Irvine Unveils $62-Million Budget Plan : Spending: The proposal is largely unchanged from last year. No cuts in services are expected.

Public attendance at the city’s first budget hearing this week was surprisingly sparse as officials unveiled a $62-million plan for the next fiscal year.

City Manager Paul O. Brady Jr. assured council members and a handful of residents Tuesday night that the budget--roughly equal to last year’s amount--for the 1995-96 fiscal year will not cause any reductions in services for the community’s 120,000 residents. Under the proposed budget, the city will hire three additional police officers.

“Despite the county’s bankruptcy crisis, the city of Irvine continues to have a balanced operating budget and adequate reserves to help us through this current problem,” Brady said.

Moody’s bond-rating service recently reinstated the city’s AA rating, second only to the AAA rating rarely given to municipalities. Moody’s had lowered the city’s bond rating to CCC, considered a poor-quality ranking, after the county declared bankruptcy.

Irvine had $208 million in the county investment pool when the county declared bankruptcy Dec. 6, the most of any municipality.

Gary Kingsbury, leader of a recall drive against three council members who approved a plan last summer to borrow $62 million for an additional investment in the county pool, accused city officials of failing to disclose the long-term consequences of potential financial losses.

“Despite the fact that your city manager and your city financial advisers told you that there’s only a hope and a prayer” that the city will recover 100% of its money from the county investment pool, Kingsbury told council members, “this budget continues to act as if nothing has happened.”

The city’s next budget hearing is scheduled at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall.