As Monterey tightens its belt, it’s looking to ensure funding to maintain what’s already built.

To say things got testy at a July 18 joint special meeting with the Monterey City Council and the Neighborhood Community Improvement Program Committee might be understating it.

At the heart of the discussion – and it was only that, nothing was being voted on – was the possibility of the city siphoning off some of NCIP’s funds to maintain already built NCIP projects.

Currently, pursuant to a city charter amendment enacted in the mid-1980s, at least 16 percent of transient occupancy tax revenues are put into a pot to fund NCIP projects. What city officials are considering, and asking, is to potentially set aside some of that money to maintain the city’s existing, aging infrastructure.

In his presentation, City Manager Hans Uslar repeated a line he’s used before – that the city doesn’t have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem.

Then Uslar threw down the gauntlet, as every NCIP Committee member was seated around a rectangular set of tables, facing him.

“NCIP is the only challenging board or commission we have in the city,” Uslar said. “There’s not a single staffer who is happy to get assigned to NCIP. Why is that?”

Uslar then went on to describe what a former NCIP coordinator said to him, “Every time I go to the NCIP, it’s like standing in front of a firing squad.” Then Uslar offered a conciliatory note: “We have to look at ourselves and find a way to come together as a community.”

The meeting quickly took a turn from there, and many on the committee pushed back on Uslar’s comments, with which they were none too pleased.

Jean Rasch, who’s long been active with NCIP, and who’s running for city council, said in public comment that if the city has capital improvement or maintenance projects it would like to pursue, it should apply to the NCIP just like anyone else.

“We’ve always been collaborative,” Rasch said. “Don’t tell me we aren’t collaborative… Please, just respect the process.”