O.C. cities should take care with budget surpluses

The National League of Cities' latest annual survey finds that local governments are seeing their third year of slow growth after being hammered for six straight years with declining revenue in the wake of the recession. In a similar vein, city officials separately voted to spend nearly $4 million from its rainy day fund for improvements at the Santa Ana train station. When times are good, you need to prepare as much as possible for the next inevitable downward swing. Leonard Gilroy is director