BUENA PARK : City Budget to Increase 8%; Shortfall Looms

The big departments that account for most of the city’s $38.4-million annual budget were largely unscathed after an all-day City Council study session Saturday.

Council members gave preliminary approval to most requests for the coming fiscal year, which will see an 8.8% increase in the city’s costs. Most of that surge in spending is a result of higher labor costs from three-year contracts that were negotiated last year, City Manager Kevin O’Rourke said.

He described the 1995-96 budget as conservative. It steers away from long-term commitments that might have to be delayed because of impending fiscal problems, he said.

Expenditures for the 1995-96 budget are offset by remaining funds from a $3-million Public Employee Retirement System credit and $300,000 left from the sale of the Fire Department last spring.

During the course of the coming fiscal year, the council will have to prepare for a shortfall of as much as $3 million projected for the 1996-97 budget, finance officials said.

O’Rourke said he had hoped to have a multiyear financial plan ready for discussion, but the project was pushed back because of the Orange County bankruptcy. Instead, council members will begin this summer to head off next year’s budget woes.

Revenue sources for 1995-96 are up by less than 1%, O’Rourke wrote in his annual budget report. “We continue to see total revenue growth lag far behind what we used to see in the 1980s,” he wrote.

The city’s sources for funds--taxes from property, sales, utilities, tourism and other sources--are flat or dropping, the report stated. The only substantial increase is in the sales and use tax revenue, which should increase by 5.7%.

One bright spot from last year’s budget was the Redevelopment Agency, which lured a new car dealership to the city and is working on large projects with the business and entertainment communities for next year, the report stated.