6 million from this year's budget.

The contract includes funding for fingerprint training and a crime lab specialist to reduce the waiting time for processing fingerprints from crime scenes; an additional community services assistant dedicated to the collection of fingerprint evidence; a crime prevention/community relations officer to establish neighborhood crime prevention programs; and one additional field deputy.

The 19 new city employees would include 10 in the Public Works Department and three in parks, recreation and arts to handle population growth.

The budget includes $150,000 for creating a parks master plan that would lay out where and what type of new recreation facilities should be built, plus $1.6 million to be set aside for future park land acquisition.

An additional $285,000 would be spent on the second phase of the Forrest E. Hull Park opened last year on 30th Street West north of Avenue M. The work will include installation of a playground, trash enclosures and a picnic area.

For streets and storm drains, the budget includes $2.3 million for a drainage project at 20th Street East and Kettering Street; $835,000 to alleviate nuisance water at 18 intersections; $2 million for traffic signal interconnection; and $1.6 million for citywide pavement marking refurbishment.

The budget is expected to be adopted at the City Council's meeting next Tuesday.

Jim Skeen, [phone]

james.skeen(at)dailynews.com

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(color) The new Lancaster city budget calls for creating a specific plan to preserve the area's characteristics and economic viability.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer