Cities Unite to Fight for State Funds : Revenue: The coalition suggests that some mandated but unfunded programs imposed by the state be eliminated or suspended.

In an effort to head off further cuts in revenues stemming from California’s budget crisis, a coalition of seven foothill cities--from Burbank to Temple City--is recommending that the state take a series of drastic steps.

Cost-saving measures suggested by the coalition include eliminating or suspending unfunded state requirements--such as air pollution reduction efforts, waste-water quality standards, landfill monitoring, recycling programs and even the mailing of absentee ballots.

Although many of the mandated programs, such as pollution reduction and waste management, “are very noble causes, we just don’t have the money to carry them out,” said Ray Cruz, an executive assistant to Glendale City Manager David H. Ramsay. “We need not just get over the (immediate) hump, but look at the long term also, instead of just looking year to year.”

Cities throughout the state “are fighting like crazy” to stave off further reductions in property tax revenues proposed in January by Gov. Pete Wilson, said Debbie Thornton, spokeswoman for the League of California Cities in Sacramento.

The governor proposes to shift $2.6 billion from cities, counties and special districts from throughout the state in order to make up a shortfall in funds to support education.

In January, state Sen. Newton R. Russell (R-Glendale) called for formation of the coalition, composed of the seven cities in his district--Burbank, Glendale, La Canada Flintridge, Pasadena, San Marino, South Pasadena and Temple City.

The senator is seeking advice on “how best he can go to bat” for cities facing a predicted 22% cut in property tax allocations in the next fiscal year, beginning July 1, said Wellington Love, Russell’s chief of staff.

The cities are expected to complete their recommendations within a week and forward them to Russell, officials said.

Love said the senator will use the recommendations from the coalition “to debate the issues in Sacramento and try to get some relief for cities.”

Coalition members not only considered short-term cutbacks that could be taken by the state, Cruz said, but also recommended a realignment of state thinking, such as reducing the number of state commissions and their tasks. About 400 commissions now account for almost $2 billion a year in costs.

In addition, the coalition is endorsing a proposal by Los Angeles County and other government groups that the state spread the cut in property tax revenues to cities over five years, rather than take it in one big bite. That could result in four years of deficit spending by the state, which would also be subject to a 1% cap on increased spending each year under the proposal.

Most cities do not like the proposal because they think the state should have to balance its budget just as cities do, Cruz said. However, he said, it is a realistic approach in the wake of “the harsh realities” of the economy.

“The concern here is a philosophical one,” said Gabrielle Pryor, city manager of La Canada Flintridge, the smallest city in the coalition, which has a population of 20,000 and only a $4-million annual general fund budget.

She said local elected officials and residents hold to a “very, very deeply felt premise that the state, like cities, should balance its budget each year. But as a manager, I say I don’t think they can.”

Despite objections to encouraging a state deficit, Pryor said her tiny city at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains can ill afford further losses.

She said a state cut of $76,000 in the current budget forced the city to reduce its contract for Sheriff’s Department patrols to only one car per shift. A threatened further reduction of $200,000 next year would mean that badly worn and damaged storm drains, including one that undermined and collapsed a street earlier this year, would go unrepaired.

“We can’t afford to fix the storm drains; all we can do is barricade the streets,” Pryor said.

The plight of South Pasadena is far different, even though it has a slightly higher population of 24,000. It relies heavily on property tax revenues to feed its annual $10-million general fund budget, which was cut by $400,000 last year, and faces another $1.2-million loss this year, said Kenneth C. Farfsing, city manager.

On Tuesday, during the first of a series of budget meetings, Farfsing presented what he described as “real controversial cuts” to the City Council. The small city has prided itself on its own police, fire, paramedic, parks, library and senior center services.

But all of those are about to be significantly reduced, Farfsing said. He is recommending that 16 full-time and 29 part-time positions be eliminated from the city staff of 137. Reductions would eliminate city jailers, paramedics and school crossing guards.

“This is the first time that we have had to look at public safety cuts,” Farfsing said.

South Pasadena handled its losses last year by imposing a 5% utility tax, Farfsing said, but that cannot happen again. He said only three of the staff cuts will be due to attrition.

“The rest are real bodies, people I had to talk with, and that was real hard,” the city manager said.

Farfsing is recommending that the city adopt a 45-day interim budget by the July 1 deadline until the city determines how hard it will be hit by legislative action.

Farfsing said the pact by the seven-city coalition “was very unusual” and “shows the desperate straits the cities are in.”

In contrast, Pasadena, with a population of 133,000, a $110-million general fund budget and 1,400 full-time city staff members, coped with a $4-million loss in tax revenues last year “by tightening everything and looking for ways to use technology, rather than people,” said Mary Bradley, finance director.

But, facing an additional $3.8-million loss this year, Bradley said, the city is “starting to hit actual public services” in order to balance its budget, including reductions in library hours, tree trimming and street sweeping.

The state budget has been hit hard with recession-related revenue losses of about $33 billion over the last three years, analysts say. The losses are approaching the state’s annual general fund budget of almost $38 billion.

But cities argue that the state failed to correct its own deficiencies in the wake of the budget crisis and is unfairly placing the burden on local governments, which have already trimmed their own spending to the bone.

“We have had a continuous erosion into the property tax revenues of local government,” Cruz said. “We are not trying to be greedy, we are just trying to keep our own (tax funds).”