Taxes, fees to bring more income to Yorba Linda

Nearly all of the various types of taxes and fees Yorba Linda anticipates collecting during the current and next fiscal years to keep city services humming will bring in more funding than in past years, according to the new two-year budget approved by the City Council recently.

And the city expects to add more cash to an already large reserve fund for both the fiscal year that began July 1 and the following fiscal year ending on June 30, 2021, as outlined in the lengthy budget document presented to council members by Finance Director Scott Catlett.

Property tax revenue, the city's largest income source, is expected to jump 4.4 per cent in each of the next two years, to $20.7 million for fiscal 2020 and $21.6 million for fiscal 2021. (All of the figures reported in this column are rounded.)

The city's second largest revenue source, sales taxes, is expected to increase 1.6 and 1.4 percent, respectively, for fiscal years 2020 and 2021, to nearly $7.7 million and $7.8 million.

Other revenue sources expected to increase over the two-year period: franchise taxes (3.8 percent), property transfer taxes (10 percent), transient occupancy taxes (6.8 percent) and business license taxes (1.4 percent) for total revenues of about $3.5 million in fiscal 2021.

The only revenue drop is expected to be for building permit fees, which totaled a bit more than $1.7 million last year and is expected to drop to some less than $1.3 million for fiscal 2021, a 27 percent decline over a two-year period.

Park and recreation income is expected to increase 15.6 percent over two years to a bit more than $2 million in 2021. Income from motor vehicle taxes and engineering, planning and other fees is expected to remain about the same, bringing in some $443,000 in 2021.

In all, the city expects an operating surplus of $552,699 in fiscal 2020 and another $318,521 in fiscal 2021, bringing the total operating reserve fund to $23 million, representing some 60 percent of 2021 operating expenses of close to $38 million.

The single largest expense category is for public safety, which will increase from last year's $12.6 million to an estimated $13.3 million by 2021, with the actual police services contract increasing from $11.9 million to an estimated $12.6 million during the same time period.

Other public safety expenses will include close to $300,000 each year for school crossing guard services and $180,000 each year for estimated workers compensation payments to Brea, remaining from the time Brea held the city's law enforcement contract.

The city-owned Black Gold Golf Club anticipates nearly $6.5 million in revenue by the end of the current fiscal year, with 47 percent from course play, 37 percent from food and beverage sales, 11 percent from pro shop sales and 4 percent from the driving range.

All golf course income categories are expected to increase again in the next fiscal year, with revenue totaling $6.7 million.