Features

On Tuesday, the City Council will finalize the budget, vote on a contract with a parking meter parts company and consider a new fountain on the Berkeley-Kensington border. 

The final, final budget 

The council will finalize next year’s budget Tuesday after some massaging and tweaking. The budget is expected to bridge a $4.7 million deficit.  

In addition, the council is expected to adopt increased parking fines and approve a library tax hike at a special 5 p.m. meeting immediately before the regular meeting at 7. 

Both increases will have a direct bearing on the final budget the council will adopt later in the evening. 

The council has already approved increases on a variety of fees including the residential parking permit fees, ambulance fees and fire inspections fees.  

The final budget seeks to fund the city’s $4.7 million deficit through a 30 percent to 40 percent increase in parking fines, a selective hiring freeze and cuts in expenditures such as travel.  

Keeping up with meter vandals 

The council will consider increasing the city’s contract with Dunchan Industries for parking meter replacement parts for the repair of hundreds of broken city meters. 

The new contract will add $146,000 to the existing $33,700 contract. The revised contract would be good until June 2004 and will not exceed $180,000. 

According to a Department of Public Works report, 30 percent of the city’s 3,000 meters are in need of repair because of vandalism.  

The new contract would include new vandal resistant coin slots which is expected to reduce the approximately 100 requests for repairs the department currently fields each week.  

Fountain on Arlington 

The council will consider a recommendation from Councilmember Miriam Hawley to approve a new fountain on Berkeley’s northern border with the un-incorporated town of Kensington. 

The small fountain will be placed on the median strip on Arlington Avenue near the intersection of Amherst Street.  

Funds for the fountain will come from the Kensington Improvement Association, which will raise money from dues, donations and Contra Costa County. According to project coordinators, no estimate for the cost of the fountain is available yet.  

Berkeley will contribute a bit of land, some water and electricity. Hawley did not include an estimate of the cost to the city of Berkeley in her agenda item.  

The fountain will be circular in shape, similar to the fountain in the Marin Circle in Berkeley, although smaller. 

“We are very hopeful Berkeley agrees to the project,” said Kensington Improvement Association project coordinator Lorraine Osmandson. “We don’t want Berkeley to be the only city around here with a fountain.”