Santa Clarita OKs Budget, Fears More Cuts

The city of Santa Clarita has adopted a $54-million “low frills” budget, but officials remain worried that possible cuts in state revenues could force them to trim up to $4.2 million more.

Gov. Pete Wilson and state legislators are said to be considering several ways to close an $11-billion gap between income and expenses in the state budget, including a proposal to take away the cities’ share of vehicle license fees. Santa Clarita would lose $4.2 million if the state takes all the money from the fees.

“It would be quite a sting,” Councilman Carl Boyer said.

“We’d have to look at cutting everything, police and parks and recreation, everything,” Assistant City Manager Ken Pulskamp said.

But the City Council went ahead and approved the budget for fiscal 1992-93 late Tuesday to meet the legal deadline of June 30, Pulskamp said. No contingency plan has been drawn up because “the state comes up with different programs every day, and we’re not going to jump through a bunch of hoops for them,” he said.

The state also is obligated to approve its budget by the end of the month, but may miss the deadline, as it has done the past two years.

Santa Clarita’s budget provides for no major staff or program additions for the first time in its 4 1/2-year history because of weakening revenues due to the recession.

To cope with declining construction permit fees and a reduction in sales tax revenues, the city plans to spend about $13 million less than in the last fiscal year, mostly by making fewer capital improvements. The city also will save about $2 million by using its own staff for engineering, building and safety services instead of hiring a consulting firm.

Santa Clarita will spend an additional $400,000 for police protection, but most of that money will go toward salary increases already negotiated for Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies, who work under contract for the city.

In order to focus on anticipated crime in the new regional mall scheduled to open in the fall and in the newly annexed areas of Saugus, the city will eliminate such positions as a deputy to discuss safety issues with schoolchildren, a deputy to enforce load regulations on big trucks and another deputy specifically assigned to arrest drunk drivers, said Lt. Marv Dixon, head of operations for the Santa Clarita station.

The budget also includes more than $150,000 to fight a proposed dump in Elsmere Canyon, about a mile southeast of the city.

At the request of residents and business organizations, council members Tuesday dipped into the city’s reserve fund and shifted more than a half-million dollars from some programs to others.

For instance, the city sacrificed a $75,000 grant program that benefited local charities and organizations to fund recreation programs for senior citizens. It also trimmed about $94,000 worth of supplies from various departments to continue funding an economic development program designed to attract businesses to the area.

The council took $236,000 from its contingency fund, leaving about $1.26 million in reserves, City Manager George Caravalho said.