Sacramento City Council considers major cuts to balance budget
SACRAMENTO — The Sacramento City Council is considering an extensive list of options to balance its $44 million budget.
City departments created a list of possible cuts and fee increases for the council to choose from.
In all, 200 options are in the public documents — with a wide range of impacts large and small.
Councilmember Roger Dickinson said that the first look at possible cuts shows the painful decisions on the way. He would not rule out layoffs of city staff.
"No, I don't think we can say that yet," Dickinson said. "I don't think we're at a place where we can guarantee there won't be layoffs."
One proposal would include cuts for tea, coffee and cups from the city council kitchen. Another would increase the cost to license your pet.
City pools could also be part of the wave of cuts. The city is considering cutting lifeguard positions and only operating its neighborhood pools three days a week.
Other proposed cuts to public safety include discontinuing the police department's mounted patrol unit, its burglary investigations unit and eliminating 80 positions from the fire department.
"Some of them, thankfully, I'm sure we won't get to. I'm sure we won't have to go that deep to solve this issue," Dickinson said.
Possible increased payments for public parking are an option too. After the city added 300 more meters just last year, this year's budget documents show a new option to increase how much we pay to park even more.
The city council has a series of budget meetings to decide what they ultimately will cut. The budget needs to be balanced by June 30.
