Budget Roundups

July 1 is just around the corner, and for most cities, that means a deadline to pass a budget for the next fiscal year. While every city has a unique set of financial circumstances, there are definitely some recurring themes as we review cities throughout the state.

Every city has seen a drop in revenue, I've yet to find one yet who actually is expecting more money in next year's general fund. Since labor is the biggest cost for every city, every city is looking at the three ways you can reduce labor costs: holding positions vacant, reducing employee compensation, or layoffs. While many cities are dipping into their reserves to reduce the impact on services, the deficits faced by most cities can't be covered solely by reserve funds.

Here is a quick summary of what cities across the state did with their budget this week:

Stockton's budget is $45 million than last year. Parks, street maintenance and library programs are being drastically reduced and 55 police officers are losing their jobs. Read about it here.

Lodi's police officers will be taking furloughs and the Fire Department will be browning out stations when staff levels are not sufficient. Here's more about their $2.4 million in budget reductions.

Modesto's story is very similar to Stockton with huge cuts in most services. Ten police officers will be laid off due to the Police union's refusal to reduce compensation. Here's more details.

Watsonville staved off a reduction in their fire department force by agreeing to a 7.5% pay cut. Read more here.

Sacramento firefighters refused to take a pay cut. Consequently, 50 firefighters will lose their jobs and 18 will be demoted. More details here.

Eureka hasn't resolved their budget woes yet. However, the firefighters have agreed to give up their holiday pay. Read the story here.

Santa Barbara adopted their budget, but acknowledged that it is already out of balance due to continuing reductions in revenue. Read here to learn more about the labor concessions to date to help reduce their expenditures.

Irvine's labor groups all agreed to freeze salaries, but that still left a $13 million hole in their budget. A majority of the City Council decided to maintain current service levels by using reserves to plug the gap. Read more details here.

Vallejo's budget continues to spin downward. Despite drastic cuts over the past year, 26 more layoffs are proposed. Read it here.

In Los Angeles, the bad news is that 1600 positions are being eliminated. The good news is that 1200 of the positions were already unfilled and 324 of the remaining 400 employees were able to move to other jobs within the city. Here are the details.

Burbank seems to be better off than most cities. The majority of cuts in their budget were met by keeping positions vacant. Their larger issue is keeping their enterprise funds afloat via rate increases. Read more here.

South of San Francisco in San Mateo County, nearly every fire department is looking at possible brownouts and reductions in force. Read more here.

In San Francisco, the debate between cutting public safety and cutting social programs continues. Here is an article which critiques the current staffing levels in the fire department.