HUNTINGTON BEACH : City’s Budget Due for Final Passage

Final passage of the city’s 1992-93 budget is the major issue before the Huntington Beach City Council’s meeting tonight.

After two weeks of discussion and changes on various parts of the proposed budget, the council is now scheduled to vote on the financial package. The fiscal year begins July 1.

For several months, the city appeared on the brink of a $4-million to $5-million budget deficit, mainly because the recession has reduced anticipated sales tax income. City Administrator Michael T. Uberuaga and his staff devised ways of covering that deficit and even building in a slight surplus through proposed staff and service cuts and fee increases.

As now proposed, the budget would reduce city spending by $3.2 million and increase revenue, mainly through fee increases, by $2.3 million. The result would be a predicted surplus of about $730,000 by July, 1993.

But Uberuaga and other city officials have warned the council that the budget could quickly be thrown into red ink if the Legislature cuts revenue to the cities. The Legislature, which is currently grappling with an $11-billion state deficit, is considering taking away cities’ share of state property tax and vehicle licensing income.

In Huntington Beach, that proposed action could result in the loss of $9.5 million next fiscal year. According to Deputy City Administrator Robert Franz, such an action by the Legislature would throw Huntington Beach into “a crisis mode.”

The tight money situation has generally chilled council members from proposing new spending items for next year.

Councilwoman Linda Moulton-Patterson has called for amending the budget to include $276,000 next year for a police mobile task force. The task force would operate from a trailer that would move into areas of gang and drug-selling problems. Funding of the $276,000 would come from assets of drug dealers seized by police.