ANAHEIM : Special Meeting Set on City Money Woes

The City Council will hold a special meeting Saturday to discuss ways to balance the budget, raises for police officers and the fate of the school crossing guard program.

The meeting is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. in the Anaheim Convention Center’s executive conference room.

Because of the recession and a drop in tourism-generated taxes, the city has been struggling for more than two years to balance its $135-million annual budget. It has cut some programs, eliminated about 240 of 2,153 jobs and first imposed and then allowed to expire a 2% utility tax. The city is predicting an $8-million deficit next year.

Relations with the city employee unions have become strained. The Anaheim Police Assn., which represents rank-and-file officers, twice picketed council meetings during October, demanding a pay raise and the addition of 100 officers to the 350-member force.

The union has been working without a contract since July, 1992, and officers have not had a raise since July, 1991. The union has been demanding a 10% raise--5% now and 5% next year-- which would cost the city $2.5 million annually when fully implemented. The city has offered a 6.5% raise--3.25% now and 3.25% next year. The monthly salary range for officers, depending on experience and rank, is $2,804 to $4,040.

Crossing guards became an issue in June, when the late Police Chief Joseph T. Molloy suggested that the city turn the $500,000-a-year program over to the six school districts that have elementary campuses in the city. The city has 51 crossing guards who protect students crossing major streets.

The districts say they can’t afford to pay for the program themselves.

Two ideas, both involving taxes, have been offered as solutions to financial and police problems.

Councilman Fred Hunter has suggested diverting 1% of the 13% hotel bed tax to police salaries, which would pay for the union’s demands. The money is now being saved to replace a Convention Center parking structure that engineers predict will be structurally unsafe within five years.

Councilmen Irv Pickler and Bob D. Simpson want to reinstitute the utility tax, which generated $8 million a year. It was imposed in 1991 as a temporary measure to help balance the budget, and it had a “sunset clause” that made it expire on Sept. 30.

Mayor Tom Daly and Councilman Frank Feldhaus voted in June against extending the tax for philosophical reasons, saying extra money could be found if city government was made more efficient. They were joined by Hunter--once the tax’s most outspoken supporter--who said he would only vote for the extension if the money was earmarked for police and fire protection.

Pickler refused to make that promise, saying libraries and parks have had their programs cut and need help.

The Convention Center, where the meeting will be held, is at 800 W. Katella Ave.