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.

Villa Park Taft Avenue Project Single Biggest Item

The city’s proposed budget should sail through the council on Tuesday, according to interim City Manager Gifford Miller.

At about $1.5 million, the fiscal 1987-88 budget is roughly $53,000 more than the current budget because of “a little more money going into street improvements and street maintenance,” Miller said.

The city expects an increase in property tax revenue in the new fiscal year, from $396,000 in fiscal 1986-87 to $412,000 in 1987-88. Sales tax revenues are expected to remain at about $161,000, he said.

The single biggest budget item is $250,000 for continuation of improvements on Taft Avenue.

There’s “not a thing” controversial in the budget, which contains no new programs and seeks to maintain the same level of financing for existing human services, Miller 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.