Torrance Starts Work on Leaner Budget

Amid gloomy predictions for the area economy, the Torrance City Council this week began planning for a 1992-93 budget in which city revenues could be $3.7 million less than expected.

City officials blamed the budget woes on a decline in sales tax revenue, state spending cutbacks, recent multimillion-dollar payouts in legal settlements and city investment problems.

“You bring it all together, and it’s the worst budget year I’ve seen in 18 years,” said Mayor Katy Geissert, after hearing City Manager LeRoy J. Jackson and Finance Director Mary Giordano outline the city’s financial status at a budget workshop Tuesday.

Some officials referred to a county task force report that included Torrance among the 10 Los Angeles County cities projected to be hardest hit by the aerospace industry downturn.

Despite the bad news, City Council members rejected the notion of increasing city income by imposing new fees, such as special payments for paramedic services or charging property owners for repairing sidewalks. Those fees, mentioned in Jackson’s budget report, were immediately dismissed by council members who did not want to raise taxes.

“I think it would be the height of crassness to do it when people feel their jobs are threatened,” Geissert said.

The council steered away from concerted cutbacks on city services, favoring a more moderate plan that would continue city spending next year at the current level of about $104 million.

But even if spending does not increase, initial projections show the city could face a $1.3-million deficit next year unless it imposes cutbacks or takes money from reserve funds, Giordano said.

“That’s going to be our challenge for the next two months,” she said.

The Tuesday meeting was an early step in the annual budget process. Jackson is expected to present a proposed budget in May for the fiscal year beginning July 1.