It’s going to cost a third more to rent the Manteca Senior Center.
The proposed increase to $800 comes 13 months after the city raised the rent from $500 to $600.
The rate increase is going before the City Council during Tuesday’s 7 p.m. meeting at the Civic Center, 1001 W. Center St. Also on the agenda is an amendment to the center’s alcoholic beverage policy prohibiting alcohol at youth-related activates.
If adopted, it means alcohol can only be served at non-youth related activities for no more than four hours and not later than 10:30 p.m. Glass beer bottles are proposed to be banned while a private security guard would be needed for every 100 guests. No drinking will be allowed outside the center.
The center in a typical year will have about 20 private rentals. The rental increase would bring in an additional $4,000 to help offset the center’s dependency on the general fund.
Staff conducted a survey of facility use fees at both private halls and municipal halls in the surrounding area. The average cost of a private hall in the greater Manteca area is $1,400. Halls similar in size of the senior center with like facilities is around $825.
The cleaning and damage deposit will go to $400 from $300.
Non-residents are charged $25 more for the hall’s use There is a break for seniors who want to use the facility for private use. The charge is $240. Non-profit and community service groups are able to get the hall for $300.
The charges for the south hall are $90 for non-profit or community service groups, $60 for private senior use, and $150 for private rentals.
The move to up senior center rent charges was predicated by the fact the general fund that is under duress. The current budget year that ends June 30 is not in deficit spending as it is a balanced budget. That isn’t the case for the 2009-10 fiscal year that starts in 15 days.
Back in December staff projected an $11.3 million deficit if spending and revenue patterns at that point in time continued.
The City Council and staff has since taken steps the whittled that amount done and has left between $2 million and $3 million to cut.
That was before the state indicated they will seize between $950,000 and $1.2 million in property taxes after voters rejected ballot measures to help with the state’s $24 billion deficit.
Then this past week Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger indicated he may seek up to 75 percent of the gas tax set aside for local governments. In Manteca’s case, that could go as high as $1.4 million.
If property tax and sales tax numbers are what the city projected back in December and don’t show improvement, Manteca could be two years into the fiscal year and discover they have a $5.6 million deficit thanks in a large part to state borrowing of property tax money and outright taking of gas tax receipts.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, e-mail dwyatt @mantecabulletin.com
