Cities Surrender Revenues Under the Budget Gun : Spending: Municipalities must give up $200 million in anticipated tax and redevelopment funds. Los Angeles is hit hardest.

Legislators in Sacramento balanced the state budget in part by raiding the treasuries of cities across the state of more than $200 million in state-controlled taxes, leaving municipalities scrambling Wednesday for ways to make ends meet.

The city of Los Angeles surrendered the largest booty, an estimated $53 million in anticipated property and cigarette taxes and an additional $20 million in revenue destined for redevelopment projects. Mayor Tom Bradley called it a “sad occasion” for the city.

The expected revenue losses were smaller than once feared--the Los Angeles shortfall had been projected to exceed $300 million--but the severity of the cuts was no less dramatic for financially strapped cities already mired in the longest recession in half a century.

“This means more devastation, more pain and more struggle for people who live in inner-city communities where services are already in short supply,” said City Councilwoman Rita Walters, who represents some of Los Angeles’ poorest neighborhoods.

The fallout was equally grim in other cities across Los Angeles County, where all municipalities must deal with an across-the-board 9% cut in property tax receipts:

* Glendale expects to lose half of its projected $2 million in low-cost housing revenue and may need to eliminate 30 city staff positions.

* West Hollywood officials will meet next week to consider a range of cuts in city programs and possible new taxes, including a utility-users levy.

* San Fernando, where half the city’s $22-million budget goes to day-to-day city services, is facing a partial hiring freeze, the scaling back of street repairs and suspension of a requirement that police officers take reports in non-injury accidents.

* Inglewood is poised for its “worst possible” budget scenario, with the city losing $1.5 million in property taxes and redevelopment money, officials said. Money is so tight that a temporary hiring freeze has been made permanent.

* Cerritos officials, facing a $3-million loss in redevelopment revenue, may have to dip into the city’s reserve fund to pay their bills because the lost money had already been pledged to renewal projects.

* Pasadena, where tough economic times recently forced the closure of eight branch libraries three days a week, faces an additional $4-million shortfall and the prospects of layoffs, officials said.

“It’s depressing,” said Pasadena budget administrator Barbara Harris. “Everyone is kind of (asking), ‘How can we continue to provide good services? We don’t have the resources.’ . . . I just can’t imagine that it won’t involve some people losing jobs.”

Los Angeles city officials will meet next week to redraft their budget for the fifth time in two years and decide where to make program and staff cuts. Council members predicted they will cut hours at libraries, recreation centers, parks and animal shelters. Several officials said no department, including police and fire, would escape the budget ax, although they expressed hope that emergency services could be spared.

“It could have been a lot worse, but it is still a very serious situation,” said Council President John Ferraro.

William McCarley, the city’s chief legislative analyst, saw little reason for optimism. “It is like someone saying they are going to kill you,” he said, “but they only tear one of our arms off.”

The prospect of another round of fiscal bloodletting in Los Angeles comes on top of a series of financial setbacks. The Department of Water and Power recently announced that its contribution to the city’s budget will fall $17 million short. And with a seemingly unending recession, budget projections in the spring based on a slow economic recovery have proven far too optimistic, leaving the city an additional $40 million in the red.

“We have gone through two years of recession, cut out 2,000 staff and $200 million,” said City Administrative Officer Keith Comrie. “We have cut everything there is to cut. Any further cuts are going to be very dramatic.” The city has about 32,000 employees and a general fund budget of $2.2 billion.

Despite the bleak economic picture, city administrators across Los Angeles County said they were relieved that the cuts were not more severe. In Los Angeles and Long Beach, city officials were given an unusual break by the state Legislature, which voted for the first time to allow struggling port cities to dip into harbor reserves.

Long Beach officials said the provision has enabled them to escape the budget crisis relatively unscathed. The city’s $1.6-billion general fund will lose about $5.2 million in property taxes to the state, but it will recoup that amount from its wealthy port. “We think we’re probably going to come out ‘no harm, no foul,’ because of the opportunities for the port backfill,” said City Manager James C. Hankla.

In Los Angeles, raiding Harbor Department revenues may prove more difficult. Ferraro and Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, who heads the council’s budget committee, said Wednesday the council will move quickly to obtain as much as $44 million in Harbor Department surpluses--the maximum allowed under the new state law--but Bradley pledged to fight the effort.

Bradley attacked supporters of the port bill, particularly state Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Panorama City), who helped draft the measure and who is contemplating a mayoral bid in April. “In time, the public is going to see the chicanery, the trickery and this unprincipled attack on the Port of Los Angeles,” Bradley said.

Katz said the legislation was designed to give city councils in financially troubled port cities the option of tapping into harbor revenues to pay for vital city services, although the legislation contains no restrictions on how the money can be spent.

“Maybe the port and the junkets and all of that are more important to (Bradley) than police and fire services, but most people in Los Angeles would prefer police and fire protection,” Katz said.

Contributing to this story were staff writers Randal Archibold, Tina Griego, Rick Holguin, Greg Krikorian, Josh Meyer, Jeffrey Rabin, Martha Willman and free-lance writer Ken Ellingwood.