GARDEN GROVE : Council Approves Scaled-Back Budget

City Council members have adopted a $47.2-million budget that scales back recreation and maintenance programs for the fourth straight year and raises the specter of escalating crime and deteriorating neighborhoods, officials said.

Their hand forced by recession, sagging sales taxes, mandated programs and an inability to raise local fees and taxes, council members on Tuesday adopted a budget that cuts 37 full-time positions, including 14 from the Police Department and five from the Fire Department, from next year’s operations.

Officials will close five supervised after-school programs and eliminate the jobs of three code enforcement officers who work in neighborhoods “trying to keep this city from going down the toilet,” said Councilman Frank Kessler.

Mayor W.E. (Walt) Donovan, who warned last month that the city is on the verge of becoming “a damned slum” and chided colleagues “for not having the guts to raise taxes,” said the budget fails to provide services the people deserve.

“But if you can’t pay for them, I guess you don’t deserve them,” he said.

City Manager George Tindall warned that the budget ax might slice deeper in coming months if Sacramento takes more vehicle and property taxes to balance the state budget.

Tindall lamented that Garden Grove is third-lowest of the county’s 31 cities in property tax receipts (Stanton and Seal Beach are lower) and 16th in sales taxes.

The city has the lowest number of city employees and firefighters per capita in Orange County and has one of the lowest Police Department staffing levels, Tindall said.

On the other hand, he said, the city is second in density of population and has one of the highest crime rates in Orange County.

At Councilman Mark Leyes’ suggestion, officials will consider in coming weeks doing away with stipends for city commission members that total about $26,000 a year.

But Councilman J. Tilman Williams said that if Leyes discusses eliminating stipends for city commissioners, he’ll talk about doing away with City Council pay and benefits. Reductions, he said, “should start at the top.”