VILLA PARK : Council Approves $1.6-Million Budget

The City Council, in a 4-1 vote, has approved a $1.6-million budget for the new fiscal year that started Friday.

Councilman Joseph S. Barsa said he voted against the overall budget because one part of it authorized spending up to $200,000 from city reserves for widening a section of Cerro Villa Drive, east of Loma Street. The Cerro Villa widening is the only item in the city budget that called for deficit spending. Barsa indicated he had no problem with the rest of the budget.

During a workshop on the proposed budget June 14, the council majority said the Cerro Villa widening could be delayed if city finances take a downward turn. Barsa, however, said he did not think the item should be authorized, even provisionally. Barsa said he strictly opposes deficit spending.

He renewed that opposition Tuesday when the council formally voted on the overall budget.

The city has about $1.5 million in reserves.

Like virtually all other cities in the state, Villa Park has suffered declining income in the past three years. Villa Park’s total revenue in 1991-92 was more than $2 million. It dropped to $1.95 million in 1992-93 and to about $1.7 million in 1993-94. The new budget predicts income will drop to just over $1.6 million in this fiscal year.

The Legislature has not yet approved a state budget, and some city officials have expressed fear that legislators will divert more money from cities.

However, Villa Park City Manager Fred Maley said he has not heard of any state proposal so far that may cause the city’s new budget to become unbalanced.

At the City Council’s June 14 budget workshop, Mayor Barry L. Denes predicted that Villa Park and all other cities in the state will be fiscally plundered by the Legislature in early 1995. “I believe that in January, every city in California is going to be nailed (by the Legislature),” Denes said.