Local agencies are tackling budgets

Budgets are very much on the minds of local government agencies this week in the Garden Grove-Huntington Beach-Westminster area.

Although the agencies are expected to approve their spending plans by July 1, it’s common for the actual figures to undergo some revisions based on the funding from the State of California.

On Tuesday night, the Garden Grove Unified School District Board of Education will meet at 7 p.m. to consider its annual budget plan for 2017-18. Also on the agenda for the board is consideration of salary increases for the confidential and management employees, who are not part of bargaining units, as well as members of the board.

The GGUSD board meets at 10331 Stanford Ave., Garden Grove. The district serves most of Garden Grove and portions of Westminster and other cities.

Also on Tuesday, the Huntington Beach Union High School District Board of Trustees will meet Tuesday night at the district office to consider approval of the proposed budget for 2017-18. The HBUHSD serves Huntington Beach and parts of Westminster, Fountain Valley, and Midway City.

The board will meet at the district office at 5832 Bolsa Ave., Huntington Beach with a closed session at 5 p.m. and public session at 7:30 p.m.

On Wednesday, the Westminster City Council will meet at 7 p.m. to consider adoption of its 2017-18 budget, as well as a “memorandum of understanding” with city employees.

Under the agreement – ratified on June 15 by the membership of the Westminster Municipal Employees’ Association – workers will receive over the course of the 40-month contract a series of increases in wages, salaries and benefits. The deal will be retroactive to March 1, 2017 and run through June 30, 2020.

Westminster’s employees took pay freezes and layoffs during the financial upheaval that began in 2007. Dozens of employees were let go, and continuing problems with low revenue from sales and property taxes placed the city in a dire financial situation. That’s being mitigated by funds raised by a 1 cent sales tax increase approved by voters in November 2016.

The council will meet at 7 p.m. at the council chambers at 8200 Westminster Blvd.