State of City Norwalk addresses state deficit effect on city

By Larry Caballero

Norwalk Mayor Gordon Stefenhagen welcomed city officials and distinguished guests who attended Norwalk’s State of the City Address Feb. 24 to hear City Manager Ernie Garcia, Norwalk Sheriff Station Captain Patrick Maxwell and Los Angeles County Assistant Fire Chief Gerald Heinzel discuss issues that impact the City, county and state.
“Let’s keep our fingers crossed that the state does not balance the budget on the backs of cities,” said Stefenhagen.
Captain Maxwell said, “A $128 million reduction in services has resulted in the possible closing of jails and the early release of prisoners." Yet crime is down in Norwalk because “public safety is our number one concern and because of more aggressive police work.” The 270 parolees in the City is a concern, but response time to a resident’s call is still under four minutes.
Assistant Chief Heinzel said there had been a record number of phone calls and public service announcements during 2010 while fewer structural fires have been reported.
City manager Garcia promised “no finger pointing, even while the state is playing shell games with our money. There has been a shift of state services and programs to the cities without the funding to implement them.”
Garcia said, “Even with a gloomy economic forecast, a slow recovery ahead and the realignment of services, we have not had to layoff any city employees, and we still have a $36.7 million budget with $8 million in reserves.” He did not know when the hiring freeze would be lifted and hoped that residents would not have to pay a city propery tax in the future.