Newport council to review next city budget at meeting with Finance Committee

The Newport Beach City Council will review next fiscal year’s proposed budget during a joint meeting with the Finance Committee on Tuesday.

The key account is the general fund, which projects at $225.6 million. Of that, the city expects $202.5 million in expenditures, $209.3 million in revenue and about $16 million from surplus and transfers.

The largest planned general fund expense is $145.4 million for salaries and benefits.

Public safety would capture the most general fund dollars — $108.8 million — with public works second at $37.7 million.

The general fund is composed largely of property taxes — just under $100 million. Sales taxes are the next-biggest piece, at $35.9 million.

Newport Beach is going into the next fiscal year, which starts July 1, with a general fund surplus of about $9.2 million.

But looming large are the city’s deepening unfunded pension liabilities, which are estimated at $353 million next year, according to a presentation prepared for the Finance Committee. In 2016, they were $330 million; in 2015, $276 million.

Tuesday’s meeting begins at 3 p.m. at City Hall, 100 Civic Center Drive.

The City Council previously reviewed the proposed capital improvements budget, a $63.7-million list of potential building and infrastructure projects.

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