Since the City launched the new “Improve Don’t Move” program last month, it has already saved homeowners more than $22,000 in helping them to improve their most valuable assets. So far, the City has processed 131 projects with a total fee waiver of $22,752.52.

The “Improve Don’t Move” program, brought forth by Mayor Frank Ury, is designed to waive all building permit fees for Mission Viejo homeowners for the period of January 1, 2012 to July 4, 2012.

The program evolved from the City’s diligence in trimming its expenses over the past few years while maintaining services. Those proactive measures resulted in surplus money that was placed in reserves during the last budget year. The Improve Don’t Move program returns a portion of that savings back to the taxpaying homeowners of Mission Viejo by removing barriers that may be in place for folks to improve their homes. This program not only allows for homeowner savings, but is assisting in creating job opportunities for numerous local area contractors.

The policy also allows homeowners who have unpermitted improvements to have their improvements permitted and inspected without penalty. Certain provisions apply, and detailed information is available at www.cityofmissionviejo.org or by calling 949-470-3053.

The City Council on October 3 will consider refinancing the Mission Viejo “Freeway Center” bonds to save the center’s property owners about 10 percent on their tax bill.

The City issued $4.95 million of Special Tax Bonds in 1992 to provide funds to build a storm drain for La Paz Channel, which made the later development of the Mission Viejo Freeway Center possible. The center houses Best Buy, Toys-R-Us, Sports Authority, Bed, Bath & Beyond as well as other retail stores, fast-food chains and automotive shops. Repayment of the bonds is from a special tax rate charged to the 14 commercial property owners within the commercial center. Approximately $2.4 million of these bonds remain outstanding and the current bonds mature in August 2017.

Thanks to historic low interest rates, the City Council will consider issuing refunding bonds to pay off the current bonds and save property owners an estimated $278,000 in tax savings or 10% over the remaining term of the bonds. This savings amounts to about $46,000 a year. If the Council approves the refunding, the bond sale is scheduled to take place on October 19.

The Council meets at 6 p.m. in the Council Chamber at City Hall, 200 Civic Center. For more information, visit www.cityofmissionviejo.org.

Mission Viejo ended fiscal year 2010-11 on a high note with a budgetary surplus originally pegged at $1.7 million. Buoyed by stronger-than-anticipated property tax and sales tax receipts, total revenue topped budget estimates by $1.2 million. By doing more with less, staff reduced costs and saved over $500,000. To boot, staff just learned that sales tax receipts were actually $90,000 greater than reported to the Council this month, increasing the budgetary surplus from $1.7 million to $1.8 million.

Council members will consider possible options for the surplus that could include allowing all or a portion of the surplus to roll into the City’s discretionary reserves or providing funding for capital projects like the dog park, slope maintenance or a contingency for the Marguerite Tennis Center renovation.

The City Council has a minimum reserve policy of 50 percent of revenue ($24 million). Right now, reserves are at $26.5 million, 55 percent. The original budget had forecast ending reserves of $24.7 million.

The Council meets at 6 p.m. October 3 in the Council Chamber at City Hall, 200 Civic Center. For more information, visit www.cityofmissionviejo.org.

The City will receive more than $6.6 million in competitive grant funding from the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) for two traffic-easing projects – the widening of Oso Parkway from the I-5 freeway to Country Club Drive and the widening of La Paz Road from Chrisanta Drive to Muirlands. 

The OCTA Board of Directors approved the funding on Monday. The Oso Parkway widening project will receive about $3.9 million to add a fourth travel lane in each direction from the I-5 freeway to Country Club Drive.  

La Paz Road will receive approximately $2.7 million to widen the road from four to six lanes between Chrisanta Drive and Muirlands Blvd.

Construction on La Paz Road is expected to begin in early 2012, with construction on Oso Parkway slated to start in late 2012-early 2013.

