Cuts Could Leave Beaches Unguarded After Labor Day : Spending: Budget crunch may force county to eliminate lifeguard positions. South Bay cities brainstorm for ways to raise cash.

With Los Angeles County budget cuts threatening to leave some of Southern California’s busiest beaches unguarded after Labor Day, South Bay city officials are scrambling to find ways to keep county lifeguards in their towers.

To pay the lifeguards, Redondo Beach city officials are considering everything from renting out umbrellas and towels to soliciting corporate sponsors. Avalon, in the midst of renegotiating its lifeguard contract with the county, is studying whether to boost the city’s mooring fees and hotel bed tax to ensure continued lifeguard service. Manhattan Beach officials, meanwhile, are talking about using cash from the city’s operating budget.

“These are just some of the wild ideas we’re thinking about now,” said Redondo Beach Harbor Director Ray Koke. “We’re brainstorming to see what will really fly.”

The scramble for funds, however, may be too little, too late.

The county Department of Beaches and Harbors, which provides year-round lifeguard service at some of the most popular beaches in Los Angeles County, is struggling to offset a projected $7.2-million shortfall in its $30-million budget for the 1993-94 fiscal year. The county’s decision to maintain lifeguard service through the summer will put the department another $1.3 million in the red.

The department has proposed eliminating 61 of its 103 permanent lifeguard positions countywide and returning control of eight state-owned beaches--including Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach and Royal Palms beach in San Pedro--to the state. Responsibility for Hermosa Beach would be returned to that city.

To further cut costs, the county is looking at the possibility of merging the Department of Beaches and Harbors with the Department of Parks and Recreation. On the recommendation of lifeguards, the county is also considering a merger between beaches and harbors and the county Fire Department.

State officials did not anticipate the county’s announcement of the Labor Day deadline. They say they are too understaffed and underfunded to guard and maintain local state-owned beaches. Although the state is considering cost-sharing proposals to keep the beaches safe and clean, no solutions have been found.

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“The same problems the county is facing with their beaches, the state is facing with the state parks,” said Ken Jones, deputy director of the California Department of Parks and Recreation. “We have a great deal of sympathy for what Beaches and Harbors is going through. We’re all being challenged to the max to make do with less resources.”

City officials are exploring funding proposals despite their contention that it is unfair of the county to expect them to shoulder the costs of a regional resource that is enjoyed by residents countywide, not just by locals.

About 15 million people visited the nine beaches that the county is planning to relinquish. County lifeguards rescued more than 2,000 beach-goers and provided first aid to an additional 2,500.

“It would be unconscionable to walk away from these beaches,” said Don Rohrer, chief of the county lifeguards. “But we’re hoping desperately that the funding will become available so we can operate those beaches in a normal fashion.

“If there aren’t guards down there,” he added, “it will be a disaster.”

The principal cause of the lifeguard funding problem is the new state budget, which takes $2.6 billion away from local governments and gives it to schools. The resulting shortfall is expected to force counties to cut back on a number of services, lifeguard protection included.

County officials say it costs them about $4.7 million annually to guard and maintain state-owned beaches. Parking fees, concession stands and marketing programs that allow companies to advertise on beach trash cans and lifeguard vehicles offset a portion of those costs. But county officials said it is not enough.

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“Unfortunately, that pays only 14% of the cost of manning those beaches,” said Stan Wisniewski, acting director of the county Department of Beaches and Harbors. “We’re doing our level best, but we’re hoping that working with the state and cities will produce some significant results.”

That prospect seems particularly unlikely in Hermosa Beach--the only South Bay city that owns its beach. Six years ago, the city agreed to maintain the municipal pier, take over some restroom maintenance and indemnify the county against accidents.

Mary Rooney, Hermosa Beach’s acting city manager, said those were “substantial concessions.” She said it would be “fairly grim” if the county forced the tiny city to finance its own lifeguard services.

“In the recent past and present, Hermosa Beach has been dealing with layoffs and reductions in staff,” she said. “The likelihood of finding any significant revenues in Hermosa Beach is slim.”

The picture, however, is somewhat brighter in other South Bay cities.

In Redondo Beach, which allows the county to use slips and docks for its Bay Watch lifeguard boat and hands over about $140,000 annually in parking fees, city officials said they are optimistic they will find ways to finance beach supervision and maintenance.

Among the possibilities are volleyball fund-raisers, corporate sponsorship of beach cleanup days and concession stands that would rent towels, body boards and umbrellas to local beach-goers.

“I think something will be worked out,” said Koke, director of Redondo Beach Harbor. “We’re going to try to get the beach crowd to take a little more responsibility for the services they’re using.”

Bill Smith, Manhattan Beach’s city manager, is skeptical that concession stands and volleyball sponsorships could raise substantial funds for the county. But, he said, the city may be able to come up with some cash if more state money is made available for cities when the state budget process is completed.

Noting that the city has already set aside $100,000 to keep a county-owned library open, Smith said it would not be unusual for the city to give the county money for services that would otherwise fall to the budget ax. But he added, Manhattan Beach can subsidize only so much of the $2 million that the county spends annually to guard and maintain its beaches.

“If we come up with 10% of $2 million, that’s a lot of money--and we’re as well-heeled as anyone on the coast,” he said. “If we can’t come up with $2 million, who else is going to come up with that money? County officials have to ask themselves what they’re going to do.”