$3.8-Billion Budget for L.A. OKd by Council : Government: The action will avert heavy cuts in police and fire services. The CRA’s contribution to the city will be $25 million rather than the $48.3 million sought by some.

Ending a monthlong battle with Mayor Tom Bradley, the Los Angeles City Council on Friday adopted a $3.8-billion budget, failing to override a mayoral veto that limited the Community Redevelopment Agency’s contribution to the budget.

The council mustered just eight votes, two short of the two-thirds majority required to override Bradley and increase the CRA’s contribution from $25 million to $48.3 million.

The budget, which takes effect in the fiscal year beginning July 1, staved off substantial cuts in police and fire services proposed in the mayor’s original budget. It also prevented some, but not all, of the proposed reductions in services at libraries and parks.

Bradley’s office praised the City Council for sustaining the smaller appropriation from the redevelopment agency. Throughout the budget debate, the mayor has pictured the semi-independent agency as a conscientious provider of social programs, including low-income housing and child care.

“By limiting the transfer of CRA funds to $25 million, the city will be able to maintain many services that could have been cut, and the CRA will be able to continue its mandate to provide affordable housing and other social services that are especially critical in the wake of the recent civil disturbances,” Bradley said.

The majority on the council countered that the agency was little more than a cash cow for developers, helping them to build hotels and offices, while depleting the city’s resources.

Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky said the $25-million payment from the CRA for the coming year is unprecedented, even though it fell short of the $48.3 million he had proposed.

“This is a major turning point in the relationship between the city and the agency,” Yaroslavsky said.

Because CRA money can only be spent within designated redevelopment project areas, the $25 million will be used downtown to help the city pay the cost of expanding the Convention Center, refurbishing the Central Library and improving Figueroa Street. Freed from those obligations, a like amount in the city’s general fund can be devoted to police, fire and other services.

Six council members with redevelopment projects in their districts--Mike Hernandez, Joan Milke-Flores, Ruth Galanter, Mark Ridley-Thomas, Rita Walters and Michael Woo--declined to override the mayor and to take more money from the redevelopment agency.

Eight council members, whose districts do not benefit directly from redevelopment, voted to override. Councilman Richard Alatorre, a redevelopment supporter, was absent.

Miffed by its failure to take more money from the redevelopment agency, the council took up a proposal to assume control of the agency altogether. But that measure, sponsored by Councilman Ernani Bernardi, also failed.

Redevelopment critics predicted that the issue of CRA finances will continue to be central in city politics. It is likely to be raised within the next 18 months when the CRA is expected to come forward with a proposal to expand its downtown redevelopment efforts.

The expansion proposal “will be the ultimate lever the City Council has over the redevelopment agency to get it to share more of its funds,” Yaroslavsky said. “This is just the first salvo in what will be an ongoing debate about how much of the burden of running the city the CRA should shoulder.”

Bradley has said that the council’s preoccupation with the CRA prevented it from focusing on other budget solutions. He proposed that the council take more money from a reserve fund used to build parking lots to close a deficit projected to reach $183 million in the coming year.

The council took $32 million from the parking fund, but would not go further, prompting the mayor to accuse council members of “putting parking over people.”

With the major budget issues cleared away, a few final manipulations closed most of the final budget gap. The council sustained Bradley’s veto of an $8.9 million outlay to buy new police cars and other equipment. It also accepted a plan that requires the city’s Department of Airports to reimburse the city’s general fund for $9.5 million in overhead costs for airport operations.

The budget will provide enough money to maintain a police force of 7,900 officers, just below its current staffing of 8,000 and last year’s 8,332. Bradley had initially proposed no new hiring in the coming fiscal year, which would have let the force slip to 7,654 officers.

The final budget also avoided another Bradley proposal that would have cut staffing roughly in half at 14 fire stations.

Chiefs of the two public safety departments warned against the staffing reductions, saying they would lead to substantial increases in response time.

Cuts were also forestalled in an after-school program that serves 8,700 children a day. And 14 swimming pools threatened with closure will remain open under the budget.

But other cuts remained:

* The Central Library and regional branches will be cut from 55 to 46 hours a week. Fifty-six community branches will remain open the current 40 hours a week.

* Recreation centers that had been open as many as 76 hours a week will be cut to an average of 60 hours a week.

* Tree trimming will be reduced from a rate of once every 14.8 years to once every 17.3 years.

* About 140 miles of road will be resurfaced, about 10 less than in the current fiscal year and less than half the optimum.

Council members warned that completion of the budget does not spell an end to the city’s financial woes. Already mired in recession, tax revenues are expected to take another blow because of the widespread destruction in the riots.

The city fell $231 million short of projected revenue in the current year, without accounting for damage from the riots.