ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Cities Go Into a Scramble

Orange County cities are in a state of suspense, with all eyes on Sacramento as Wednesday’s budget deadline approaches. Sooner or later, the need for a state budget will force a compromise between Gov. Pete Wilson and the Legislature. And, inevitably, there will be deep cuts to local government. But how great a hit cities will take is anybody’s guess, and that will be so right up to the last hour of negotiations.

City officials in Orange County remember all too well an eleventh-hour state budget agreement forged nearly two years ago that helped out hard-strapped counties by imposing jail booking fees on cities that use county jails.

This robbing-Peter-to-pay-Paul mentality is prevalent once again in the Capitol, which is facing yet another year of deficits, rising demand for services and decreasing revenues. The $10.7-billion gap in the state budget has Wilson and the Legislature embroiled in partisan mudslinging.

Orange County cities have been responsibly preparing for the worst by identifying likely cuts in services and programs. But how far can they cut without threatening the very idea of what a city is? Many cities, such as Seal Beach, Garden Grove and Stanton, already exist close to the fiscal edge, and others--Fullerton, Buena Park, Westminster and La Habra--are troubled.

Municipal services--police, fire, streets, recreation, zoning--are the most basic government services. Can a city simply say it no longer will provide them? What if, for example, a city stops maintaining streets--as proposed by Villa Park? Or a beach city says, as Seal Beach has, that it may no longer be able to afford to take care of its beaches?

The current economic crisis may force re-examination of local government. And cities, where the rubber hits the road, will be where it starts.