Ventura City Budget Calls for Major Cuts : Finances: The manager’s recommendations mirror those of departments. Fee hikes are also proposed.

Ventura City Manager John Baker submitted a 1991-92 budget Friday that includes the first substantial cuts the city has had to consider making since the late 1970s.

The document, which will be considered at a public hearing before the City Council on Monday, includes $1.9 million in budget cuts and up to $202,000 in increased fees to help the city offset dwindling revenues and increased operating costs.

Ventura is confronting a shortfall of $1.36 million in its two-year, $101.2-million budget, after the Legislature allowed counties to bill cities for booking prisoners into jail and collecting property tax.

Baker said his final budget recommendations are virtually identical to the ones submitted to him by city department heads.

“They did it with, I think in hindsight, relative ease,” Baker said of the department heads’ work. “They really did pull together and say what’s important to the city.”

Saying that the changes forced on the city are unnerving, Baker added, “Hopefully it’s the last time we’ll have to do it for a while.”

“There’s nothing that’s really that severe that there’s going to be a noticeable change to the residents of the community,” said Everett Millais, director of community development. “We’re also kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop, and that’s what the state Legislature might do in terms of addressing the state’s $15-billion deficit. . . .That could cause the city to go back and make further cuts.”

The cuts recommended Friday affect every city department--from eliminating a new $53,296-a-year position for a zoning inspector who would reduce a backlog of 400 incomplete building-code inspections, to the loss of $76,000 to continue training police officers in organizational skills and cultural diversity.

Ventura Police Capt. Pat Rooney, who manages the department’s budget, said he hopes Ventura police officers will be able to do without refresher courses.

The elimination of a $38,000 desk officer post may force the Police Department to reduce slightly the hours its front desk is open, Rooney said. It is now open 6 a.m. to midnight.

The department also will have to give up keeping a handful of reserve officers on call because it cannot afford to give them the extensive training required by new state laws, Rooney said.

However, the department has recommended keeping $65,000 in the budget for a new detective to focus on gangs and narcotics.

Ventura Police Chief Richard Thomas said the detective would fight gang-related drug dealing to keep the crack cocaine trade from gaining a bigger foothold in the city.

And the Parks and Recreation Department reversed its earlier plan to cut $50,000 from a $100,000 fund for enacting programs recommended last year by an East Los Angeles gang-intervention consultant.

“It was not something any of us wanted to see go,” said Parks and Recreation Director Barbara Harison.

Harison said the money will pay for counseling gang members’ families, extending hours at recreational facilities such as Westpark Community Center and establishing other programs to divert youths from joining gangs.

However, she said the department must cut more than $80,000 from administration, park design and median-strip maintenance throughout Ventura.

Finance Director Terry Adelman has recommended more than $146,300 in cuts for outside consultants on engineering, traffic, city planning and the effect of sales taxes on Ventura’s finances.

Baker also recommended cutting $150,000 that would have enriched a $4-million fund to pay potential legal claims made against the city.

He also recommended that Ventura raise a variety of fees, most of which affect developers and people who use special police services. He proposed that the city increase levies for zoning modifications, grading permits, map making and amendments to the city’s growth plan.

Finally, Baker recommended that the city begin charging fees of $20 for fingerprints, $50 for answering false alarms, $100 for quelling loud parties and $100 for processing concealed-weapon permits.

FYI The public hearing on the budget recommendations is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Monday during the regular City Council meeting, in the City Council chambers at City Hall, 501 Poli St.