mayorandcrewbudget crop

mayorandcrewbudget

Mayor Bob Foster announces his recommendations for the proposed 2013 budget. Photo by Sarah Bennett.

Department consolidation, pension reform and outsourcing of services are just a few of the provisions Mayor Bob Foster announced yesterday as part of the proposed 2013 budget, which addresses the city’s $17.2 million shortfall without calling for tax increases.

The proposed budget also calls for the elimination of 294 positions, of which 181 are currently filled, as well as the merging of Long Beach Police Department’s South and West Divisions, which Foster and City Manager Patrick West insisted are necessary moves as we enter an era marked by increasing city costs and flat or declining revenue sources that they called “the new normal.”

“Rather than long for the good ol’ days of government—or worse, continue policies that reflect the belief that they will return—we need to embrace the new reality and change the way we conduct the public’s business,” Foster said at a press conference announcing the proposed budget.

Under this “new normal,” the city will need to find a way to deliver the current level of services at the current costs while seeking outside revenue sources and new models of service delivery. To do this, Foster called for a continuation of “proportional share” reductions as well as studies on certain functions currently being performed by government—such as street sweeping and oil changes on government vehicles—to see if they could be done more cheaply and efficiently by the private sector.

The savings from these changes would nearly eliminate the city’s three-year deficit, Foster said.

Echoing a sentiment expressed in an OP-ED the Post published earlier this week, the city is also finding significant savings through extensive pension reform. Through negotiations with several employee bargaining units—including those representing police officers, fire fighters, city attorneys, engineers and lifeguards—the city was able to place more than $6 million back into the General Fund for 2013.

City management continues to negotiate with the city’s largest employee union, however—the International Association of Machinists (IAM), which has yet to accept any kind of pension reform.

“We have tried for nearly two years during which time they will receive at least 7% in salary increases,” Foster said. “Each year of delay costs our residents $12 million in services and much more in future unfunded costs. If IAM continues to be intractable, I will place a pension measure on the ballot. It is not my preferred path, but reform is necessary outcome and I am left with no other option.”

The one expenditure in the proposed budget is a positive public safety one—the addition of a police academy, which will not increase recruitment to the force, but “stop the bleeding,” according to West. The 40-person recruit academy will hopefully begin the first day of fiscal year 2013.

Other major cuts to the proposed 2013 budget include reduction of library services and programs (three more branches will go to a self-service model) as well as elimination of free and subsidized youth sports and after school programs at 14 city parks with the intention that these services will be activated by other providers in the community.

The entire proposed budget is currently available at the city’s website. An interactive online budget system—where citizens can interact and provide input—will be unveiled August 7, the date of the next budget meeting. According to the City Charter, the council must approve a balanced budget by Sept. 15.