$1.6-Billion Budget Plan Cuts Police, Fire Service : City finances: The reductions would not hurt service levels because most of the positions are already vacant, one official says. Other cost-saving measures would affect senior citizens, park resources and 5,000 salaries.

By this summer, Long Beach residents would face cuts in police, fire, recreation services and other programs under a proposed 1992-93 budget that some city leaders describe as inevitable and others criticize as unacceptable.

The proposed $1.6-billion budget would eliminate 13 police officers and 14 civilians in the Police Department, 11 firefighters, seven paramedics and a fireboat from the Fire Department, and 10 positions from parks, recreation and marine services. The budget unveiled last week also would do away with the Neighborhood and Historic Preservation officer, a contract child care coordinator and one public health nurse.

In addition, the city’s 5,000 employees would do without a pay raise, and social service agencies would no longer receive $450,000 in city funds under the budget proposed by City Manager James C. Hankla.

Meanwhile, the city’s reserves have dipped dangerously low, officials said. The city was expected to begin the fiscal year July 1 with $1.2 million in reserves. But Police and Fire Department overtime increased during the riots that followed the not-guilty verdicts for four police officers accused of beating motorist Rodney G. King. The overtime pay is expected to eat up all of the reserves and dip into the $2.5-million emergency reserve fund, budget manager Torrez said.

Hankla said a “prudent reserve” would be about 3% of the budget, or about $9 million.

Explaining that Long Beach has been battered by the recession, Hankla said the city must cut $8.3 million. But he added that the reductions are not expected to hurt service levels because most of the positions that would be eliminated are already vacant.

Others, however, said the budget cuts will affect almost everyone in different ways.

Senior citizens at Houghton Park Community Center would lose podiatry and dental services. Branch libraries would have to close on some days. And firefighters would have a hard time getting to a blaze in Naples islands if a fireboat is mothballed.

Cuts in recreation supplies would mean that old volleyballs and cracked bats would not be replaced. And a state-of-the-art emergency communications system would be delayed at least another year.

“We have an antiquated police and fire communication system. It’s being held by chewing gum and Band-Aids,” City Budget Manager Bob Torrez said.

“Customers in the (City Hall) lobby may have to wait a little longer. When people go to the parks, maybe they won’t see the lawn mowed as often. There will be some effects,” he said.

A City Council discussion on the budget scheduled for Tuesday is expected to draw heated debate--particularly on the issue of trimming the police and fire departments.

“You are not going to see this council person cut that Police Department one dime,” Councilman Les Robbins said. “I won’t vote for that budget if that’s not changed.”

Councilman Evan Anderson Braude, referring to the recent riots in Long Beach and Los Angeles, said: “There’s a lot of pressure to maintain public safety personnel, especially based on what’s recently happened.”

Said Councilman Thomas Clark: “The theory you can become leaner and meaner is fine . . . but you can’t cut back a lot of people and expect an improvement in services.”

Hankla proposed eliminating one detective, four sergeants, two corporals and six police officers, along with 14 civilian positions--at a savings of $1.9 million. Mayor Ernie Kell recommended restoring most of those positions.

Despite his proposed cuts, the city manager also included an option to fund 49 new police officers during the year should the City Council opt to cancel its contract with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to patrol parts of Long Beach through July 1, 1994.

In the next month, the council is scheduled to discuss whether it wants to phase out the sheriff’s deputies and hire new officers to patrol north and northeast Long Beach. It also will discuss a proposal to abolish the city Police Department in favor of expanding the contract with the sheriff to cover the whole city.

The budget also proposes cutting the Fire Department. Hankla initially proposed eliminating 10 paramedics and doing away with Fireboat 21, which serves the Long Beach Marina, Naples islands and the beach areas.

Harold Omel, president of the Long Beach Firefighters Assn., said his union and city managers have reached a compromise on the paramedics. Under the revised proposal, seven paramedics would be eliminated and firefighters would not be called upon to take people with minor emergencies to hospitals. “The original proposal took our firefighters and made them ambulance drivers,” Omel said.

Councilman Warren Harwood said he opposes the plan, however, because eliminating a paramedic ambulance from North Long Beach would jeopardize the lives of trauma, heart attack and stroke patients.

Meanwhile, fire and city officials have yet to agree on the fate of the fireboat. Hankla said eliminating it would save $1.2 million annually. Omel said the boat, which helped put out a major fire at the Seal Beach Pier last week, could provide a crucial service during an emergency such as an earthquake by delivering water to firetrucks should water lines break.

“We need that boat. That’s the only fireboat this side of town,” Omel said.

The Fire Department, which has about 450 firefighters, already has about 60 vacancies due to a hiring freeze imposed most of last year, Omel said.

In his counterproposal to the city manager’s budget, the mayor has recommended restoring the fireboat and other services. For example, Kell has asked that the city’s Neighborhood and Historic Preservation Office, which he created following a campaign promise, be spared the budget ax, along with senior citizen services at Houghton Park Community Center and $450,000 to social service agencies.

The mayor proposed restoring $2.1 million of the cuts suggested by the city manager by tapping into $31 million available through one-time pension funds from the state Public Employees’ Retirement System.

But in his budget message to the council, Hankla cautioned against using the city’s share of the pension funds because the issue is under litigation, and the city may have to return the money to the retirement system.

Also, Hankla said, if the council uses this one-time source of money, it’s repeating a move it made in 1985-86, when the city depleted most of the $29 million in reserves to pay for ongoing expenses.

“As a result, the city has had budget problems ever since,” Hankla said.