Holy Guacamole, It's Cinco De Mayo!

Hey, amigos, it's Cinco de Mayo! I'm sure you're all going to celebrate in an appropriate way!


MORE BUDGET FUN TONIGHT
Tonight's Costa Mesa City Council meeting will deal with several issues having to do with the budget and how to balance it this year.

A SHOE WAITING TO DROP
One thing that has not been discussed in an open forum lately is the pending civil trial between the ACLU, representing Benito Acosta, and the City and our mayor.

DID WE BUDGET FOR ACOSTA?
In these precarious financial times, with our elected officials and the city staff scrambling to find new revenue resources and ways to trim expenses so we can balance the budget, I've heard nothing about the potential of that lawsuit on our fiscal well-being.

QUESTIONS
Has the city set aside some cash just in case it looses this lawsuit? If so, how much? Are we insured for the boneheaded move by our young jailer/mayor that got us to this spot? Can we actually buy stupidity insurance?

ANSWERS
So, as it turns out, the city does have insurance for this kind of thing, but it also has what amounts to a $2 million deductible. So, if this Acosta trial goes badly for Mansoor and the city, we could be on the hook for any damages up to that amount, after which the insurance takes over.

THE BUDGET CLOCK IS TICKING
In any event, the clock is ticking on our budget - we have less than two months in which to craft a balanced budget. These are going to be a very interesting several weeks.