New budget woes in Hawthorne

The current financial condition of the City of Hawthorne’s Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) is unclear.  The City Commission, sitting as the CRA board, is slated to discuss that uncertainty during a meeting in April.

Nearly halfway through its fiscal year and still without a balanced budget, the City of Hawthorne has been wrestling with financial missteps for the last several months.  In February, the City discovered it had mistakenly spent tax dollars designated for recreation projects.

Now, due to the discrepancies, the CRA must determine if the board’s budget, which was approved more than a year ago, is still feasible, said Samuel Wynkoop, CRA and Parks and Recreation director.

According to Wynkoop, when the City was in a financial pinch last year, the CRA board approved a loan of $177,000 to the City to build a water tower, and the City has been making its repayments each month.

Repayments on the loan should continue until 2019, but the City’s financial woes have cast doubt on its ability to continue the payments.

The board is scheduled to have its first meeting of the year on Tuesday, April 5 at 9 a.m. to review its financial situation, amend the budget, go over the structure and discuss its future plans.

Despite the City’s budget issues, Wynkoop said there is no reason to believe that the funds designated for the CRA are not in the bank, although the exact figures have not yet been calculated. Wynkoop said he would have these figures ready to present to the board at the meeting in April.

At least one commissioner is a bit more skeptical about the CRA’s state of financial affairs.

“I have requested an audit with the CRA to see where we really are, but I haven’t gotten too much support,” Commissioner William Carlton said. “I’m hoping we can get an audit from the county to see if we have overspent the CRA money and where we need to be.”

At a city commission meeting on Feb. 1, the commission made a motion to create separate accounts from the general fund that would be specifically designated for the CRA and the Wild Spaces Public Places program to ensure that the money is where it should be.

The CRA, which officially started in December 1993 and will expire in December 2023, is designed to improve the community and distressed areas, Wynkoop said. Money from the CRA comes from tax revenue as well as the city. In Hawthorne, the CRA covers a 201-acre area, mainly along Johnson Street.

In the past, the CRA has awarded façade grants to local businesses in the area that want to improve the appearance of their buildings. At the annual board meeting, Wynkoop hopes to determine if the board wants to continue awarding the grants this year.

As of now, future plans for the CRA consist of redoing storm water or water lines on Johnson Street, and redoing some of the hardscaping, such as new sidewalks, flowerbeds and crosswalks once the storm water or water lines are repaired.

But according to Carlton, although there are projects that the board has in mind, nothing can be done until they know more about the CRA’s and the city’s financial situation.

“Until I find out about the money situation, I myself am not planning on making any decisions,” he said.

Interim City Manager Ellen Vause said the city has not yet looked into the CRA account, but they should have information ready by the board meeting in April, adding that by then, the city should also have full accounting.

The April CRA board meeting will be the first held in six months.