The city of Long Beach's long-awaited, much-dreaded and likely to be much controversial proposed budget for the 2010 fiscal year will be unveiled Thursday during a press conference at City Hall.
City Manager Pat West and Mayor Bob Foster will present the budget to members of the media. What is known is that the budget includes $20.3 million in cuts averaging 6 percent per department to help eliminate a $43.3 million general fund deficit. The remaining $23 million will be cut either through employee unions agreeing to forgo pay raises, or 26 days of furloughs or more possible layoffs, West has said.
That doesn't even count the additional millions of dollars that are expected to be lost from state take-aways. How that will be accounted for also remains to be seen.
The press conference will take place at 2 p.m. Thursday, so watch www.presstelegram.com for all of the budget news as soon as the conference is over.
Paul Eakins reports on Long Beach City Hall, and local and regional
politics. A newcomer to the Press-
Kris Hanson reports on the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles,
covering environmental issues, economic triumphs and
pitfalls and trade trends of America’s largest port.
He also writes a weekly column “On The Waterfront”,
appearing Tuesdays, and also produces an occassional video
and column titled “On The Job,” which follows the hard-working
men and women who keep Southern California’s economy humming.
Karen Robes Meeks came to work for the Press-
Here is an idea...suspend the money city college is getting for the bond to build their buildings and redirect it to the general fund...there is no use in having a great college when Officers, fire fighters and other city employees might possibly get laid off...As a home owner in the city, I would rather my portion of the bond money go to core services...Everybody in the city can benefit from that, not just the ones that enroll at LBCC...Long Beach lets take care of our own before we try to take care of the everyone else...