BUENA PARK : Fee Increases Loom for Youth Programs

Fees for city-sponsored summer youth programs will not rise this year, but increases are likely in 1996, when the city anticipates a budget shortfall.

To try to close the gap, the council will schedule special sessions this summer to consider a number of policy changes, including cost increases for youth events.

“We need to raise the fees commensurate with the cost, or not do the program,” Mayor Don R. Griffin said.

No changes will be made immediately, he said, because fee schedules have already been advertised and some programs have begun.

But council members will scrutinize those costs and other expenditures, City Manager Kevin O’Rourke said, including salaries for the city’s part-time workers.

The council decided Monday to postpone such policy debates for now and focus instead on the proposed $38-million 1995-96 budget after a public hearing July 10.

“You will have a balanced budget,” finance director Greg Beaubien said.

Finance officials made about $17,000 in cuts across city departments to balance the new budget, which will be 8.8% bigger than that for the fiscal year that ends Friday.

The council earlier this month approved appropriations to cover the 10 days between fiscal years during which the city will not have an adopted budget.