IRVINE : ‘90s Fiscal Policy Calls for City Cuts

The city has entered what officials call a new era in municipal management with the adoption of a business strategy to guide fiscal policy into the next century.

The plan, adopted this week as the city faces a $4.5-million budget shortfall, calls for sharp reductions in city staffing as well as cost-cutting measures that will affect such things as the length of City Council meetings and the hours City Hall is open.

Officials said the plan is necessary to meet the challenges of a sluggish economy, which has reduced city revenue from development fees and the sales tax.

“This gives us a road map for the rest of the decade,” said City Manager Paul O. Brady Jr.

The council dissected the business plan at a Tuesday night meeting that lasted until midnight. Though council members did not embrace all suggestions, many key proposals were adopted.

Under the plan:

* Seventy-one city positions will be eliminated, including 10 manager jobs. About 53 employees will leave voluntarily as part of an early retirement program. From 10 to 30 workers will be laid off.

* Beginning in March, City Hall will be closed on alternating Fridays. The schedule will be similar to the one used by Orange County.

* The current format of holding separate afternoon and evening City Council sessions will be scrapped. Instead, the council will meet in one session beginning at 5:30 p.m. The move is expected to reduce the amount of overtime paid to city workers who must attend the meetings. Council members said they hope to continue holding hearings of public concern later in the evening so that residents who work can attend.

* The city will look for ways to privatize city services and rely less on full-time city employees.

* The council will examine possible cuts in some city services. Council members on Tuesday agreed to stop having the city provide them with meals during council meetings, at a savings of $6,000 annually. Adjustments in some city fees also will be discussed.

* The city will look at renting out some municipal facilities, including portions of the corporation yard and multi-services center, to private firms and groups.

The council will make specific decisions on many of these issues in the coming months as it grapples with the 1994-95 fiscal year budget.

The plan seeks to address the sluggish state of Irvine’s once-booming economy. “You don’t do business today in the way you did in the 1980s,” Brady said.

Several council members expressed regret about having to lay off workers, but all agreed that the cutbacks were necessary for the long-term fiscal health of the city.

Irvine Cost Cutting

The Irvine City Council this week approved a business strategy designed to guide fiscal policy for the next decade. Cost-cutting measures outlined in the plan include:

* Privatizing some city services

* Reducing the number of city commissions and committees

* Renting city facilities to private groups

* Adjusting city fees

* Reducing some city services

* Cutting City Hall business hours

Source: city of Irvine