Diamond Bar's Financial Future Looking Up

Diamond Bar appears to be weathering the financial storm and will likely have a modest financial gain for 2012-13 fiscal year, officials said Tuesday.

Sales and property taxes were expected to increase by just under 3 percent, city staffers told City Council members during a budget study session in which a five-year Capitol Improvement Plan was also discussed.

The study session, held before the council meeting, gave the council a peek inside the budget that City Manager James DeStefano said the staff has been pouring over for several months.

A balanced budget with a $55,000 general fund reserve was presented to the council. Officials are counting nearly $4 million in property taxes, more than $1.9 million in services fees and charges from all city departments such as building, engineering and recreation and $150,000 from the sale of Measure A transportation funds to the city of Industry.

“This is all because of the great staff and all of the council members who have been fiscally conservative through the years,” Mayor Ling-Ling Chang said as she complimented DeStefano and his staff.

It was still a challenge -- despite the modest growth -- because expenditures also grew, including the cost of police services, which increased by $331,000 to a total cost of $5,795,683 for the year.

A cost of living adjustment added another $115,000 to personnel costs, according to a staff report.

The study session also included discussion on a five-year capitol improvement, which included slurry sealing of roads throughout the city, the rehabilitation of Pathfinder Road between Peaceful Hills and Westerly City, a traffic signal master plan and the Lemon Avenue interchange project.

The city is looking to invest just under $30 million into improvement projects in the next five years. They have identified 50 projects, according to staff reports.

The budget and capitol improvement plan will go before the council for a vote on June 5.