The city of Erie is facing a budget shortfall that officials said could continue in the years ahead.

A new financial review by Public Financial Management found the city has been relying on non-recurring funding while spending and debt costs continue to rise.

“So just like if I sell my car to pay for my groceries, eventually I get hungry and I don’t have a car. The city is in a place where some of those one-time revenues are going away,” said Gordon Mann, the managing director of Public Financial Management.

City council heard those findings Thursday, and members began to discuss the city’s financial outlook.

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Council members said the focus now turns to what steps can be taken to help reduce the city’s budget deficit moving forward.

“There’s a lot that needs to change, right? We need to revisit some of these positions that are being funded through the ARPA money that came through, some of those grant things that are one time that are no longer here,” said Tyler Titus, president of Erie City Council.

“We also need to look at and make sure that people who are using the services that the city is mandated to provide are also giving and contributing back in even if they are tax exempt,” Titus added.

In terms of cost saving, city council said they need to evaluate what services are essential to the city and what expenses they can cut.

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“What we have to look at though is how many people are providing some of these services and what can we do without. We need to protect our union jobs,” said Titus.

“We need to make sure that when we are taking away, it’s those positions that maybe got added on, that were again, were funded, that money is gone, we don’t have the money in our budget to be funding those things anymore,” Titus explained.

City council said the job of increasing revenue will include bringing in more businesses and increasing the population.

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