HUNTINGTON BEACH- City officials are inching toward closing a $3 million budget gap by making deep cuts while looking to preserve city services and jobs.
City Council members must pass a balanced budget by October 1 and over the last two years have cut more than $20 million from the budget.
To combat financial constraints, city staff got creative and looked to change the way the city spends its money through outsourcing some services and offering an incentive retirement plan to downsize the city work force.
The city is working with a $178 million general fund budget and city staff has proposed to cut 129 positions from various departments this year but of those positions; 123 are either vacant or filled with employees prepared retire. The jobs of six staffers are on the chopping block.
“I think our staff did incredible work to come up with a budget that’s humane to the employees,” Councilman Don Hansen said. “It’s could’ve been a hell of a lot worse.”
The city is implementing a hiring freeze for the third year in a row and in May passed an employee retirement incentive program in which 103 people elected to take the offer.
The city is also considering outsourcing for some services to save money including some tree trimming and graffiti cleanup services.
A cut in some police services and fewer lifeguards watching the beach at night are some of the proposals city officials have presented to pass a balanced budget.
Source:http://www.ocregister.com/news/city-265488-budget-services.html
