OXNARD : City Trims Budget by $1.3 Million

In a continuing effort to balance this year’s spending plan, the Oxnard City Council on Tuesday slashed $1.3 million from department budgets citywide.

Council members unanimously agreed to reduce city services and delay half a dozen large equipment purchases and street maintenance programs.

But the council stopped short of adopting city staff recommendations to close Oxnard’s auditorium and community center on Mondays and to shut the doors of the Carnegie Art Museum and mothball its $1-million art collection.

Members of the city’s Cultural and Fine Arts Commission, which oversees the museum’s art collection, urged the council to keep the Carnegie open.

“We realize the city needs to make cutbacks,” commission Chairwoman Mona Broyles told the council. “But the Carnegie already had large cuts last year.” The council agreed to postpone action until completion of a study to determine whether other funding sources can be developed.

Since summer, the council has cut about $3.7 million of an anticipated $5-million shortfall for fiscal year 1992-93. The city has made about $10 million in public service cuts over the past two years, according to city staff members, including the freezing or elimination of dozens of staff positions.

The city so far has avoided layoffs.

On Tuesday, council members voted to reduce the library’s budget for new book purchases and reduce the number of council and Planning Commission meetings.

Still at issue are proposals to freeze a firefighter position until the end of this fiscal year and to close City Hall every other Friday.

City Manager Vern Hazen told the council that after this year’s budget is balanced, the city must immediately start working on next year’s budget. A $4-million deficit is projected for the 1993-94 fiscal year.