Eliminating next year’s budget deficit is shaping up as a tough fight

The letter I received in late June from “A Long Beach City Employee” wasn’t signed, and it didn’t come with a return address.

But it did carry with it a June 4 letter from city Economic Development and Cultural Affairs Bureau Manager Robert M. Swayze to Georgia Pon Maeshima, president of the Long Beach Management Association (LBMA), an employee union of management personnel–and this:

“The IAM Union members and Fire Department are all making concession (Friday furloughs, pay freezes, etc.),” City Employee wrote. “Some City employees feel that LBMA and the Police Department should both participate.”

The anonymous employee was not alone, and as Mayor Bob Foster prepares his response to the city’s proposed budget–due Aug. 1–it’s becoming very clear that city employees and residents alike will feel the pinch when City Hall tries to balance the $43 million structural deficit looming in the 2009-2010 Fiscal Year.

The new Fiscal Year doesn’t begin until Oct. 1, but lines in the sand have been being drawn for months. In his June 4 letter to Maeshima, Swayze suggested the following, in a paragraph set in bold Helvetica type:

“… we respectfully request all of our fellow management colleagues (officers, managers and directors) support taking a voluntary 5% salary reduction for FY 2010,” Swayze wrote.

“Our hope is that the achieved savings will be used to offset or limit layoffs so that the entire City team–at every level and in every department–can continue to efficiently and effectively serve the residents of Long Beach.”

Swayze was on vacation Thursday, and could not be reached for comment.

Maeshima said Thursday that she received the letter–but she declined to comment because LBMA’s board of directors has not yet considered Swayze’s request.

“I am in receipt of the letter. However, I have not had a chance to discuss with the board the ramifications of Mr. Swayze’s request,” said Maeshima, whose union represents more than 175 city employees in 100 different classifications ranging from administrative officers to business managers to financial officers.

“I hope to get together with the board after the holiday.”

Assistant City Manager Suzanne Frick said in a telephone interview Thursday that the proposed FY 2009-2010 budget continues to evolve–but that cuts may be severe as the city tries to overcome that $43 million deficit.

“There’s employee costs and then there’s our services,” Frick said, explaining that the city has divided the structural budget deficit into two chunks: $23 million, which it hopes to do away with by reducing employee costs; and $20 million, which could be eliminated–or reduced–by cutting back on services.

“The $23 million represents a salary cut for all employees, and the $20 million comes from department reductions,” Frick said. “The $20 million is a reduction in services and programs. And that translates into approximately a six percent reduction for each department.”

The $23 million half of the equation isn’t any more palatable. Achieving a $23 million savings in employee costs could be done by implementing a 26-day furlough for each city employee, Frick said–or a little more than two unpaid days per month for every employee at every level.

“The 26-day furlough could represent up to a 10 percent salary reduction,” Frick said.

“That is the easy solution,” the assistant city manager said, and she meant “easy” only in the sense that it’s an uncomplicated–though draconian–solution. “But we are working with the hope that our employee bargaining units come to the table and offer some solutions.”

If previous budgets are any indication, in all likelihood, the final 2009-2010 FY budget will incorporate a variety of solutions, and not just the ones enumerated here.

No matter how it happens, though, we seem to be in for some tough times.

Tags: Assistant City Manager Suzanne Frick, California, employee furloughs, Fiscal Year 2009-2010 budget, Georgia Pon Maeshima, Long Beach, Mayor Bob Foster, Robert M. Swayze, Southern California, The District Weekly, Theo Douglas