Former mayor eyes reserves, swimming pool
Former Mayor Allen Castellano—recordholder for most votes won in a Yorba Linda City Council election—is going public with his concerns on two distinct issues: dwindling city budget reserves and the size of a swimming pool for Yorba Linda High School.
“Now that I’m off council, I seem to have a lot more time on my hands,” Castellano told me in an e-mail recently. The L.A. County Sheriff deputy twice served as mayor during two council terms, 2000-08, and his 16,879 vote total in 2004 is still the highest achieved.
Castellano stated, “I’ve seen a lot of spending taking place within the city without a lot of tangible results.” He also noted, “When I left office, we had $38 million in reserves.” The latest figures show a “projected fund balance” a bit under $29.4 million for June 30.
“My concern has always been that our reserves are not a long-term funding source and should only be used for capital improvement projects and/or litigation costs,” he stated.
Castellano, a 16-year resident with a master’s degree in public administration, added, “I will definitely keep my eye on them, as we cannot sustain our general fund expenditures through our reserves.”
And earlier this month, Castellano sent a letter to Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District superintendent Dennis Smith lobbying for an Olympic-sized swimming pool for the Mustang campus.
A pool 50 meters long and 25 meters wide would “create a revenue stream…not normally available to the district with a smaller facility,” Castellano said, citing income from joint-usage and rental agreements and other benefits, including entry fee waiver for co-hosted tournaments, transportation savings and food and beverage sales revenue.
“A 50-meter pool within the district will give other schools the ability to move to Yorba Linda High School if their pools are in need of repair or renovation. A 50-meter pool is large enough to sustain two full practices at once,” Castellano noted.
“In south Orange County, the 50-meter pool has become the operating standard for new construction high schools and the focus for renovation projects,” including pools at El Toro, Capistrano Valley, Arnold Beckman, Juniper Serra, Santa Margarita, Santa Ana Valley and Foothill high schools, according to Castellano.
Castellano told me his oldest daughter is a freshman at Yorba Linda High and is in the water polo and swimming programs. “Before she started, I had no idea how much of a difference a 50-meter pool makes over a 30-meter pool,” he said.
“Fortunately, the YLHS water polo team was forced to travel to different schools to play their games, since YLHS does not have their pool built yet. In doing so, they have played at some fantastic facilities. The commonality with each facility that has a 50-meter pool is the versatility and ability to generate revenue into each district,” he added.
“Now that I’m off council, I seem to have a lot more time on my hands,” Castellano told me in an e-mail recently. The L.A. County Sheriff deputy twice served as mayor during two council terms, 2000-08, and his 16,879 vote total in 2004 is still the highest achieved.
Castellano stated, “I’ve seen a lot of spending taking place within the city without a lot of tangible results.” He also noted, “When I left office, we had $38 million in reserves.” The latest figures show a “projected fund balance” a bit under $29.4 million for June 30.
“My concern has always been that our reserves are not a long-term funding source and should only be used for capital improvement projects and/or litigation costs,” he stated.
Castellano, a 16-year resident with a master’s degree in public administration, added, “I will definitely keep my eye on them, as we cannot sustain our general fund expenditures through our reserves.”
And earlier this month, Castellano sent a letter to Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District superintendent Dennis Smith lobbying for an Olympic-sized swimming pool for the Mustang campus.
A pool 50 meters long and 25 meters wide would “create a revenue stream…not normally available to the district with a smaller facility,” Castellano said, citing income from joint-usage and rental agreements and other benefits, including entry fee waiver for co-hosted tournaments, transportation savings and food and beverage sales revenue.
“A 50-meter pool within the district will give other schools the ability to move to Yorba Linda High School if their pools are in need of repair or renovation. A 50-meter pool is large enough to sustain two full practices at once,” Castellano noted.
“In south Orange County, the 50-meter pool has become the operating standard for new construction high schools and the focus for renovation projects,” including pools at El Toro, Capistrano Valley, Arnold Beckman, Juniper Serra, Santa Margarita, Santa Ana Valley and Foothill high schools, according to Castellano.
Castellano told me his oldest daughter is a freshman at Yorba Linda High and is in the water polo and swimming programs. “Before she started, I had no idea how much of a difference a 50-meter pool makes over a 30-meter pool,” he said.
“Fortunately, the YLHS water polo team was forced to travel to different schools to play their games, since YLHS does not have their pool built yet. In doing so, they have played at some fantastic facilities. The commonality with each facility that has a 50-meter pool is the versatility and ability to generate revenue into each district,” he added.
posted by Jim Drummond at 12:00 PM
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