South Gate : $226,390 Cut as Budget Gets 2nd Trimming in 3 Months

For the second time in three months, financially strapped South Gate is trimming its budget because of declining revenues. The City Council has approved $226,390 in cuts that will be made by not filling jobs and reducing spending for such things as supplies, training, materials, utilities and maintenance. All city departments are affected. In December, the city cut $595,320 from its budget, also because of revenue declines.

City Manager Todd Argow said the cuts are needed to provide a reserve of at least $1 million by the end of the current fiscal year in June. He said revenues are expected to be $943,403 below the $20.2 million projected when the 1991-92 budget of $19.6 million was adopted last year. Argow blamed the falloff on declines in sales tax, fees paid to the city for such things as construction, and reductions in state revenue received by the city.

“We are cutting things that are seriously needed, but if the money’s not there, it’s not there,” Argow said. At the same time, he said there will be no reductions in services affecting the public. The cuts are “spread over a wide number of departments and operations,” he said.