Budget Buck Stops With County’s Cities : State’s Cutbacks Leave Them With Nowhere to Turn

Orange County cities watched the long, painful budget battle in Sacramento with all the apprehension and calculation of a coastal community lying in the path of a hurricane. There was little they could do but board up a few windows. Now the storm has hit and stark reality has set in. The state’s decision to take away $1.3 billion in 1992 property tax supplements from local governments translates into a $50-million hit on Orange County cities.

For the localities, the experience is not unlike being at the end of the line in a slapstick movie comedy; the last guy gets whacked but has nowhere to turn to pass along the punishment. And this real-life situation isn’t funny.

Municipalities all over the nation have been caught in similar state budget crises, some tied to the effects of voter initiatives aimed at curtailing property taxes. Orange County cities join the national chorus trying to get by on a euphemism of the overextended 1990s--the search for “greater efficiencies.”

For the past 14 years, the state actually has delivered more of a boon than a slap at the end of the line by propping up cities, counties, schools and special districts with supplements to cushion the blow of Proposition 13’s tax cuts. The inevitable result now is that cities are going to have to make painful cuts in basic services.

Many cities already have enacted increased fees to make up lost revenue. But now, the cities in Orange County and elsewhere are looking at the possibility that the remaining Proposition 13 subsidy could further erode or disappear next year in the face of yet another shortfall. The message clearly is that the cities must do more of what Orange County government already has done; that is, anticipate lost revenue to make the necessary adjustments sooner rather than later.

The evidence of the anticipated immediate pain is plentiful. Laguna Beach already is wondering whether it still can afford a final payment on its $78-million deal to purchase a scenic portion of Laguna Canyon. Orange is planning to cut employee salaries 10% by imposing a mandatory work furlough on more than half its labor force. Employees shrewdly voted for that rather than accepting the dismal prospect of having as many as 118 full-time people laid off. The shuttering of government buildings on Fridays, except for police and fire departments, is under consideration.

In Newport Beach, a dozen city employees were laid off immediately and seven others had hours and paychecks cut up to 50% in an effort to deal with a $4-million cutback. Trees will go untrimmed and beaches will go uncleaned. Some cities, like San Clemente, have been looking at such brutal choices as whether to disband a 60-year-old Police Department and contract with the Sheriff’s Department.

Bracing for the future is not going to be fun. But the county, for one, has squeezed work schedules and squirreled surplus money from frozen positions. Cities can learn from the county’s experience.

Local government simply has no alternative but to anticipate cuts and work to make them as painlessly as possible. And most cities still are making the difficult choices even in the face of budgets that are considered bare-bones at best.

Volunteerism is one coping mechanism. We can adopt more beaches, parks and greenbelts as has happened in some communities.

So this is one place where the buck stops in the California dream, with belt-tightening in the cities. But with planning, cooperation and everybody pitching in, cities can make the best of a bad situation.