The City Council will hear about the pandemic’s economic impact on the city on May 11.
In a recent email Seal Beach City Manager Jill Ingram wrote that “residents can expect to hear a financial update at the May 11th Council meeting on the fiscal impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the remainder of the FY 19-20 budget, as well as an update on budget development for FY 20-21.”
The current fiscal (financial) year ends on June 30, according to the current city budget.
“There are a number of financial impacts that have resulted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. City staff is hard at work putting together the budget for Council’s review. There will be a presentation on May 11 at the Council Meeting that will go over each revenue source impacted,” wrote Assistant City Manager Patrick Gallegos in a recent email.
“The City has not seen any significant increases to overtime,” Gallegos wrote.
“The City has not implemented furloughs, we have only reduced part time hours for positions that aren’t currently needed. This will also be discussed on May 11 in the presentation to Council and will be discussed further at the budget workshop later in May,” Gallegos wrote.
Pandemic-related restrictions have affected all aspects of city life and all city departments. Take, for example, the Seal Beach Police Department.
“There has been a slight increase in overtime for some of our administrative staff who have been tasked with handling the increase in administrative work (responding to residents, completing FEMA documentation, networking with County and State officials, preparing community briefings and Council presentations, etc.),” wrote SBPD Sgt. Nick Nicholas in a recent email.
“The two new police officers have been assigned to the Operations Bureau and are working in a patrol capacity. These two officers will fill vacancies in the Patrol Bureau,” Nicholas wrote.
“With the closure of the McGaugh campus, City crossing guards are not currently needed at the school. We offered to reassign some crossing guards to fulfill other City needs. Some have been temporarily reassigned to the Police Department to help with clerical duties. Others have voluntarily taken a temporary leave of absence,” he wrote.
“Although all parking regulations are being enforced (with the exception of street sweeper violations), since many non-essential businesses are closed, we have seen a decrease in the number of illegally parked vehicles on our streets,” he wrote.
