Politics & Government

What Does the City Spend Money On?

City Council agendas and Warrant Registers disclose facts and figures to the public. But you've got to read them to know what's in them, and that can be tedious.

City Council meeting agendas include rote approval of items such as meeting minutes and expenditures, most fairly mundane and routine.

But looking more closely at such items can be interesting.

Here are four ways the city spends money, and an amount being returned to individuals as citation refunds.

Find out what's happening in Manhattan Beachwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Four of the items included here are either up for discussion at tonight's City Council meeting  or on a Warrant Register that is being submitted for approval on tonight's agenda, which technically also makes them up for discussion.

City Council meetings begin at 6:30 p.m. and are held in Council Chambers, 1400 Highland Avenue. Regular meetings are held the first and third Tuesday of the month.

Find out what's happening in Manhattan Beachwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

1. Coarse wood chips for the entire Veterans Parkway path: Approximately $18,000 based on $16 per cubic yard for 1,100 cubic yards, according to Jim Arndt, Public Works director.

The wood chips were placed in September by the city's landscape contractor Merchants, after being purchased from Artesia Sawdust. According to Arndt, the chips are a by-product of recycled wood from construction demolition, including 2x4s. "Contractors are required to separate and recycle construction demolition waste, and this is a product of that recycle effort," he told Manhattan Beach Patch via e-mail.

2. A rented portable fence that helps to prohibit unauthorized sand dune use at Sand Dune Park: $77.03 per month, according to the Warrant Register that is being submitted to City Council for approval at tonight's 6:30 p.m. meeting.

If approved tonight, the city will spend up to $50,000 for a permanent fence at the top and bottom of the dune and will continue to pay for rental fencing at its sides.

The temporary basic chain link fence that is rented from S & S Construction to enclose the sand dune for workouts by reservation through the city's Parks and Recreation department could become a partial thing of the past.

At tonight's Council meeting, city staff is recommending that council "Approve the installation of a 6-foot high vinyl coated chain link fence for the top and bottom of the Sand Dune" at a cost of $50,000, to be paid for from the Capital Improvement Fund since the expenditure is not budgeted for in the fiscal year 2011-2012 budget.

The rental fence will remain on the dune's sides. However, the proposed new fence at top and bottom of the dune will extend beyond the dune workout area to protect access to an endangered plant habitat that flanks it.

Staff notes in its report on council's agenda that the cost is $42,000 for the top and bottom fencing they propose but that $50,000 would account for any unforeseen costs.

Citizens for Outdoor Recreation & Exercise, CORE, on its Web site says that it would prefer to see the $50,000 used "to support important Parks programs such as the fixing of the Begg Pool."

3. Parks and Recreation department renewal of subscription to Daily Breeze newspaper: $195 per tonight's Warrant Register being presented to city council for approval.

4. Josyln Center, Manhattan Heights and Begg Pool remodel design: $21,450 to Andresen Architecture Inc., according to the Warrant Register for tonight's council meeting.

5. The Warrant Register used for this article includes 11 citation refunds, totaling $1,175. The largest citation refunds are two for $333 each, the majority are for $48.


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