Council Has No Appetite for Cutbacks : Government: Facing a $3-million budget shortfall, it balks at trimming some of the city’s many social services and seeks other options.

Facing a revenue shortfall of more than $3 million, West Hollywood City Council members sat down to make midyear budget cuts Tuesday, but showed little appetite for many of the choices offered.

With the exception of Councilman Sal Guarriello, the group balked at making big cuts in social services, street paving, staffing at city parks and other services. Instead, City Manager Paul D. Brotzman and department heads who had proposed a list of about $1 million in possible cuts were directed to return with new ideas.

Brotzman and city finance officials also had proposed delays and cutbacks totaling an additional $3.6 million in capital projects, such as sewer and street improvements.

The matter is expected to come up again at the council’s March 16 meeting.

Brotzman blamed the budget crisis on delayed federal aid, uncertainty over what to expect from a new business license tax and an anemic economy that is sapping hotel and sales taxes. He estimated that city revenues were falling short of original projections by about $3.2 million, which would wipe out a projected surplus of about $600,000 and leave the city with a deficit of $2.6 million.

Seeking to prevent this, Brotzman said he has ordered city department heads to find ways to slice spending by 10%. The city’s 1991-92 budget is $38.6 million.

But the resulting list--including suggested reductions of $150,000 in human services and $416,000 in transportation--ran into trouble with council members who said that many of the proposed cuts were ill-timed. The city’s many social services are a source of pride in West Hollywood, and the council has protected them against cuts in the past.

Councilman John Heilman argued against cutting $93,500 allotted to a variety of social service groups contracted by the city, saying, “At a time when economics are the way they are, that’s the time when people most need our help.” The move would have ended funding entirely for four area agencies, including a hospice and a group serving people with AIDS.

Cutbacks in human services also would have meant reducing park staffing on weekends, when council members said the parks are being used more.

Councilwoman Babette Lang said a proposal to chop more than $200,000 from street paving and maintenance would be a bad move in the long run. And after several residents lauded the work of a former city neighborhood aide who had helped set up crime-watch programs, all five council members voiced support for keeping it as a full-time job, rather than half time, as suggested.

The budget crisis hits at the outset of a campaign season in which two council incumbents, Paul Koretz and Abbe Land, are up for reelection. One challenger, Rachelle Sommers Smith, has said she will make an issue of city spending. At Tuesday’s meeting, several persistent critics of the three council members who tend to form the majority on key issues--Land, Heilman and Lang--accused them of fiscal bungling.

Guarriello, breaking as usual with the majority, said he was prepared to accept the proposed cuts.

“You people don’t want to cut a single penny out of this budget,” Guarriello said to his council colleagues. “You want to cut little things.”

Heilman, noting that West Hollywood’s fiscal troubles are the same ones straining communities across Southern California, insisted that the council was coming to grips with its budget problems.

“I don’t see us as being irresponsible. I see us as doing what we’re supposed to be doing,” Heilman said.

Koretz complained that city staffers had not provided enough options in targeting cuts. He proposed a closer look at spending on conferences and travel, which he called “the fluffiest part” of the budget. Land and Lang also directed department heads to find more possible cutbacks in meetings and travel, along with bought services, consultants and supplies.