EL SEGUNDO HERALD August 1, 2019 Page 9
ESTABLISHED 1980
IN ESCROW!
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3 bedroom, 2 bath, approximately 1,856 sq ft. with renovations.
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City Council from front page
as it is today, the site will still likely require a
new restroom that is ADA-compliant since the
new playground and park will be as well. A
new restroom building will run approximately
$200,000. However if the pool is taken out
altogether, the restrooms will be removed.
Councilmember Scot Nicol suggested that
before making a final decision on the pool,
the City should wait to see if it receives
approval for a $1.7 million grant for that
project (an answer is expected by December/
January). Councilmember Chris Pimentel
maintained that the area near Acacia Park
has a dense population with many young
kids who would use the pool. “The pool is
there for a reason,” he said.
Looking at the overall CIP list, Mayor
Pro Tem Carol Pirsztuk asked to prioritize
Teen Center, skate park and basketball court
improvements to provide a more appealing
and safer place for local youth to go. She
hoped to see a full revamp rather than just
patchwork repair. Pirsztuk also expressed her
desire to move forward with assessment and
design for The Plunge renovation to determine
the updated cost for that project.
On the topic of general fund reserves, Boyles
called for the Council to rethink the City’s
current level of 19 percent recommended by
Lillio. The mayor rationalized that a recession
will likely mean a “bad CalPERS year”
with adverse financial impacts. Stating that
the City only makes about 2.5 percent on its
investments, Boyles suggested that “we bite
the bullet and get aggressive” by “bringing
the reserves down to 15 percent” – and then
apply the extra dollars to reduce pension
debt. Councilmember Don Brann was quick
to second the idea. A long proponent of
lowering the reserves level, he said he sees
“the glass as half full” and has philosophical
differences on the matter with others in the
City who see it as “half empty.”
Opining that the budget is “based on a
false narrative,” Brann suggested that the
City’s general fund reserves are actually at
about 30 percent since they also include the
economic uncertainty fund plus substantial
monies inevitably tossed back into the pool
due to the annual 20 to 40 unfilled employee
vacancies. Lillio pointed out that for the
upcoming budget estimate, the City built in
a five percent vacancy rate. In past years,
expenditure projections assumed all positions
as filled when plugging in the numbers.
Accusing the City of “hoarding monies,”
Brann preferred to use the additional funds
towards capital projects and paying down
pension liability.
Before a final vote on the general fund
reserves percentage, Lillio said he will
come back to the Council with results from
an actuarial analysis to determine the most
prudent course of action. As example, he
may receive advice to put more money into
a pension trust that earns a higher return or
look into refinancing versus paying down
the existing debt.
City Manager Scott Mitnick also described
a potential snag if the Council opts to seek a
bond rating in order to borrow money in the
future to hedge against a recession and/or to
fund capital projects (with the argument that
with rates low, it may make more financial
sense to pay for projects over time rather than
all at once -- similar to how families purchase
big-ticket items such as a house or car). Mitnick
explained that the standard benchmark general
fund reserves level that California cities use to
get a strong “investment grade” bond rating
is 20 percent. He also emphasized that while
El Segundo’s reserves are “adequate,” there
are a number of other local governments in
the region with higher levels.
Mitnick also mentioned the impacts of
deferred public infrastructure projects and
said El Segundo has “pretty significant deficiencies”
in that regard. He applauded the
Council for looking at planning for the long
haul and said more intensive cost analyses
(such as for pension pay-downs) will allow
the City to “see patterns down the road” that
could prompt different decisions on how to
allocate funding. Mitnick additionally asked
to set up “2-2-1” meetings with the Council
members to get their individual perspectives
on how to pay for the infrastructure projects
as well as their thoughts on pensions, reserves
and other key budget matters. The Council
will continue to look at the budget this month
before voting on the proposed fiscal year
2019/20 document in September. •
Car Technology from page 3
needs of older adults and make the systems
safer for all drivers,” Nelson said.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control
reported that 7,400 older adults (aged 65-
plus) were killed and more than 290,000
were treated in emergency departments for
motor vehicle crash injuries in 2016. There
were almost 42 million licensed older drivers
that year, a 56 percent increase from 1999.
As cars get more complicated, seniors can turn
to mature driving improvement programs offered
by agencies and driving schools that serve the
growing population of 65-plus residents. Many
of the programs and phone numbers are listed
at the Department of Motor Vehicle web site
by typing “mature driver improvement courses”
into the search field. The DMV site is found
at www.dmv.ca.gov on the web. •
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