Dear Neighbors,

If you want to learn more about the proposed budget reductions and re-organization of City departments, you can learn more, express opinions and ask questions at this meeting:

Town Hall Meeting on Budget and Re-Organization

Sponsored by Councilmembers Kernighan

(District 2) and Nadel (District 3)

Monday, January 30, 2012 - 7:00 PM

City Hall in Council Chambers, 3rd Floor

Parking will be free after 6:30 pm in the Clay Street garage, behind City Hall

A similar meeting is being sponsored by Councilmember Schaaf (District 4) tonight, Thursday, January 26 at Fruitvale Presbyterian Church (2735 MacArthur Blvd. near Fruitvale Avenue, at 7 pm.

To read the City Administrator's budget proposals, go to the City's website home page, here. The first part is a summary of the changes and the line items are at the very end in Attachment C.

For an overview of the report, click here for the Fact Sheet.

This round of reductions is necessary due to the end of the Redevelopment Agency funding. Hopefully, this will be the last major hit to the City budget for a long time.

The City Administrator's proposal has done quite a good job of reducing expenses through elimination of administrative positions, including numerous high level positions, but it is unavoidable that some of the cuts will affect direct services to the public. Of interest to those of you who participate in Neighborhood Crime Prevention Councils, the proposal is to eliminate 4 of the 9 Neighborhood Service Coordinators (NSCs) who staff them. Two of the NSCs with least seniority serve our Council district and will likely be laid off. It is also proposed to lay off 6 or 7 Public Works maintenance workers, which will slow down the response time to clean up illegal dumping.

Also proposed for cuts are the City contribution to several cultural organizations, including the Zoo, Children's Fairyland, Peralta Hacienda and the arts grants. I think there is sufficient support on the Council to prevent the cut to Fairyland, but all other cultural subsidies are in question. If you feel strongly about any of these budget proposals, you should email all the Councilmembers:

Council District 1 - Jane Brunner

Council District 2 - Patricia Kernighan

Council District 3 - Nancy Nadel

Council District 4 - Libby Schaaf

Council District 5 - Ignacio De La Fuente

Council District 6 - Desley Brooks

Council District 7 - Larry Reid (Council President)

Councilmember At Large - Rebecca Kaplan

The City Council will take its final vote on the revised budget and re-organization Tuesday night, January 31, at its Council meeting, which starts at 5:30 pm at City Hall.