Proposed Sacramento budget calls for 200 layoffs, cutbacks

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Kellie Gross and Steven El-Amin enjoy a kiss and a picnic lunch at the pond at William Land Park. City parks would face cuts under a new budget.

Nearly 200 workers would be laid off and many departments would have their budgets slashed by more than one-third under a proposed budget released today by the city of Sacramento.
The budget, aimed at closing a $50 million deficit for the 2009-10 fiscal year, would eliminate of 387 city positions, 189 of which are currently filled.
"The city of Sacramento has never gone through anything like this," Assistant City Manager Marty Hanneman said. "This is historic in nature."
City officials are asking for concessions from unions, including wage freezes and furloughs, to help halve the deficit.
Without concessions, city officials say, about half of the 21 departments bankrolled by the city's general fund would have their budgets cut by 35 percent. That includes parks, neighborhood services and code enforcement. Others would face less severe cutbacks.
In the fire department, 43 firefighters would be laid off, rotating "brown outs" of fire engines would continue, and more neighborhoods would have "sporadic coverage," according to the proposal.
So far, the police union is the only one to agree to forgo raises, sparing that department from cuts. Had the union not agreed to concessions, as many as 65 police officers could have been laid off, city officials said.
If the fire union agrees to forgo raises, that department also would not face cutbacks.
The unions representing most other city employees have been asked to defer raises and agree to furloughs. Even if they do, however, their departments face some cuts in service and layoffs.
"There is no doubt there will be layoffs," Hanneman said.
City Manager Ray Kerridge said it was "absolutely essential" that unions agree to concessions.
"It's a shared responsibility, and everybody needs to share a piece of the burden," he said. "We need to preserve as many jobs as we can and keep our core services going."
Kerridge said he was "pretty confident" the deficit could grow between today and May 19 -- when the City Council holds it first budget hearing -- due to plummeting property tax revenue.
And the 2009-10 fiscal gap is just the beginning; City Finance Director Leyne Milstein said the gap is part of a cumulative $152 million deficit through 2014.


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