Politics & Government

City Workers Fill Chambers As Budget Cuts Loom

Make very serious budget cuts now or pass the budget and address them later? That's the hard choice for the City Council.

The city hall chambers were packed with city workers Tuesday night hoping to attach human faces to their jobs before the Davis City Council considers serious budget cuts by the June 30 deadline.

While no action was taken Tuesday night, the choices facing the council emerged more clearly. With the possibility of future budget deficits, the immediate task at hand seems to have come down to two options:  

  • Simply balance things on paper so that city jobs aren’t lost, but future financial troubles are not addressed?
  • Make deeper cuts now in anticipation of even more difficult economic times, which could mean laying off employees and/or cutting salaries/benefits?

The council seemed prepared to take option two last week when they unanimously approved a motion for city staff to explore several , including direction to find $2.5 million in personnel savings. That’s why the chambers -- warmed by the 100 degree heat outside -- filled up with cops, firefighters and other city workers prepared to speak in defense of their jobs.

City councilmembers started by emphasizing the difficulty of the decision at hand.

“It’s fair to say that this is an era of shared sacrifice,” Councilman Dan Wolk said. “The reality of the situation is that the old way of doing this is not fiscally viable.”

And then the city workers lined up and said their piece.

“Any kinds of layoffs should be a last resort,” said Jeff York, a board member of the Davis Police Officers Association. “To say that we haven’t taken any reductions is ridiculous. You’re ruining people’s lives.”

Some compared the cuts to the union-busting effort in Wisconsin earlier this year.

“We’ve been watching the council,” said Bobby Weist, President of Davis Firefighters Local 3494. “Last week sounded like the governor from Wisconsin and what they’re trying to do to the employees up there. The approach that’s being taken is shameful.”

After many other workers shared their stories of personal financial hardship and past financial negotiations, the council began a long and complex discussion as to how the current budget should be balanced.

The city council did not reach a concrete conclusion. That will most likely happen at next week’s meeting.

The takeaway from Tuesday night’s meeting was an articulation of the council’s options, with Councilman Stephen Souza and Mayor Joe Krovoza representing opposite ends of the spectrum.

Souza said the only pressing task right now is to balance this budget, which can be done by making Tier 2 cuts (minus public safety cuts). Diving deeper, he says, is something that requires a conversation with the community to see what they want. That, he says, should be done immediately after the budget is passed.

“I believe that the conversation starts right after we pass the budget,” he said. “In fact, it starts tomorrow.”

Krovoza says it will become an even more tragic situation if the city put off hard choices.

“The longer we go, it digs the hole deeper,” he said. “We’re going through what communities have been going through for the past couple of years. We’ve been a little bit insulated here in Davis, but it’s here.”

Either way, next week’s council meeting is the last one before the deadline. Serious decisions still must be made, so bring a cup of coffee, because it could be a long one.


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