Mayor’s Goal: More Police but No Tax Hike : Hawthorne: The proposal includes contracting out some services and selling city cars and cellular phones. Some council members are skeptical.

Hawthorne Mayor Steve Andersen, hoping to balance the city budget while also boosting law enforcement, has proposed a three-pronged approach to accomplishing those goals:

* Get rid of city-owned cars and cellular phones.

* Contract for janitorial and maintenance services.

* Offer senior employees incentives to take early retirement.

Andersen says he hopes these and other cost-saving steps will free up enough money to allow the city to hire 15 police officers while closing its projected $1.7-million deficit for fiscal 1993-94. He says these goals can be met without raising taxes.

Some council members say Andersen’s ideas, while well-meaning, are half-baked.

“They handed me this piece of paper with no dollar figures,” complained Councilman Larry Guidi of the mayor’s budget proposal, contained in a July 1 memo to City Manager James H. Mitsch. “The mayor has some great ideas, but I don’t see savings of a million dollars.”

Earlier this week, the council also took under consideration an ordinance that would boost the city’s utility tax from 3.5% to 5%. The increase, about $5 per household, would raise about $1.5 million a year in new revenues, city officials said.

The council is scheduled to vote on the proposal July 26.

Hawthorne is struggling to make ends meet following the approval in Sacramento of a $52-billion state budget for 1993-94 that shifts $2.6 billion in property tax revenues from local governments to schools.

The city is still trying to put together its 1993-94 budget, which was supposed to be adopted by July 1. Similar fiscal scrambles are taking place in cities throughout California, experts say.

“For the last three years, the state has been raiding city treasuries,” said Debbie Thornton, a spokeswoman for the League of California Cities. “Cities have had to cut dramatically.”

In his memo to Mitsch, Andersen outlines what he considers a way out of Hawthorne’s fiscal quandary. The plan, which contains few details, would cut spending by transferring city services to private contractors and consolidate certain city functions.

The proposal calls for eliminating, where possible, general fund subsidies for city departments, which would charge the public directly for their services. It would prohibit city leaders from attending conferences on the city’s tab, impose a hiring freeze--except for police and fire services--and encourage early retirement, especially among highly paid senior employees.

The plan would also require the city to get rid of most of its cars and cellular phones. Not including police, fire and other emergency vehicles, the city has 28 mid-size sedans, according to Harry Reeves, director of special services. Maintenance on the vehicles for one year costs the city $100,000. Reeves said that selling the cars would bring in $55,000 to $130,000.

“You still have people, like inspectors, who would need the use of a car,” Reeves pointed out. But paying employees’ 28 cents per mile instead of maintaining city-owned cars would save the city $25,000 to $55,000 a year, he said.

Reeves said 25 cellular phones are issued to the city manager, city attorney, the police and fire department chiefs, and other law enforcement officials, to be used primarily in emergency situations. The cost of the cellular service, which is paid by the city, was not immediately available.

In his memo, Andersen suggested that by adopting his proposals, and perhaps imposing such other cost-saving steps as a four-day workweek, Hawthorne could balance its budget and boost police protection without new taxes.

“We need to cut first, tax later,” Andersen said. “(Cuts) will show the public we are serious about operating on a bare-bones minimum.”

Andersen’s proposal to cut back on city cars and cellular phones drew praise from council members. But his suggestion that the city turn such services as janitorial work and park maintenance to outside contractors has generated criticism.

Guidi, for instance, asserts that privately contracted park workers might not be as effective as full-time employees. Said Guidi: “When it comes to the safety of our children, you can’t cut costs.”

City employees, meanwhile, say they are deeply troubled by the mayor’s plan, especially the proposal to contract out for services traditionally provided by full-time city employees.

“I’m one of the peons they’re gonna chop,” said one city worker, who declined to be quoted by name. “I’ve got 20 years in. . . . Now our mayor is saying we don’t need you. We feel very intimidated.”

The mayor has asked city officials to put together a final budget proposal within the next 30 days, but he and other city leaders acknowledge that the process will probably take longer.

“In 30 days, maybe we’ll be seeing some figures on paper,” Guidi said.