STANTON : City OKs Budget, Vows to Fight State

After approving a tentative $13-million budget for the 1992-93 fiscal year, City Council members vowed to keep fighting the state’s efforts to take $1.4 million in vehicle license and property tax revenue from the city.

“We will not go down without a fight,” said Councilman Don Martinez, who urged his colleagues to continue lobbying legislators.

Residents may see fewer police officers patrolling the streets if the state ends up keeping vehicle license and property tax revenue from cities to balance its own budget, officials said.

The tentative city budget adopted Tuesday night dips into reserves, and the city’s general fund budget has virtually no capital building projects left to postpone. The only way the cash-strapped city can cut expenses is to eliminate personnel, the bulk of which is made up of law enforcement officers provided by contract with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, according to city officials.

City Manager Terry Matz said he has not yet come up with specific proposals for slashing the budget, which may have to be cut by as much as 10% if the state funding is withheld. Most city departments are already operating with the minimum staff required to provide services, Matz said.

Other cities in the state are in the same situation, facing cuts in law enforcement because they’ve already reduced operating budgets to the bare minimum and raised taxes to deal with declining revenues, Martinez said.

“We are going to have to make some hard decisions,” said Martinez, who went to Sacramento last week with other Orange County council members and law enforcement officials to meet with legislators. “And I will be the one to point a finger at the state and hold them accountable.”