The Long Beach City Council last night came one step closer to approving a balanced budget that would even have saved some services that previously were thought to have been lost to cuts, in the wake of a $38 million deficit. Last-minute recommendations by the Council’s Budget Oversight Committee and proposals from other Councilmembers included ideas like preserving funds for fire stations, police officers and youth services. The Council stopped just short of approving the budget when Finance Director Lori Ann Farrell requested more time to review the numbers.
In fact, the Press-Telgram‘s Paul Eakins today paints a picture of a City Council downright giddy with the prospect of approving the City Budget one week before their due date:
For a brief moment, excited by the prospect of approaching the end of what has been a long and arduous budget process over several weeks, council members seemed poised to actually approve the budget one week before their deadline next Tuesday.
…
When the council resumed the meeting, they had a plan that was almost ready to be stamped for approval. They even appeared willing to approve the city’s new schedule of fee increases, even though earlier several members had said they wanted another week to examine it.
We’ll have further coverage of the Council’s budget progress, coming soon…
Click here read our policy on covering the Long Beach City Council.