10:10am | The City Council heard a presentation from Assistant City Manager Suzanne Frick on Tuesday afternoon that suggested eliminating more than 500 public employee jobs in an effort to curb spending as Long Beach hurtles toward another multi-million dollar budget deficit.
“I suspect this will be the first of many discussion relative to where the City is going to its finances,” said Mayor Bob Foster.
It was the third of several study sessions that the City Council requested in order to get a jump start on the 2012 Budget process.
“It is apparent that the recovery is going to be very slow and the economy will not rebound quickly,” said City Manager Pat West on Tuesday. “We need to prepare over the next three years to significantly reduce the scope of our services to ensure Long Beach is on solid financial footing.”
Eliminating 500 jobs would equate to 18% of the entire City staff.
In most cases, discussions and negotiations with labor unions have been slow to materialize. Mayor Foster in particular has been aggressive in pointing out the unwillingness of some unions to come to the table.
But some employee unions did receive pay cuts last year, and the City Council last week instituted important but ultimately minor pension reform.
The special meeting came just days after the City announced it would eliminate five management positions and three administrative positions at a savings of over $1 million per year.
The City has cut more than 800 positions at a savings of over $136 million since 2004.