Deficit in Budget Cut by $621,000 : Finance: City trips must be approved by council, and a banquet for parks commissioners is canceled. But moves clear up only half of projected shortfall.

Monterey Park officials will have to ask the City Council each time they want to go on a trip, and parks and recreation commissioners won’t get a $7,500 banquet this year under city budget cuts approved last week.

Between such cuts and added fees--including parking ticket increases from $13 to $25 for violations of street sweeping hours--the council cut $621,000 from the city’s deficit.

Instead of a banquet to thank parks commissioners, Councilwoman Betty Couch said, “we could have a potluck if everyone brought a casserole dish. Remember those old-town days?”

Monterey Park’s financial woes are similar to what many cities in the San Gabriel Valley and throughout California face in the midst of a long-term recession and shrinking state monies.

At one of their two budget meetings last week, council members voted to convert half the city’s landscaped medians from flower beds and turf to “decorative” concrete and river rock, for an annual savings of $27,324--the amount it costs to water, trim and replace live plants four times a year. One maintenance worker will be laid off.

The maintenance worker will be the only person to lose a job as a result of last week’s actions. Other proposed layoffs met with stiff opposition from council members.

They did, however, vote to reduce some salaries and freeze most vacant city jobs, including three police officer positions.

But other items, such as a gopher poisoning program considered vital near the city’s hillsides, were spared. The council also refused to close a fire station and a paramedic unit, even though that would have saved $472,000 next year.

At least one council member said the city had not done enough. The council cut only about half the $1.3 million in expenses that City Manager Chris Jeffers had suggested for the fiscal year to end June 30. The cuts will continue next fiscal year.

“I tell you, we didn’t cut as much as we wanted to cut,” Couch said. “It’s going to get worse.”

Although the $71,000 conference and travel budget was cut, travel paid from other sources, such as state-funded police officers’ conferences, is not affected, Jeffers said.

Council members approved an employee furlough program that would require all workers to take as many as six days of unpaid leave each year. The furlough program must be approved by city employee associations before taking effect.

They also voted to change city codes to allow owners of parking structures to charge fees, as long as they give the city 5% of their proceeds.

But the council refused to impose a 2.75% tax on residents’ utility bills, a measure suggested by some officials. Councilman Fred Balderrama had favored the idea, as well as raising property taxes through so-called benefit assessment districts to pay for street lighting, park maintenance and other public works.

“We’re putting off the inevitable,” Balderrama said when fellow council members refused to support a tax hike. “This City Council has the responsibility to its employees to not only cut costs but to find ways to raise revenues. We’re going to be here with no money in our coffers.”

Dealing with the Deficit Among the measures approved by the Monterey Park City Council:

* Parking ticket fees increased, from $13 to $25 for street sweeping violations.

* Vacant positions, including three police officer jobs, frozen.

* Half of city’s landscaped medians go concrete. One worker laid off.

* $71,000 citywide travel and conference budget cut.

* Furlough program requires employees to take one to six days off each year, without pay. The program must be approved by city employee associations.