Anaheim Might Reimpose Utility Tax : Government: City officials gather at a unusual weekend meeting to discuss possible solutions to an impending $8.4-million budget deficit.

The city faces an $8.4-million budget deficit beginning next July and may need to dip into its reserves and reimpose a utility tax to balance its accounts, officials said Saturday.

City Manager James D. Ruth, addressing a special weekend meeting of the City Council to discuss the $133-million annual budget, said one solution would be to impose a $3-million annual “franchise fee” against the city-owned Public Utility Department, which supplies Anaheim with electricity and water, along with a 2% utility tax.

Ruth told the council that if the city does not want to raise taxes, shift other revenue or cut police and fire protection--which represents about 55% of the budget--other departments would have to be cut 26% to balance the budget.

The city has already made several cuts in the last two years, cutting the 1,800-employee work force by about 300 positions.

“We are already stretched and stressed and lean, but hopefully not mean,” Ruth said. “Hopefully, we are still responsive to the public.”

The franchise fee would not raise rates for at least three years because the utility department has been running a multimillion-dollar surplus, Ruth said.

Other Orange County cities charge Southern California Edison, which supplies their electricity, a franchise fee. Anaheim, like other cities, already charges a franchise fee to its cable television, gas and telephone companies.

If the utility tax is reimposed, it would run through 1994, Ruth said, with $4.5 million available during the current fiscal year and another $4.5 million available during fiscal year 1994-95. The city’s fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30.

The council imposed a 2% utility tax in 1991, but allowed it to expire Sept. 30 when a majority could not agree how the revenue should be spent.

Councilman Fred Hunter, the swing vote on the issue, has said he will not vote with Councilmen Irv Pickler and Bob D. Simpson to reimpose the tax unless it is earmarked for police. Mayor Tom Daly and Councilman Frank Feldhaus are philosophically opposed to the tax.

During Saturday’s meeting the council also discussed whether it should continue to pay for school crossing guards or force the city’s six elementary schools to fund the program. The city spends about $448,000 annually for 51 crossing guards. No consensus was reached and the council said it will have to examine the issue further.

Meliton Lopez, superintendent of the Anaheim City School District--the city’s largest elementary district--said Friday his district cannot afford the $300,000 it would cost to hire its own crossing guards. But with schools located near main thoroughfares such as Lincoln and Katella avenues and Brookhurst and Euclid streets, they cannot afford to go without crossing guards either, he said.

“How much is one child’s life worth?” he said. “This is a public safety issue. Kids cannot be allowed to cross unaided many of the streets in our district.”

Using volunteers is not a viable solution either, Lopez said.

“We need to have people who are reliable and who are willing to risk their lives,” Lopez said. “This is not a safe job. We have had people hurt, although not seriously.”