Riordan Vetoes Council’s Amendments : Spending: Mayor says extra funds for parks and libraries would deplete reserves. Members have five days to override his decision.

Saying that the city’s reserves would be cut to dangerously low levels, Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan on Wednesday sharply reduced or eliminated library, park and street sweeping services that the City Council had added to his budget proposal.

Riordan issued his veto, the first of his 11-month tenure, on 13 budget amendments by the City Council. The council has five days to override him and restore the programs if it can muster a two-thirds vote.

“I cannot support the expansion proposed by the council,” Riordan said in his veto message, “until I have greater confidence in our revenue projections and in the will of the council to join with me in the tough measures that lie ahead to sustain these revenues.”

The mayor said he supports the social and recreational services added by the City Council but that they would reduce the city’s reserves to $9 million. Riordan had proposed a $38-million reserve before the city lawmakers added $12 million in new and augmented programs. Another $17 million was cut from the financial cushion when a city pension board rejected Riordan’s proposal to reduce contributions to the pension system.

Council members said during budget deliberations last month that they supported the mayor’s expansion of the Police Department, but that they wanted to expand library and park services to combat crime by providing alternatives for young people.

Riordan cut those expenditures in half: from $4 million to $2 million for parks and from $3.2 million to more than $1.6 million for libraries. In his veto message, the mayor said he would like to support the additional spending but that the city cannot afford the “permanent and usually escalating” cost of additional park and library workers.

In other veto actions, Riordan cut in half the $750,000 expenditure for recruiting more female police officers, $356,000 for increased street sweeping, half of the funds for hiring new animal regulation officers (a $173,000 savings), two artist-calligraphers who make plaques and commendations for citizens and dignitaries (a $99,000 savings), $65,000 to provide handguns and training for City Hall security officers, and $371,000 to improve the Planning Department’s drafting of environmental impact reports.

Council members said they were likely to fight most adamantly for the park and library programs.

“I think these cuts are particularly disastrous when we look at the need for recreation,” Councilwoman Rita Walters said. “I can’t think of two better places for kids to occupy themselves and stay out of trouble than parks and libraries.”

But the toughest fight in the final chapter of the budget saga may be whether the city should make a special appropriation to the fledgling Hope in Youth anti-gang program.

Riordan initially proposed a $5-million appropriation for the church-based program, which plans to send social workers throughout the city. The council amended the proposal and said the group should compete with others for funds. In the veto message, Riordan said $2.5 million should be set aside for Hope in Youth and $2.5 million more put up for competition among various anti-gang programs.