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Berkeley faces budget deficits that are expected to top $29 million in each of the next two years. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside\/CatchLight<\/p>\nBerkeley faces budget deficits that are expected to top $29 million in each of the next two years. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside\/CatchLight<\/p>\n
Berkeley could lay off city employees, slash a wide range of services and programs, and ask voters to raise sales taxes as it looks to close a nearly $30 million structural budget deficit.<\/p>\n
Without the half-percent sales tax increase, which would generate an estimated $9 million per year for the city\u2019s general fund if voters approve it this November, Berkeley could face deeper cuts \u2014 including shuttering a fire station, laying off police officers and reducing hours at city pools and recreation centers.<\/p>\n
Even if the tax increase passes, the city might still close a winter homeless shelter and shut down a \u201cMobile Crisis Team\u201d that sends mental health professionals to certain emergency calls, among other cuts.<\/p>\n
Those are just a few of the steps spelled out in a budget-balancing plan put forward Tuesday<\/a> by Berkeley\u2019s city manager, which aims to bridge deficits that are forecast to top $29 million in each of the next two years. <\/p>\n The City Council has for years patched together balanced budgets without widespread service cuts or layoffs<\/a> using steps that finance staff warned were one-time measures<\/a>. Officials now say they are looking to set Berkeley on a more sustainable fiscal path<\/a> with the two-year budget that must be adopted by the end of June.<\/p>\n \u201cThese cuts are painful, and the goal of the proposed plan is to guide the City towards a sound, smart, and stable path,\u201d City Manager Paul Buddenhagen wrote in a statement<\/a> accompanying the plan Tuesday. \u201cRegularly using one-time fixes destabilizes the organization and erodes the city\u2019s ability to better adapt to the needs of our community.\u201d<\/p>\n The City Council\u2019s Budget and Finance Committee<\/a> will hold the first of two meetings to discuss the plan at 10 a.m. Thursday. The mayor and council typically make changes to proposals from the city manager during the budget process. The full council is scheduled to discuss the budget at two meetings in May, before taking a final vote on June 23.<\/p>\n City eyes sales tax measure on November ballot<\/p>\n The council directed staff at a meeting last month<\/a> to develop language for a ballot measure seeking voter approval to increase Berkeley\u2019s sales tax by 0.5%, bringing it to 10.75%. The tax would need support from a simple majority to pass, and a city-funded poll conducted ahead of the meeting<\/a> found 60% of Berkeley voters were supportive of the idea. If the tax is approved, Buddenhagen\u2019s proposal calls for using one-time measures, including pulling $4.2 million from the city\u2019s reserve fund, to balance the budget until revenue from the new levy comes in.<\/p>\n Officials in Oakland similarly won voter approval<\/a> for a half-percent sales tax increase last year to help balance the city\u2019s budget, and are asking voters to approve a parcel tax hike<\/a> to fund services in this year\u2019s June primary.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Berkeley City Council has until August to vote on whether to add the tax to the November ballot.<\/p>\n The plan Buddenhagen put forward Tuesday would lay off the equivalent of 20 full-time city employees if voters approve the sales tax (the cuts would include both full- and part-time workers). Another 130 positions that are currently vacant would also be eliminated; 45 of those jobs have been unfilled since the city instituted a hiring freeze<\/a> to address a shortfall in last year\u2019s budget. Berkeley\u2019s city workforce has the equivalent of just over 1,600 total positions.<\/p>\n The city would have to lay off another 18 workers, including nine police officers, and cut 15 more vacant positions if the sales tax increase doesn\u2019t come to fruition, according to Buddenhagen\u2019s plan.\u00a0<\/p>\n Fire Station 4, the Marin Avenue facility that serves North Berkeley, would be closed under that scenario and nine Berkeley Fire Department positions would be eliminated. Layoffs in the Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Department would lead the city to cut enrollment in popular summer and after-school programs for children, reduce hours at community centers and consider closing the city\u2019s public pools on weekends.<\/p>\n Calls to \u2018find another path forward\u2019 in face of potential cuts<\/p>\n That proposal was unacceptable to Amory Langmo, the president of the union that represents Berkeley firefighters. Langmo told the City Council during comments at a meeting Tuesday night that the move to close a fire station would mean calls that facility handles will instead be \u201cpushed onto companies that are already maxed out,\u201d worsening response times during critical emergencies.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is an incredibly dangerous position for the city to take,\u201d Langmo said, calling on the council to reject the proposed cuts and \u201cfind another path forward.\u201d<\/p>\n Regardless of whether the sales tax passes, Berkeley faces the prospect of deep cuts to city services. The budget reductions in Buddenhagen\u2019s plan include:\u00a0<\/p>\n Shutting down Berkeley\u2019s 25-bed winter homeless shelter<\/a>. Budget Manager Maricar Dupaya wrote in a memo released Tuesday that the seasonal shelter serves \u201chighly vulnerable unsheltered individuals, often seniors.\u201d<\/p>\n Eliminating the city\u2019s Mobile Crisis Team<\/a>, a program under the Department of Health, Housing and Community Services. Without the program, Dupaya wrote, \u201cResponsibility for wellness checks and psychiatric emergencies will shift solely to the Berkeley Police Department.\u201d<\/p>\n Laying off five part-time Fire Department employees who provide community emergency response trainings to the public, which would likely mean the end of those programs. A fire marshal position would also be among several vacant roles that would be eliminated, which officials warned could hamper the implementation of Berkeley\u2019s ordinance banning vegetation<\/a> and other flammable material within 5 feet of many homes in the hills.<\/p>\n Ending a partnership between the city and LifeLong Medical Care to connect South Berkeley residents<\/a> with resources and services in an effort to eliminate disparities in treatment for hypertension and heart disease.<\/p>\n Laying off a staff member in the city manager\u2019s office who provides assistance to small businesses and works with local business districts.<\/p>\n “*” indicates required fields<\/p>\n \t