$3.25-Billion City Budget OKd by Council

The City Council on Tuesday unanimously sent a $3.25-billion budget to Mayor Tom Bradley, who under the City Charter has until next Tuesday to veto any of the $25 million in cuts and $35 million in additions that the council made to the spending proposal he submitted earlier this year.

The budget, which takes effect July 1, is 10.5% higher than the current spending program of $2.9 billion. It contains a record $31.9-million reserve fund, made possible in part by nearly $10 million more in tax revenues than had been forecast when the mayor formulated his proposal in April.

It takes a two-thirds vote of the 15-member council to override a mayoral veto. Council members said they intend to put up a battle if the mayor deletes items.

Through weeks of hearings before the Finance and Revenue Committee and long days of deliberations by the full council, scores of changes were made to the mayor’s plan.

Much of the cutting was an effort to find $27 million to finance a citywide garbage recycling program that was proposed by the mayor but not included in his budget, said Chief Legislative Analyst Bill McCarley.

Staff Posts Cut

The council eliminated 80 staff positions from Bradley’s proposed budget, including five on the mayor’s staff. The council also eliminated the mayor’s proposed $7-million “Pride Lines” program to hire area youths to clean and refurbish buses.

The council voted to retain Bradley’s popular plan to add 514 police officers and then agreed to add an additional $3.2 million to promote 125 police officers to narcotics detectives.