IRVINE : Council to Discuss ’93 Goals, Priorities

The City Council will meet with top managers Wednesday in a special session to discuss goals, including budget priorities, for this year.

The 4 p.m. meeting has been arranged to allow the two new council members and three continuing council members to talk informally about their priorities for the year with department heads and the city manager. City officials will also discuss the process of drafting the city’s 1993-94 budget.

The growth of the city’s budget has been slowing in recent years because of decreased land development, reduced sales tax and reduced state funding. With employment and other costs increasing faster than city income, the previous City Council last year faced one of its most difficult years ever in drafting and modifying the budget.

Besides making decisions in the coming months on which programs to fund for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1, the council also will have to decide what to pay city employees this year. City officials are in the process of bargaining with the three employee unions for 1993 contracts. Last year, city employees went without cost-of-living raises, and the police union went without a contract when it refused to accept the pay freeze.

The city’s commissioners have been invited to attend Wednesday’s goal-setting meeting, which is also open to the public. It will be held in the Conference and Training Center on the Civic Center’s first floor.