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February 12, 2022
By Brian Hews
On Tuesday evening, the City Council voted to allocate $5 million to repave eight miles of Lakewood streets.
The construction costs will be funded using various funds from Proposition C, Measure R, Measure M, and SB1 .
The repaving program approved by the council will be focused on those streets that need repaving the most. The City will receive more federal, state and county funds in the years ahead, and will keep focusing on the streets most in need at that time.
Streets that will be affected include Candlewood, from Fidler to City Limits west of Paramount; Harvey from Bellflower to Woodruff; Downey from Del Amo to Country Club; Del Amo from Downey to Cherry; Del Amo from Studebaker to Bloomfield; Los Coyotes Blvd from Del Amo to Pioneer; Ashworth from Clark to Woodruff; Castana from South to Ashworth; Hersholt from South to Hedda.
The City Clerk received six bids and awarded the project to R.J. Noble Company of Orange for $4.4 million.
The consulting engineering firm of Willdan has an agreement with the City of Lakewood to assist with various engineering matters. It has submitted a proposal for $127,800 to provide construction inspection services for this project.
In other matters, the City Council received good news related to their budget and revenues. The City is currently in the second year of a two-year budget adopted in June 2020, with budget estimates revised in June 2021.
When adopted last summer, the General Fund budget anticipated a surplus of $695,000. “After taking into account year-to-date information and fiscal trends,” the budget was adjusted, adding $2.4 million for a total surplus of $3.1 million.
Sales tax Measure L was the most significant increase, adding $1.5 million to revenues.
On the other side of the ledger, expenses are expected to increase nearly $349,000. The central increases are attributed to a $254,000 increase in capital outlays, and $109,000 in special department supplies.
City Staff has taken the first steps in developing the City’s next two-year budget. As in recent years, Staff is prepared to bring a proposed two-year budget for ‘22-‘24 prior to the end of the current fiscal year.
