Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Proposed Palmdale Budget Would Reduce City’s Spending by 8% : Finances: Despite cuts, law enforcement funding would be increased $1.2 million. The plan calls for handing crossing guard program over to local schools.

On the last day of the fiscal year, city officials Thursday unveiled a $28.7-million general fund budget for 1994-95, calling for a $1.2-million boost for law enforcement, but an overall 8% spending cut.

Under the budget plan, the city would also stop paying for crossing guards, handing the $224,000 program over to local schools. In another cost-cutting move announced last week, the city has laid off six employees and eliminated seven other jobs that were not currently filled.

The City Council is slated to hold a public hearing on the budget July 12, then vote on it the next day. To allow the city to continue operating without a budget in the meantime, the council adopted an ordinance allowing current spending levels to remain in effect.

In his budget message, City Administrator Robert W. Toone Jr. said, “Staff is committed to maintaining the service level that residents have come to expect. This will be a difficult task as our population is still increasing, and we have fewer city employees.”

Between January, 1993, and January, 1994, Palmdale’s population jumped 9.6% from 89,717 to 98,314, according to the state Department of Finance.

During the 1980s, Palmdale was one of California’s fastest-growing cities, but local officials said the economic slowdown, particularly in new construction, is a key reason for this year’s tight budget.

Palmdale issued about 450 building permits for new single-family homes during the past year, compared with the 5,046 permits issued in fiscal 1989-90. The local unemployment rate is 9.3%, compared to 6% nationally. Sales-tax revenue, an important source of income for Palmdale, has leveled off after a decade of growth, city officials said.

In his message, Toone said the city’s priorities have shifted from housing development and road-building to public safety and economic development, including the creation of more local jobs.

Increased law enforcement was a key issue in last spring’s Palmdale City Council election. The new budget allocates $8 million for law enforcement, provided by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Some of the additional money will put three more one-deputy patrol cars on the street, each for 56 hours a week.

Other city departments would receive less money under the new budget proposal, particularly those that handle new development projects, such as planning, engineering and building and safety.

Toone also recommended turning over the crossing guard program to the Palmdale School District.

Until last year, state law required cities and counties to pay for crossing guards in their jurisdiction. Because the state no longer mandates this, the city staff urged that the expense of using about 20 guards be eliminated.

The recommendation caught the Palmdale School District off-guard, said Supt. Nancy K. Smith, who learned about it from news reporters. “We were very surprised because we usually have such good rapport with the city,” she said.

Smith said taking over the crossing guard program would pose problems because the school district, which has 16,600 kindergarten through eighth-grade students, has already approved its 1994-95 budget. She said crossing guards cannot be eliminated because students need adult supervision at busy local intersections.

Other school programs might need to be cut if the district must take over the crossing guard program, and costs would increase because the school district runs under different labor laws than the city, Smith said.

She said the school board will discuss the issue at a meeting Tuesday and may send a representative to the city’s budget hearing to ask that the cutback be reconsidered.

Other sections of the city’s 1994-95 spending plan call for construction of several civic projects, including a new City Hall, financed largely by developer fees, and a new park named for longtime resident Domenic Massari.