Talk of cuts set to start

CITY HALL — The effort to close a budget gap for next fiscal year estimated to be at least $7 million begins Tuesday, with City Hall gearing up for the annual round of study sessions that have taken on a more grim tone since the economy slid into recession.

Finance officials are scheduled to brief the Audit Committee today on where the city stands financially before heading into Tuesday, when the City Council is expected to outline the framework under which the budget talks will take place.

Firm numbers won’t emerge until those meetings take place, but the study sessions already come attached to certain political conditions borne out of a recent election cycle in which three candidates who won office pledged to steer clear of any cuts to police or fire services, which combined make up the roughly half of the general fund.

Last year, the City Council undertook a round of painful cuts that included pulling police officers from the city’s middle schools and eliminating some community programs. Library hours were trimmed, and several staff positions within the police and fire departments were also cut.

“I’ll be looking very carefully at any service cuts to the community,” Mayor Frank Quintero said.

That could leave other departments open to greater scrutiny at a time when economists don’t expect the financial picture to brighten any time soon.

The City Council already had to close an $8.4-million budget gap earlier this year due to falling revenues.

While city officials typically land on the conservative side of budget forecasts, the recent combination of economic news virtually ensures an even more hedged approach this time around, they said.

“I don’t think we have the luxury of not being fairly conservative,” Finance Director Bob Elliot said.

As the City Council embarks on crafting a balanced 2009-10 budget plan for July 1, city executives have said everything is on the table, from consolidating departments to unpaid work furloughs, although layoffs are unlikely.

The city’s management and fire unions agreed to forgo planned raises for the next two years, saving the city more than $3 million. And a hard hiring freeze, coupled with the elimination of 23 vacant positions citywide, has kept the salary impact from deepening.