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.

Tustin Spending Proposals Seen as ‘Status Quo’

Budget planners are still preparing an estimated $39-million proposal that will be presented to the City Council in early July. Finance director Ronald Nault said the budget proposal would be “pretty much the status quo,” with the only significant changes taking place in East Tustin, the site of a 2,000-acre Irvine Co. development.

The development, which includes residential and commercial construction, will add about $13 million to the city’s capital improvements budget next year and $37 million over the next three years. All infrastructure improvements--such as streets, sewer systems and storm drains--will be financed by assessment district bonds, Nault said.

No major capital improvement projects are planned for the city, but between $300,000 and $400,000 probably will be budgeted for Tustin’s ongoing street maintenance program, Nault said.

The new auto dealerships in East Tustin helped boost sales tax revenues to $5.9 million in fiscal 1986-87, up 12.5% over the previous year, he said. Property tax revenues also were up--by about 14%.

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.