Plan to Plug ’95 Fiscal Leak OKd : Budget: The city will lose nearly $6 million annually if BKK landfill closes as scheduled. Higher fees and fewer services are considered.

The West Covina City Council this week approved preliminary plans to plug a huge budget shortfall that will be caused if the BKK landfill shuts down in 1995.

Nearly all of the city’s projected $6.5-million annual budget shortfall in 1995 is because of the anticipated closure of the landfill. The remaining $1.5 million is what the city expects to lose in county and state funding.

The plan identifies ways to save or generate about $6.3 million annually over the next three years.

Among the proposed new revenue sources are an increase in the citywide sewer fee and an increase in assessment fees for the citywide maintenance district, which would be expanded to cover traffic signal and sidewalk and curb maintenance. Within three years the increased sewer fee and assessment fees combined are expected to raise nearly $500,000 for the city and cost the average household about $20 a year more.

Meanwhile, the city says it will cut spending and save nearly $1 million by continuing a hiring and salary freeze and $400,000 by consolidating some departments and reducing its staff. City officials believe they can cut operational costs by about $700,000 by, among other things, paying less for contracted services, cutting services offered to the public and charging for some services that are now free.

In many cases the city staff has not proposed specific services or programs to be cut or assigned new or higher fees. Each will be identified over the next three years and then approved by the council.

Council members have made it clear they are not willing to consider a politically unpalatable utility tax, which when enacted next door in Covina prompted a recall drive against the entire City Council. None suggested extending the life of the BKK landfill past 1995.

City officials said they hope to avoid making cuts to recreation and senior programs, but plan to save $325,000 on such programs over the next three years by charging new or higher fees. Also, the city plans to rent public facilities to private parties and allow groups such as the YMCA to operate recreation programs that are now funded by the city at city facilities. Other proposed new sources of income, and the estimated revenue the city could generate by 1995, include the following:

* A “city store” that sells used city equipment such as street signs and fire plugs: $50,000.

* A paramedic insurance program where subscribers who pay about $40 a year would receive emergency paramedic services for no charge: $300,000. Those who don’t subscribe would be billed at the actual cost. City taxpayers now support the service, which costs about $1.1 million annually.

* A business license tax on electricity generated at the BKK landfill: $400,000.

When the council considers the final long-range financial plan July 6, it will also consider several other ways to raise or save money.

One way for the city to raise what officials estimate would be hundreds of thousands of dollars would be to collect money from a proposed materials recovery facility in the city.

The city is reviewing a proposal by Athens Disposal Co. to locate the facility along the city’s northern section on San Bernardino Road. Trash would be hauled there and recyclables would be sorted and shipped to market.