The Weekly Newspaper of El Segundo Herald Publications - El Segundo, Torrance, Manhattan Beach, Hawthorne, Lawndale, & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 104, No. 33 - August 13, 2015 Inside This Issue Certified & Licensed Professionals.....................14 Classifieds............................4 Crossword/Sudoku.............4 Herald-In...............................2 Legals............................ 12,13 Letters...................................3 Police.....................................3 Real Estate.....................7-11 Sports....................................6 Weekend Forecast Disney Fans Enjoy a Perfect Night At El Segundo Movie in the Park Matthew Barry, Lindalya Kahome, Limor Zamir, Jodie Infantino, Rotary Club president Shiela Fowler, Gina Hoffman, Ian Rusnell, Lynn O’Neil, John Skulick, Karen Sellers and Chris Plank at the Movie in the Park with characters from the Frozen singalong. Shorewood Realtors and the Rotary Club were sponsors of the El Segundo Movie in the Park. Photo credit: Ed Su. For more information and photo see page 2. Friday Sunny 81˚/67˚ Saturday Sunny 82˚/69˚ Sunday Sunny 84˚/69˚ City’s Current Budget Numbers Look Good for Year-End Tally By Brian Simon Budget forecasting is often a slippery slope for a municipality, especially one that relies heavily on revenue sources that are historically volatile. This is certainly the case for the City of El Segundo, which recently presented a third quarter update of its 2014/15 budget complete with several significant variances in multiple revenue categories when compared to the dollar amounts adopted last September. For instance, the revised year-end estimate for business license tax (BLT) revenues is now down by $263,900 due to the increased number of smaller firms in town square footage-wise coupled with lower employee head counts. Transient occupancy tax (TOT) projections also dropped $259,200 primarily because of the temporary closure of the Hacienda Hotel as the facility undergoes construction. The price of natural gas is 35 percent lower than last year, thereby sending cogeneration electric tax revenues south by a whopping $460,000. An unplanned outage at the power plant prompted staff to lower gas utility tax estimates by $200,000. Volatility indeed. And even predicted dollars from the tax resolution agreement with Chevron will decrease by $265,266. At the same time, the City will do much better than expected with franchise tax (plus $596,300) and property tax (an additional $264,800) revenues. Staff also adjusted last September’s numbers to tack on additional projected monies for sales and use tax, sales tax in lieu, electric utility tax, license and permits, interest/rentals, and other sundry revenues. Looking at the entire list of revenues, it’s likely that not even one category will finish the current fiscal year (that concludes on September 30) within $100,000 of the originally adopted estimate. And yet after all is said and done, rampant volatility aside and everything added and subtracted all over again, the expected final revenue tally is only off very slightly from the amount adopted almost 11 months ago. Last September, the El Segundo City Council approved a budget of $60,642,700 million for 2014/15 general fund revenues. With 85.22 percent of the budget received as of the end of June, the new year-end estimate is $60,663,964—a difference of just $21,264, or 7/10th of one percent. On the expenditure side, the City reported some good news with an adopted budget of $64,138,100 but a year-end estimate (after 73.12 percent of monies spent) of $62,920,100—a difference of $1,218,000 in the City’s favor. Most of the savings are due to personnel vacancies that reduced salary payments citywide, with the most notable decrease a substantial $684,300 drop thanks to three retirements in the Fire Department. The 2014/15 fund balance update includes the required 18 percent (of the $60.6 million See Budget, page 2 K-9 Unit Says Goodbye to Arthur, Hello to Roxy By Brian Simon It may or may not be true that “every dog has its day,” but in the case of the El Segundo Police Department K-9 veteran Arthur, there were many days on which he could hang his hat—or more aptly, tail. Now nine-and-a-half, the 83-pound Czechoslovakian Malinois served the community for almost eight years until his retirement last month. Typically, a police canine works about six years. “Fortunately, I got Arthur when he was only 15 months old, so we were able to get a few extra years of service from him,” said Officer Chris Cameron, who also wrapped up his own nine years in the K-9 unit to move on to patrol work. Arthur’s storied career included 110 felony suspect searches. He was responsible for locating 22 felony suspects, including those wanted for attempted murder, carjacking, robbery and burglaries. He and Cameron additionally conducted 282 narcotic searches and Arthur was directly responsible for seizing $10,284,683 from drug organizations. “Our most notable night occurred a few years ago when Arthur located two suspects hiding beneath a house who were wanted for attempted murder,” Cameron recalled. “About 30 minutes later, Arthur found an armed suspect who stole a car at gunpoint.” Cameron added that one of the most enjoyable aspects of being a canine handler was interacting with the community during the 37 public demonstrations he and Arthur attended. “It was wonderful seeing the kids’ faces light up when they got to pet Arthur,” he said. See K-9 Unit, page 14
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