CITY BUDGETS : Budget-Balancing Deadline Sends Some Cities Scurrying

In Santa Ana, a city financial squeeze means that 90 positions are being eliminated from the city payroll. But the budget for tiny Villa Park, Orange County’s smallest city, is rising 60% this year--thanks entirely to capital spending on road improvements. And in Irvine, last year’s deficit crisis is nearly forgotten and 38 employees will be added to the city payroll.

In most cities where spending is up, it is for increases in public safety personnel or road improvements. But whether the numbers are rising or falling, the story at city halls throughout Orange County is essentially the same: it is budget-balancing time.

The new fiscal year for California’s cities began Friday, and legally they were required to have had their budgets balanced and approved by the night before. However, several Orange County cities are still working with proposed budgets, including Fullerton, which is scheduled to approve its spending plan tonight.

Following is a city-by-city look at the budget picture in each of the county’s 27 cities. Villa Park

A Tiny City With a Huge Increase: 60%

The tiny city of Villa Park--with 7,137 residents, Orange County’s smallest--is turning in the largest budget increase, proportionally, of all the county’s 27 cities this year.

City Manager Fred Maley, one of only eight full-time city employees, said this year’s budget would jump almost 60% to $2.6 million.

“Several capital improvement projects have been on the drawing board for years, and they have all come to fruition this year,” said Maley. The general fund budget, which excludes capital improvements, is only increasing 5.3%.

Capital projects, to be paid mostly by federal and county cost-sharing grants, include the widening of Villa Park Road and improvements to Wanda Road and Santiago Boulevard.

“There will be no changes in our taxes or fees, and no changes in our level of operations,” Maley said.