SIMI VALLEY : New Police Costs Add to City Budget Deficit

A change in state law is forcing Simi Valley to pay a bigger share of costs for its Police Department, pushing the city’s projected shortfall up to $909,850 in the city’s 1995-96 budget.

Starting in July, the Police Department will no longer be able to use money from forfeited assets collected from narcotics arrests to pay for 10 department positions. That adds more than $500,000 to the city’s expenditures.

It is the biggest contributing factor in the gap between expenditures and revenues in the $29.4-million budget, said Ken Schecter, the city’s budget director.

But as the draft budget is reworked over the next several weeks, officials predict that the city will easily be able to close the gap, making it unlikely that they will have to dip into a reserve fund to make up the difference.

The city plans two public workshops on the draft budget scheduled for 4:30 p.m. today and 6:30 p.m. next Wednesday at City Hall. In addition the City Council will hold four special meetings in June to work out spending priorities and identify potential budget cuts.