Council Panel Snips Bradley Budget Plan : City Hall: Committee recommends net cut of only $7 million, but adds 2% to across-the-board departmental reductions.

The Los Angeles City Council’s Budget and Finance Committee Thursday recommended a net cut of $7 million in Mayor Tom Bradley’s 1990-91 budget package, including an additional 2% across-the-board spending reduction for most departments.

Left intact were Bradley’s plans to hire 400 police officers as well as 115 additional Fire Department emergency medical service employees.

Also unchanged were Bradley’s revenue-producing measures, including a 10% business tax increase, a doubling of fees for sanitation trucks and a new parking tax aimed at people who drive to work.

The committee’s budget proposal, which faces full City Council review on May 8, called for a total of $42 million in cuts in Bradley’s $3.68-billion budget. But the net reduction amounts to $7 million because the committee recommended that the city spend $35 million to purchase new vehicles and computer equipment.

Committee members said the one-time cash outlay will result in major savings over the long run by eliminating $18.5 million in debt service in each of the next four years.

Moreover, Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky said, the proposal calls for the city to forgo the purchase of about $23 million worth of street sweepers, dump trucks and computer terminals that the city was planning to buy with long-term bonds.

Yaroslavsky, who chairs the Budget and Finance Committee, termed the package a means of “avoiding spending ourselves into a very deep hole next year.”

“The city is in serious financial trouble and its ability to continue to deliver basic services to our citizens is in jeopardy,” the councilman told reporters at an afternoon press conference. “As painful as it is, it will be much worse next year if we fail to have the courage now to tighten our belts and spend within our means.”

In recent days, city financial officers and economic consultants hired by the committee have warned that the city is heading toward dire financial straits because it is spending more money than it is raising. In fiscal 1991-92, they predicted, Los Angeles could face an estimated $102-million debt if Bradley’s spending package is approved intact.

To cope with the situation, city financial analysts presented a plan Wednesday to slash $61 million from the 1990-91 budget through such measures as not hiring 400 new police officers requested by Bradley, the closing of seasonal swimming pools and more than 250 layoffs.

But the budget committee instead made $20 million in specific cuts to the Bradley plan, including a $1.5-million savings by forgoing the hiring of 69 custodians to spruce up the Civic Center. But the committee made few other major cuts, leaving it up to department heads to save another $20 million through the 2% across-the-board reductions, over and above a 4% reduction contained in Bradley’s proposal.

Committee members said that if the package is approved, the city will have made a $60-million start in reducing the projected 1991-92 deficit, $42 million through the cuts in various departments and the $18.5 million in savings on debt service.

The proposal drew no immediate reaction from Bradley’s office. “The mayor will reserve comment until the entire 15-member council has had a chance to join in the discussion,” said Bill Chandler, a spokesman for the mayor.