New, Increased Taxes Get Bradley’s Final OK : Finances: The record budget includes 10% tax on parking fees. A request for more police officers is dropped.

Mayor Tom Bradley returned his record $3.68-billion budget to the City Council on Monday, giving his final approval to new and increased taxes but abandoning his proposal for 400 new police officers.

Bradley agreed with nearly all the changes made by the council over the last six weeks, bringing nearly to an end one of the least contentious budget sessions in recent years.

The council, which approved the budget last week, can override Bradley’s veto of a technical item involving the Fire Department, but the matter is not expected to bring much opposition.

The budget is expected to sail through final council approval with the controversial taxes intact.

The document calls for the city’s first parking tax, a 10% charge that Bradley said is aimed at people who drive to work. But the tax will apply to nearly all people who pay to park their cars, including those driving to entertainment and sports events.

The budget also includes a 10% hike in the city’s business tax and a doubling of the sanitation truck fees that are included on utility bills.

The smallest cuts were made in budget requests from the Fire and Police departments, although Bradley’s plan to hire 400 police officers was shelved because of fiscal constraints.

The Bureau of Sanitation emerged with $40 million for funding of an ambitious recycling program scheduled to begin in the fall.

But cuts were made in other areas. Tree-trimming services will be reduced, fewer traffic signals will be installed, fewer library books will be purchased, a September swimming program will be eliminated and an after-school program will be cut back.

Pessimistic revenue projections, unexpected litigation costs and skyrocketing employee health care bills put the city in dismal financial shape, according to budget analysts.

Bradley first proposed the budget on April 20, saying the city is on a “financial tightrope.” While the budget is up more than 12% from the current year, it represents a loss in real dollars for most departments, officials said.

Specific cuts in some departments have not been made final, and programs could be cut back even further or eliminated altogether when department heads report back to the council in July.

Bradley said Monday that he has ordered all department heads to reevaluate their budgets so that he can make mid-year changes and avert further “drastic measures.”

The proposed parking tax--which would bring in $22.5 million--would affect virtually all who pay to park their cars in the city, including people who pay to park in lots and garages owned by the companies they work for. The tax will be added to the parking charge so that, for example, a $5 charge will cost the driver $5.50.

City employees who pay to park in city garages and lots will have to pay the tax, but the city cannot collect the tax from those who park in county and federal lots, according to Keith Comrie, the city’s chief administrative officer.