CITY BUDGETS : Budget-Balancing Deadline Sends Some Cities Scurrying

In Santa Ana, a city financial squeeze means that 90 positions are being eliminated from the city payroll. But the budget for tiny Villa Park, Orange County’s smallest city, is rising 60% this year--thanks entirely to capital spending on road improvements. And in Irvine, last year’s deficit crisis is nearly forgotten and 38 employees will be added to the city payroll.

In most cities where spending is up, it is for increases in public safety personnel or road improvements. But whether the numbers are rising or falling, the story at city halls throughout Orange County is essentially the same: it is budget-balancing time.

The new fiscal year for California’s cities began Friday, and legally they were required to have had their budgets balanced and approved by the night before. However, several Orange County cities are still working with proposed budgets, including Fullerton, which is scheduled to approve its spending plan tonight.

Following is a city-by-city look at the budget picture in each of the county’s 27 cities. San Clemente

Capital Spending Down, General-Fund Is Up

A sharp fall in capital spending is offsetting a 10% increase in San Clemente’s general-fund spending this year to bring the total budget in at 0.4% less than last year, said City Manager Jim Hendrickson.

The city’s budget for the new fiscal year is $31.6 million, Hendrickson said. Appropriations for major capital projects are down 18%, while general-fund spending is up 10.2% this year.

Hendrickson outlined three reasons for the jump in general-fund outlays: the $110,000 addition of an ambulance unit to the city’s emergency services fleet; increased costs in such personnel benefits as health insurance and pension funds, and $200,000 for the legal defense of the slow-growth measure San Clemente voters adopted two years ago.

According to Hendrickson, this is the first year in six that the city has not proposed adding personnel.

“We are a growing city,” the city manager said, “but this year there is not enough resources to fund any new positions.”