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T U E SDAY, J U N E 13, 2 023
SB City Council on brink of adopting budget BY NEIL HARTSTEIN NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
NEWS-PRESS FILE
Finance Director Keith DeMartini
White House calls for pistol regulation that would affect millions of Americans
It’s almost over. The City Council today is poised to adopt the $667 million budget for Fiscal Year 2024, two months after the seemingly endless budget process began back in midApril. That’s when City Administrator Rebecca Bjork released the proposed FY 2024 budget, followed the same day by Finance Director Keith DeMartini telling the council that the $222 General Fund budget contained a “structural deficit” as a result of insufficient revenue coming into city coffers from sales taxes and transient
occupancy taxes. And that was followed by a series of budget meetings in May between department heads and the council who discussed proposed 2 percent budget cuts across the board to help cover the $3.8 million deficit, culminating in last Wednesday’s council meeting devoted to budget deliberations. “This was a very challenging budget cycle,” Finance Director DeMartini told the News-Press Monday. “Staff worked collaboratively to introduce the City Administrator’s Recommended Budget for FY2024, presented many details of the budget during department budget hearings and then supported the City
Council through the deliberation process.” At that meeting, the council restored some of the recommended budget cuts, including taking $686,000 from the reserve fund to reopen the Central Library seven days a week and the Eastside Library to stay open six days a week. In addition, council members restored funds to the Fire Department to pay for an inspector position, educational supplies and training; and funded the Monroe Elementary afterschool program and Parks and Recreation youth services. “Most of the reductions are being restored by using General Fund reserves to pay for them in FY2024,” the finance director said.
All told, the council approved spending approximately $690,000 from the reserves during FY 24, he said. “The use of reserves, after all other adjustments to the budget are taken into account, is approximately $651K,” he said. After the dust settles, the General Fund “is projected to have $35.8M in reserves by the end of FY2024, given the budgeted revenues and expenditures, which is below the City Council reserve policy target,” the finance director said. There’s already been talk on how the city can replenish the reserves. The council has approved a new cost-recovery policy for services provided by the city. And the Please see BUDGET on A4
Moving on to Summerland
‘Go, Falcon!’ SpaceX launches Transporter-8 mission from Vandenberg
By CASEY HARPER THE CENTER SQUARE
By DAVE MASON
(The Center Square) – The White House on Monday called for a controversial pistol regulation that would impact millions of Americans, requiring many more gun owners to register with the federal government. President Joe Biden’s Office of Management and Budget released a statement backing new federal regulations for “stabilizing braces” for pistols. The White House also blasted a Republican Congressional effort to push back against the rule, making clear President Biden would veto Republicans’ bill if needed. The fight over this issue kicked into high gear in January when the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives issued a final rule to put pistols with “stabilizing braces” into the category of short-barreled rifles, thus subjecting them to heavier regulations. Those braces allow users to fire pistols with one hand, and were initially designed to help people like disabled veterans to continue using firearms. The new rule would require Americans to pay a fee and register their braces. Lawsuits were filed to challenge this rule, and in May a federal court temporarily blocked the rule until a final decision is reached. The Firearms Policy Coalition, which challenged the Biden rule in court, said that it would have made “millions of peaceable people into felons overnight Please see PISTOLS on A4
NEWS-PRESS MANAGING EDITOR
President Joe Biden
KENNETH SONG / NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS
A flock of sheep — first seen grazing last month at Elings Park in Santa Barbara as an eco-friendly fire prevention measure and a natural method of invasiveplant removal — now graze at the Ortega Hill area in Summerland. Here they are, grazing off Ortega Hill Road, under the watchful eye of a livestock guardian dog.
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The applause and cheers in mission control kept getting louder from one special moment to the next during the successful SpaceX launch Monday afternoon from Vandenberg Space Force Base. First came the cheers at 2:35 p.m., when the Falcon 9 rocket rose from Space Launch Complex 4E, carrying the Transporter 8-mission and its 72 payloads. “Go, Falcon! Go, Transporter!” the Vandenberg announcer exclaimed. Then at 2 minutes and 21 seconds into the flight, the stage separation was confirmed. Everyone cheered again, a bit louder, in mission control. Seven minutes and 53 seconds into the flight, the Stage 1 booster landed without a hitch on Landing Zone 4, leading to even louder cheers and applause. While the first stage returned to Earth, the second stage brought the 72 payloads into low orbit. They included CubeSats, MicroSats, a re-entry capsule and orbital transfer vehicles carrying spacecraft to be deployed at a later time, according to SpaceX. You could hear excitement about the mission in the voice of Jesse Anderson, a production engineering manager who narrated the live SpaceX. com webcast from SpaceX’s headquarters in Hawthorne. She noted SpaceX’s goal of providing competitive pricing for small satellite operators. “Our customers come from all over the world, supporting teams in 21 different countries,” Ms. Anderson said. She added that SpaceX’s clients vary from defense agencies to the Vatican. The Vandenberg launch was the second one Monday for SpaceX. A little after midnight Pacific time (3:10 a.m. Eastern time on Monday), a Falcon 9 rocket carried 52 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Sudoku................. B3 Weather................ A4
Saturday’s SUPER LOTTO: 7-9-17-21-28 Mega: 16
Monday’s DAILY 4: 7-0-2-6
Friday’s MEGA MILLIONS: 3-19-53-60-68 Mega: 13
Monday’s FANTASY 5: 9-12-26-32-35
Monday’s DAILY DERBY: 12-05-01 Time: 1:45.91
Monday’s POWERBALL: 2-3-16-23-68 Meganumber: 7
Monday’s DAILY 3: 6-1-8 / Midday 1-9-7