OCTA received approximately $92.8 in funding requests from 22 Orange County agencies.  Only $55.6 million in grant funding was available for this grant program from Measure M2, the half-cent sales tax approved by Orange County voters in 2006. Mission Viejo’s application for Oso Parkway was the 5th highest ranked application in the county, while the grant application for La Paz Road was ranked the 15th highest out of the 64 grant applications OCTA received.

According to OCTA, Measure M2 is expected to generate roughly $15 billion over the next 30 years to reduce traffic congestion, strengthen the local economy and improve the county’s quality of life by upgrading key freeways, fixing major freeway interchanges, maintaining streets and roads, synchronizing traffic signals countywide, building a visionary rail-transit system, and protecting the environment from street runoff that pollutes Orange County beaches.

Mission Viejo’s proposed two-year budget continues existing City services, includes $14 million in road improvements and maintains $25 million in reserves. The City Manager’s proposed 2011-13 operating and capital budget will be presented to the City Council on Monday.  A budget workshop follows on Wednesday, June 15, and the council is expected to adopt the final budget on Tuesday, July 5.

By carefully examining the budget and trimming personnel costs and operating expenses, City staff has been able to present a balanced 2-year budget without having to tap into discretionary reserves or without cuts to police and essential services that residents and businesses have come to expect in this City, which continues to be one of the safest cities in the nation. Mission Viejo’s discretionary and total City reserves are above the council’s target level of 50 percent of General Fund reserves – roughly $25 million.

City staff balanced the budget through a variety of means including eliminating 4.75 more full-time positions in FY 2011/2012 to the tune of $540,000 in savings. That’s on top of the 12 positions that have been cut over the past three years – without any layoffs – which has saved the City $1 million annually. A total of eight positions are proposed to be eliminated over the next two years, and employees will pay a greater share of their retirement costs beginning January 2012. New hires will be part of a lower, second tier retirement program starting next month. 

The proposed 2011-13 budget reduces the 2011-12 operating budget by $1.8 million compared to the 2010-11 budget. In addition, year-end revenues are expected to be between $500,000 and $700,000 above budgeted levels for fiscal year 2010/11. These year-end budget savings will be used to replace City assets such as computers, vehicles and recreational and fitness equipment.

The budget also includes $6 million in capital improvement project appropriations for fiscal year 2011/12 and an additional $8,775,755 for the following fiscal year.

Despite an economy struggling to emerge from the worst recession in more than 70 years, the City successfully prepared the 2011-2013 budget and met its goal of continuing to provide core municipal services to residents. The Police Services contract is fully funded and the Mission Viejo Library, Norman P. Murray Community and Senior Center and the recreation and tennis centers will all maintain their current hours of operation. Road improvement projects in the Capital Improvement Program will total $14.1 million over the next two years.

The City Council meets at 6 p.m. in the Council Chamber at City Hall, 200 Civic Center. To see the agenda, visit the City’s website at www.cityofmissionviejo.org.

Cheryl Dyas, who has served as Laguna Niguel’s Director of Finance for the past seven years, has been named Mission Viejo’s new Director of Administrative Services. She will fill the post of Irwin Bornstein, who retires this month after 23 years of service to the City.

Cheryl, a Mission Viejo resident, comes to the City with 17 years of government finance experience. She is a Certified Public Account and member of the California Society of Municipal Finance Officers, Government Finance Officers Association and others. Since December of 2004, Cheryl has overseen a roughly $40 million budget, supervised finance and IT staff and has maintained financial records of all city funds, along with managing city investments and other duties. She started with the City of Laguna Niguel in August 2002 as the Budget and Finance Officer. Before that, she worked in the private sector and was responsible for planning, performing and supervising local government audits. 

Cheryl, who begins her new post on June 27, said she is excited about the personal and professional growth it will bring. 

“I am looking forward to the challenges and opportunities that await me in this great City,” she said. “I am passionate about public service and am eager to work with City staff and the City Council to carry out a vision that benefits the community as a whole.”

Cheryl has a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Accounting from California State University, Fullerton. Married with a son, she has lived in Mission Viejo for 15 years.

