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.

Seal Beach Water Rate Increase to Cover New Costs

Maintaining the small-town character of Seal Beach--without shopping malls or high-rises and the sales tax they generate--has historically meant few capital improvements in the city’s annual budget, said Daniel Joseph, assistant city manager.

And the proposed fiscal 1987-88 budget is no different, Joseph added. In the fiscal year that begins July 1, the city expects to spend only $550,000 more than last year.

A City Council study session--which is open to the public but is not a public hearing--will be held Tuesday and, Joseph said, he is hoping the proposed $13.5-million budget will be adopted this month.

“A lack of resources spells financial problems,” Joseph said, explaining that the city’s biggest single source of revenue is property taxes ($2.3 million), followed by utility taxes ($1.4 million) and sales taxes ($1.1 million). “Now one Price Club store would bring that (amount of sales tax revenue) in,” Joseph chuckled. “But it probably wouldn’t be allowed in town.”

The only fee increase proposed in the new budget, Joseph said, is an 8% hike in water rates, which should add an additional $1.28 to the average $16 bill. New lifeguard towers, at $15,000, represent the only capital improvement budgeted.

Public safety--police, fire, lifeguard, animal control and beach parking services--is the most costly item in Seal Beach’s budget, at $5.3 million.

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.