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.

Westminster Dramatic Increase Means Big Cutbacks

City officials have recommended across-the-board cuts to help trim the proposed $32-million budget that was presented to the City Council June 9.

“We’re trying to develop a long-range fiscal program and are also cutting back on a few things,” said Robert Huntley, interim city administrator.

The proposed budget represented a dramatic increase over last year’s $27-million budget.

City government has been steadily eating into its financial reserves since the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978.

Next year, the city will be faced with sluggish increases in its two major sources of income--sales and property taxes. While the city counted on a 7% growth in sales tax this year--and expects to pocket $7.69 million in sales tax revenue by the fiscal year’s end--next year’s increase probably will be only 4%, city officials said.

Likewise, property tax revenue is expected to rise only by 4% next year, compared to a 12% increase over fiscal 1985-86 that fed $2.21 million into city offers for the current budget year, said finance director Jim Antoniono.

The new budget, which is scheduled for adoption by the City Council on Tuesday, includes no plans for major construction of any new libraries or other buildings.

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.