The City is accepting applications from tax-exempt California nonprofit corporations that provide social services for City residents and are eligible for federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding.

CDBG, one of the longest-running programs of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, funds local community development activities such as fair housing, anti-poverty programs and infrastructure development.  To qualify for CDBG funds, nonprofits must mainly serve lower-income residents through programs such as childcare, case management for homebound seniors, and work programs for adults with developmental disabilities.

Awarded grant funds are for the 2011-2012 fiscal year, which begins July 1, 2011 and ends on June 30, 2012. Funding guidelines and applications are available on the City’s website at http://cityofmissionviejo.org/DepartmentPage.aspx?id=9963 or by contacting Elaine Lister at 949-470-3053. Applications are due by December 15.

For more information, contact Mike Linares or Elaine Lister in the Community Development Department at 949-470-3053.

The Sacramento Superior Court, on Tuesday, issued a decision in favor of the State in the lawsuit filed by the California Redevelopment Association (CRA). The CRA’s lawsuit was intended to stop the State’s raid of local redevelopment funds to help the State balance its budget. The CRA immediately appealed the decision and requested a temporary stay to keep local agencies from having to make the payments due Monday, May 10 (until the appeal was decided). Late Friday, the Third District Court of Appeal denied the temporary stay.

To help balance its budget, the State passed legislation to require a statewide $2.05 billion contribution of local redevelopment agency funds over the next two years. Redevelopment agencies throughout the State are obligated to make these payments in proportion to their relative share of statewide tax increment revenues. Mission Viejo’s Community Development Agency must make payments totaling just over $2 million over the next two years. The City’s obligation for Fiscal Year 2009-10 is $1,775,805 and is due to the County on Monday, May 10. The Fiscal Year 2010-11 amount will be $365,268. The CRA appeal is proceeding, but in the meantime, the Agency will proceed to make the $1.7 million payment due Monday and reserve its rights depending on the outcome of the appeal.

The City Council on Monday, May 3 will begin reviewing proposals submitted in February by four waste hauling companies – Athens Services, CR&R, Inc., Ware Disposal and Waste Management of Orange County – vying for the City’s Integrated Solid Waste Management Services contract.

After council members have reviewed the proposals and completed their discussion, the next step in the process will be to direct staff and the City’s consultant firm Sloan Vazquez to negotiate a proposed final agreement with one firm. This could happen on Monday or at the May 17 council meeting or the following council meeting. Staff will then return with the agreement for council consideration at a later date.

The City’s current agreement with Waste Management of Orange County expires after a decade on Dec. 31, 2010. The City is required to solicit a new agreement for trash and recycling services under voter-approved Measure L, which in 2000 amended sections of the City’s Municipal Code, allowing for up to a 10-year term for residential and commercial integrated waste management franchises. A new agreement will take effect in January 2011.

The RFP required the companies to demonstrate their expertise in safely providing solid waste, recyclable material and organic material collection services. The companies were also required to demonstrate how they intend to achieve high diversion rates through existing and/or new innovative programs, including public education.

After an in-depth evaluation process that included public input, Sloan Vazquez ranked the proposals from high to low based on the scoring system in the RFP. The rankings are as follows: 1) Waste Management of Orange County; 2) CR&R, Inc. 3) Athens Services; and 4) Ware Disposal.

The City Council meets at 6 p.m. Monday, May 3 in Council Chamber at City Hall, 200 Civic Center. For more information, visit www.cityofmissionviejo.org.

The City of Mission Viejo has been recognized for excellence in governmental budgeting for 2009 by the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA), a non-profit association that serves more than 17,000 government finance professionals across the country.

The City received a Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for its commitment to meeting the highest principles of governmental budgeting.

The award is based on how well an entity’s budget serves as a policy document; financial plan; operations guide; and communications device.

The recognition from GFOA is significant, as award recipients have pioneered efforts to improve the quality of budgeting and provide an excellent example for other governments throughout North America. The City has also been recognized for the last two decades by the organization for its comprehensive annual financial report.