Harbor Commission OKs Budget Cuts for Port

The Los Angeles Harbor Commission has approved a 1991-92 budget that for the first time in recent memory calls for a decrease in spending at the nation’s busiest port.

The $433.8-million budget, which is $20 million, or 5%, lower than the 1990-91 budget, does not include layoffs or other drastic cost-cutting measures in the fiscal year that begins July 1. As in previous years, the budget includes a huge financial reserve of $224 million.

Nevertheless, port officials said the budget will cut capital spending and operating expenses. The fiscal restraint reflects a 4.6% drop in revenues resulting from the recession that ended the port’s heady economic expansion of the 1980s and competition from other West Coast ports. “We just felt it was time for a little austerity and belt-tightening,” said Jim Preusch, the port’s chief financial officer.