Fewer O.C. Delegates Going to Cities Conference : Meeting: Due to budget woes, Dana Point is only sending six after 17 last year, and representatives from Santa Ana and Laguna Niguel are either paying their own way or commuting to L.A. sessions.

After spending about $20,000 last year to send 17 representatives to the League of California Cities conference in San Francisco, Dana Point is sending just six officials to this year’s conference. It begins today in Los Angeles.

City officials lament that their budget could only pay for six representatives. The group this time around includes the mayor, a council member, the city manager, his assistant, and two safety and law enforcement officials.

In contrast, the city last year flew four of five council members, all five planning commissioners, and various department heads and staff to San Francisco at taxpayers’ expense. A few city officials at the time questioned why so many people were sent to the annual conference.

The cost of that trip to Northern California was $1,200 to $1,500 per person, totaling at least $20,400. Officials said they have budgeted about $6,000 for this year’s conference, the league’s 94th gathering.

“I think that everyone is just trying to be very prudent and making sure that in these tough times we’re being as careful as possible with what we spend,” said Mayor Karen Lloreda, explaining why fewer people are going to the four-day convention that is being held closer to home. “This in no way is diminishing the value of the annual league meeting--just because it’s held in Los Angeles.”

City Manager David Elbaum added that last year, more people wanted to and were encouraged to attend the San Francisco convention. It was because Dana Point--a 32,000-resident city incorporated nearly four years ago--was a relatively new city and officials could gain much by meeting their peers, he said.

“The thinking at that time was that we were trying to expose all to what’s happening in other cities,” he said.

Another reason fewer people are attending the conference at the Los Angeles Convention Center is because others have chosen to attend another meeting, according to Lloreda and Elbaum. Both said they do not know where or when that convention will take place.

Like Dana Point, other county cities also are sending fewer representatives to the conference because of money problems. Some representatives are either commuting or paying their own way.

Santa Ana, the largest city in the county with more than 290,000 residents, this year eliminated the conference from its budget, city officials said. Thus, the only people attending, City Clerk Janice C. Guy and City Atty. Edward J. Cooper, are paying the expenses out of their own pockets.

“We’ve had a tough budget year, but this conference is important because you get exposure to new ideas when you attend,” Guy said. “Even though I have to pay my own personal expenses, (the conference offers) great benefit to the city and to my job.”

In Dana Point, taxpayers will pay for the six convention-goers, four of whom will spend three nights at the conference host hotel, the swank Bonaventure hotel. The other two will stay two nights--each at $144.15 a night. (The special rate is $112 but hotel parking increases it to $144.15.)

According to Elbaum, the city has budgeted $1,000 to cover registration and expenses for each of the convention-goers. And because of the 60-mile commute, Elbaum said, it is easier for officials to stay in Los Angeles.

“By the time you pay somebody car mileage, you’ve pretty much offset (hotel) costs,” he said.

In Laguna Niguel, city officials are sending 15 representatives--two fewer than last year. But all will commute every day, according to City Manager Tim Casey. Some of the officials, including Casey, will ride the commuter rail from San Juan Capistrano.

“We’re are authorizing miscellaneous reimbursable expenses such as lunches and mileage, but we felt the 50 to 60 miles is not an unreasonable commute,” Casey said.

Budget woes and transportation costs aside, most municipal officials agreed that the conference, whose theme is “Rebuilding Democracy and Global California,” has a lot to offer because of the more than 100 seminars.

Conference organizers have hailed this year’s meeting as “the one meeting you can’t afford to miss,” according to Janet Hester, spokeswoman of the Orange County Division of the League of California Cities.

This year’s conference will cover an array of issues. They include balancing the budget, management cutbacks and working with local youths and city volunteers, Hester said. The conference also will set the league’s work programs and general policy for the coming year, she said.

In the past, between 3,000 and 3,500 statewide officials attend the conference, organizers said. They expect the number to be considerably less this year because of the state’s fiscal problems.

Times staff writer Len Hall contributed to this story.