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.

Costa Mesa More Workers, Greater Efficiency Is the Goal

More city employees and efforts to heighten bureaucratic efficiency highlight Costa Mesa’s fiscal 1987-88 budget, a $56.7-million package approved June 15 by the City Council.

New programs and personnel, plus salary increases for firefighters and members of the Costa Mesa Employees Assn., account for a 7.2% increase over the adjusted 1986-87 budget, according to budget supervisor Dick Greer.

On the revenue side, the sales tax is expected to bring in $23.4 million, up from $21.4 million in the current fiscal year. Higher assessed values of new property boosted the general property tax revenue estimate 4.1%, from $7.3 million this fiscal year to $7.6 million in 1987-88.

A whopping 38.8% of the budget deals with protection of citizens and property. This includes a new civilian report-taking program aimed at increasing police officers’ overall patrol time at a lower cost.

The budget also provides for hiring three fire captains in April, 1988, as well as three firefighter specialists and three firefighters for the Civic Center fire station.

Funding for the parkway reconstruction program was more than tripled, with $1.2 million set aside for tree removal and street, gutter, curb and sidewalk repair.

An after-school playground program for latchkey children was approved at a cost of $67,855, and $100,000 was included for the newly formed Costa Mesa Senior Citizens Corp., Greer 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.