CITY BUDGETS : A SPECIAL REPORT : A Balancing Act Between Less Money, Rising Costs

The Irvine City Council is considering new and increased fees, with concerts at Irvine Meadows and boxing at the Irvine Marriott among the targets for the levies. In Huntington Beach, some parking rates are going up. It’s the same story all over Orange County.

With few exceptions, cities wrestling with 1987-88 budgets that refuse to balance are being forced by reductions in anticipated sales and property tax revenues to hike fees and tap reserves--a sign that the county’s economy is slowing down.

Most of the county’s 26 cities still are expecting to take in more taxes in the 1987-88 fiscal year than in the current year--4% to 8% more, in most cases. But city officials say that that rate of growth is only about half of the previous year’s and is not enough to cover rapidly escalating expenses.

There are a few bright spots. Santa Ana, for example, has managed to find enough money to launch a new program to spruce up neighborhoods.

But, faced with a state law requiring balanced budgets, most city councils are struggling to maintain services at current levels.

Garden Grove Assistant City Manager Mike Fenderson summed up the situation described by many of his counterparts in other cities when he said: “We see the economy weakening . . . I see where serious problems will have to be addressed in the future.”

Here is a city-by-city look, in alphabetical order, at how the budget-balancing is going at city halls across the county.

Huntington Beach Only Minor Changes Have Been Necessary

Even at $133 million, the 1987-88 budget did not seem to attract much citizen interest before it was adopted June 15 by the City Council.

That, said Robert Franz, the deputy city administrator who put the budget together, is probably because services have not been cut and only a few fees have been increased. The newly adopted budget is up only 3.4% over last year’s, he added.

Beach parking rates--largely paid by visitors--were raised from $3 to $4 in keeping with state beach increases, Franz said.

Water rates were hiked by 7%, he added.

Salaries and benefits, at $34 million, make up two-thirds of the general-fund portion of the budget, and police and fire service make up 45% of that total, Franz said. New positions, inflation and cost-of-living hikes contributed to an increase from last year’s budgeted $31 million for these services, Franz said.

Contributing to this story were Times staff writers Marcida Dodson, La Mont Jones Jr., Lanie Jones, Ray Perez, Mark I. Pinsky, David Reyes, Bob Schwartz, Nancy Wride and Jonathan Weisman.