Sacramento Could Ax 500 Jobs
The Sacramento Bee has a great story discussing the possibility that the City of Sacramento could cut as many as 500 jobs to help ease the deficit.
During the city’s first budget development workshop for the 2009-2010 fiscal year Thursday, city leaders discussed strategies to stem the soaring city budget deficit while retaining essential city services, Sacramento city spokeswoman Amy Williams said.
“We are approaching the (2009-10) budget by addressing our $50 million budget gap through the reduction of programs and levels of service as we right-size our organization,” Williams said in a written statement. “This could result in the reduction of an estimated 400-500 positions.”
It seems and if the typical finger pointing with no resolution is still going on.
Sacramento’s financial situation has never been worse, a top city budget official said Thursday night.
Finance Director Leyne Milstein told the City Council that with the city facing a $50 million deficit, as many as 500 city jobs could be eliminated in the coming months, and some departments’ budgets could be slashed by a third.
Some of the positions that might be lost are already vacant, but “avoiding layoffs will be nearly impossible,” she said.
“It’s not going to be easy,” Milstein said at the council budget workshop. “This is unlike any other time that the city has faced.”
City Treasurer Russ Fehr warned that without significant action, “we’re going to eventually run out of money.”
He said Sacramento has been in a recession for nearly two years and that the mayor and City Council were likely to make choices more severe than any since the Great Depression.
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