Budget Marks Most Programs for Cuts : Finances: The mayor seeks $32 million for a landfill but tighter reins on money for community groups.

Los Angeles city officials are drafting a budget this year amid sky-is-falling rhetoric, and San Fernando Valley parks, libraries, streets and city-aided cultural events are being asked to share some of the pain.

In the $3.9-billion budget forwarded by Mayor Tom Bradley to the Los Angeles City Council this month, many city operations in the Valley are marked for cuts, although a few would get more money.

Many community organizations that look to the city for a helping hand also would get less under the mayor’s budget.

Among those that would feel the pinch if the mayor’s budget is adopted are the Pacoima Community Youth Center, the San Fernando Valley Arts Council and the San Fernando Valley Symphony Assn.

On the other hand, the Valley Cultural Center Festival, which received no funds last year, would get a $15,000 grant under Bradley’s budget.

The mayor also has recommended that $32 million be spent on Lopez Canyon Landfill above Lake View Terrace. The money would be used to expand the dump and to comply with orders by the South Coast Air Quality Management District to vent methane gas produced by decomposing garbage.

Overall, the mayor’s budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1 calls for expenditures 6% higher than the council-adopted budget for the current fiscal year.

But to maintain services at current levels, the mayor said, the budget would have to be $177 million higher. To make expenditures match income, he has recommended $100 million in spending cuts and $77 million in new taxes. The council’s Budget and Finance Committee, which conducted budget hearings last week, is scheduled to begin voting on individual spending and tax proposals this week.

The full council is scheduled to take up the budget beginning May 13.

As in past years, the council is expected to reject many of the recommended cuts. Likely candidates for restoration are grants to community fairs, arts and youth groups.

Councilwoman Joy Picus, who represents the southwest Valley, called the process of restoring small grants for community organizations “hanging the ornaments on the Christmas tree.” She predicted council members would pursue their favorite projects as vigorously as in past years but “might find it tougher going with the cutbacks we are facing.”

Picus, a budget committee member, expressed surprise that no representatives of community groups protested publicly or lobbied her privately last week about proposed cuts.

Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, chairman of the budget committee, said he expects pressure to reshuffle grants for community groups, but “everyone is going to have to bear a share of the cuts.”

Yaroslavsky said that, unlike past years, he does not expect the council this year to challenge many of the budget cuts recommended for community groups by the mayor’s office.

He said that the city Cultural Affairs Department has established “better peer review procedures so the recommendations are more solid, and I think many on the council feel, as I do, that it’s a good idea to not give the grants to the same groups every year.”

Valley organizations that received money this fiscal year but would not get any funding under the recommended budget are the Pacoima Community Youth Center, which received $7,327 this year; the San Fernando Valley Arts Council, $4,000 this year; the San Fernando Valley Symphony Assn., $2,500 this year; the Valley Master Chorale, $5,000 this year; and the Valley Youth Orchestra, $10,000 this year.

The Lankershim Festival, which received $8,400 this year, would be cut to $6,000 next year.

Major transportation expenditures recommended for the Valley include $4.7 million to operate Valtrans, the special van system for the elderly and economically disadvantaged, up from $3.1 million this year.

The mayor also is recommending that $200,000 be spent to convert one of the middle lanes on Sepulveda Boulevard from Sherman Oaks to West Los Angeles to a reverse-flow lane during rush hour.

The budget also contains $40,000 to establish bicycle lanes on Balboa Boulevard from Pineridge Drive to Foothill Boulevard, and $129,000 for bike lanes on Devonshire Street from Arleta Avenue to Topanga Canyon Boulevard.

Also in the budget is $50,000 to establish a bike path along Rinaldi Street from Reseda Boulevard to Dulcet Avenue, and $50,000 for bike lanes on Plummer Street from Baden Avenue to Shoup Avenue.

Also recommended is construction of a $100,000 storm drain on Victory Boulevard from Tujunga Wash to Fulton Avenue.