Alhambra : 2-Year Budget Approved

The City Council on Monday approved a two-year budget of $78.7 million for 1992-93 and $84.2 million for 1993-94. The first year’s budget is up 26.9% from the $62-million budget for 1991-92, despite some service reductions.

The major part of the increase will be for construction and financing of a $6.4-million police station, which the council approved late last year.

Additional increases are $2.5 million for widening Mission Road and Fremont Avenue, $3 million for the city’s self-insurance program and $4 million in the redevelopment budget, partly for low- and moderate-income housing at the site of the old police building.

Cost-cutting measures include closing the city library on Monday, closing the pool an hour earlier, reducing the hours of the city-owned gymnasium and cutting staff by six through attrition, plus three clerical spots in the Police Department.

Several Alhambra police officers objected to the elimination of two of the Police Department’s three dogs, saying the dogs are a critical police tool. But Police Chief Russell Siverling, who suggested the cut, said it was the only choice.