Neighborhood Councils Approve New Budgets

The Neighborhood Council of Westchester/Playa and the Del Rey Neighborhood Council recently approved budgets for the 2011-12 fiscal year that reflected a 10 percent decrease in spending due to the city's budget constraints.

Both councils saw their annual allotment from the Los Angeles Department of Neighborhood Empowerment reduced by 10 percent from $45,000 annually to $40,500. The cuts were spread to all the neighborhood councils as Los Angeles grappled with a $457 million general fund deficit.

The board of directors of the Del Rey Neighborhood Council approved a spending plan at its July 14 meeting that allocated 54 percent of its spending for community outreach. The funding included $5,000 for Del Rey Day, a neighborhood park event that was last held in November at Glen Alla Park; $1,600 for the Del Rey Cup soccer tournament hosted at Mar Vista Gardens and $1,000 for a handball tournament, among other line items.

The Neighborhood Council of Westchester/Playa during its July 5 meeting approved a budget that earmarked 58 percent for community outreach, which included $10,500 for a community newspaper and $5,000 for outreach events, such as the 4th of July parade.

The Westchester/Playa council allocated $8,200, or 20 percent, for neighborhood purpose grants, while the Del Rey council set aside 12 percent, or $5,000, to help fund nonprofit community groups.

Del Rey board member and treasurer Brett Flater said the council had to cope with the 10 percent cut from the city and more importantly lost access to unspent rollover funds.

"You're going to see a lot less sponsorship of events," Flater said. "There's also going to be a lot less outreach and a lot less advertisements."

Flater pointed out how the Del Rey Neighborhood Council has been a financial lifeline for some worthy neighborhood programs, such as the Mar Vista Summer Camp for youths. The council last year also funded the Del Rey Art Walk and paid for 38 new native oak trees along the bike path on Culver Boulevard that runs through Del Rey as part of a beautification project.

"It's just a shame that we'll have to produce a lot less of those," Flater said.

Westchester/Playa treasurer Alex Eychis also lamented the lack of rollover funds and said the council had $71,000 last fiscal year with rollover funds. The council allocated $69,000 in spending last fiscal year, since it knew there would be no rollover  funds, said Eychis, who also is the council's budget and finance chairman.

Community outreach had the largest slice of the budget because it's one of the most important aspects of the neighborhood council, Eychis said.

"We're here for the community, a conduit for the city to reach out to the community, and we felt it was necessary to allocate a bigger portion of our funding to outreach than in previous years," he said.

The council has allocated $875 a month for its neighborhood newspaper and $5,000 over the year for maintenance and enhancements to its Web site, Eychis said.

Non-profit groups seeking funding from the Westchester/Playa council will be vying from a pool of $8,200.

"We intend to heavily scrutinize where we're going to allocate those funds for community organizations," Eychis said. "It's unfortunate that we have less money to work with, but we'll adjust accordingly and be more frugal with our spending."

The spending plans for both councils cover the fiscal year running from July 1, 2011, through June 30, 2012.