SOUTH GATE : City Strives to Make $1.1 Million in Cuts

City officials are trying to balance the municipal budget for the coming year by cutting about $1.1 million without resorting to increased taxes or laying off city employees.

To help make those cuts, City Manager Todd W. Argow has proposed cutting nine vacant city jobs, including five civilian positions in the Police Department, closing the municipal swimming pool between November and January and for two hours each afternoon year-round, and tapping $500,000 in reserve funds.

The $18.8-million budget for the 1994-95 fiscal year was the subject of a public hearing last week and will come up again at the June 28 meeting, when the City Council is expected to vote for approval.

City officials are hoping to hear public opinions on the budget before it gets to a final vote.

“This is another budget where the revenues are shrinking some more as a result of recession,” Argow said. “And it is not easy to maintain city services in a city like South Gate (where) the population continues to increase.”

South Gate, a city of about 7.5 square miles, has a population of more than 90,000. In 1980, it was about 66,000, according to the U.S. Census.

For the second straight year, Argow will recommend that the 21 top city officials pay for their own travel, lodging and food when attending meetings in other cities.

The city will pay only for registration fees to those meetings, such as the California League of Cities annual convention that typically draws officials from almost every city in the state.

“It will save thousands of dollars, obviously,” Argow said. “Because of the scarcity of funds, a lot of us chose not to attend certain meetings.”

Aging equipment and city vehicles will not be replaced “as long as we have chewing gum and rubber bands to hold them together,” Argow said.

In addition, the worn roofs on the Police Department, library and City Hall buildings will not be repaired next year.

The budget does not allocate any money for a salary raise for city employees, whose contract expires June 30.

There is one piece of good news.

The city recently was granted more than $60,000 in federal money to pay half the cost to hire two new police officers for the next three years. The city will pick up the other half.

“It was a surprise that we got (the money) because of the highly competitive nature of funds,” the city manager said.