Mayors Seek Fiscal Relief in Capitol : Finances: Chief executives of Los Angeles, San Diego and other cities ask Gov. Wilson and legislators not to try to ease the state’s budget crisis by shifting burden to local governments.

SACRAMENTO —  Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley led a contingent of California mayors to Sacramento on Tuesday to plead with Gov. Pete Wilson and legislative leaders not to balance the state’s deficit-plagued budget at the expense of the cities.

After an hourlong meeting with Wilson, Bradley told reporters that he and other mayors arranged the trip to counter the “myth abroad in the state, especially here in Sacramento . . . that cities are in Fat City and they don’t need any financial help.”

Although the Los Angeles riots did not come up in discussions with the governor, Oakland Mayor Elihu Harris said he and other mayors stressed that further budget cuts would leave them ill-prepared to deal with the root causes of such urban disturbances.

“You still have problems with poverty. You still have problems with unemployment. You’ve still got problems with social services. You still have immigrant services within the cities,” said Harris, a former assemblyman.

“So if you have those realities, what are you going to cut without endangering or creating the possibility . . . of further unrest?” he asked.

The trek by Bradley, Harris and the mayors of San Diego, Fresno, Anaheim, San Francisco, Sacramento, Long Beach, San Jose and other cities was the latest by a group seeking relief from what inevitably will be brutal cuts stemming from the state’s $11-billion shortfall, expected by 1993. School groups and mental health advocates, among others, have already said they cannot take any more cuts. Bradley and the other mayors said that they have been forced to trim 3,200 employees, reduce services, impose a hiring freeze and--in Los Angeles alone--reduce the authorized strength of the police force from 8,300 officers to 7,900.

Meanwhile, about 70% of the cities were forced to raise taxes and fees last year to make up for the loss of revenues mandated by past state budget crunches. One change, which still has city leaders upset, has allowed counties to charge the cities about $100 million statewide to book prisoners and perform property assessments.

Bradley said the new fees were the reason only five of the state’s 58 counties raised taxes last year--and he indirectly suggested that the counties be made to bite the bullet during this current budget crisis.

“There needs to be a recognition that you can’t get it all out of the cities,” Bradley said. “If we have to pass new taxes, let’s all share in that. We took our step forward and faced up to the issue and we’re simply saying, ‘Let others now join us.’ ”

In addition to drawing attention to cities’ fiscal crisis, Bradley said, the mayors came to the Capitol to secure pledges from Wilson, Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) and other legislative leaders that they not pass last-minute legislation shifting more programs to the cities. The mayors said the booking fees were passed in 1990 after the cities had passed their budgets, catching them by surprise.