Inglewood Adopts $137.9-Million Budget

Meeting for the second time in two days in a contentious debate over a new budget, the Inglewood City Council voted Wednesday to adopt a $137.9-million spending plan.

The 4-1 vote came at a special meeting late Wednesday with only one dissenter, newly elected council member Judith L. Dunlap.

The council met Tuesday night but failed to reach agreement on any part of the proposed spending plan--be it layoffs, salary cuts for top administrators or whether the city should enter a float in the 1994 Tournament of Roses.

Under state law, the budget, which was down from last year’s by more than $150 million, had to be adopted by today, the start of the new fiscal year.

City Manager Paul D. Eckles proposed layoffs and modest, temporary salary cuts for top staff members, including himself, as the best way to balance the budget. But he encountered stiff resistance from some council members who said that he and his staff were greatly overpaid and should absorb deeper, permanent cuts.

The Eckles plan does not call for any new taxes, but does rely on anticipated revenues from the proposed card club at Hollywood Park.

Dunlap said one of the reasons she voted against the budget was because she does not believe the anticipated card club revenue should have been used to balance it. The projected opening date of the card club would be between January and March.

Eckles’ proposed budget called for the layoffs of 12 full-time and seven part-time employees and for the demotion of 11 other full-time staffers to lower-paying positions. A captain in the Police Department, for example, would be moved back to a lieutenant’s slot.

In the end, now that the budget has been adopted, 10 full-time employees will lose their jobs. However, three of them are eligible for early retirement.

Also, the Eckles plan called for him and two other top administrators to take temporary pay cuts of 3%. The compromise that emerged Wednesday and was accepted by the council has Eckles taking an 11% temporary pay cut--he is paid more than $150,000 a year plus deferred compensation--while all other department heads take 6% temporary cuts.

The Rose Parade float did not survive the budget process; killing it saved more than $100,000.

The budget debate mirrored a bitter election battle that resulted in the defeat last month of two longtime incumbent councilmen, Anthony Scardenzan and Daniel K. Tabor, by newcomers Dunlap and Curren Price Jr.

The election changed the balance of power on the council and put Eckles and his primary supporter, Mayor Edward Vincent, on the defensive, especially against Councilman Garland Hardeman.

Hardeman is eyeing a mayoral bid next year and has been highly critical of Eckles. He waged a public campaign to make Eckles and other staff members take pay cuts of as much as 20%. On Wednesday, Hardemen backed off that position and supported the compromise.

Dunlap is close to Hardeman, while the mayor and Councilman Jose Fernandez have generally sided with Eckles. Price has become the swing vote, but Fernandez suggested Wednesday that Price would ultimately move into Eckles’ corner.