Editor’s Note: The original headline of this article read that the City presented a budget with a $38 million deficit, which is not accurate. The budget is balanced and the author intended to say that a $38 million deficit gap had been filled. Thank you.

City Manager Pat West presented his proposal for the 2010 Fiscal Year budget this afternoon – with recommendations from Mayor Bob Foster – and outlined his strategy for balancing a $38 million deficit.  The budget will now go to the City Council for approval, which must occur by September 15 according to the City Charter. The Long Beach fiscal year begins October 1, approximately three months after most cities’ fiscal years begin – a strategy enacted in order to deal with budget cuts that may be handed down by the state.

“We’re in a better situation than most cities, but not as much as we’d hoped,” West said.

The budget presents strategies to account for a $38 million deficit, which is approximately $5 million better than had been originally expected, because the median amount of employee salaries that the City expected to pay fell.

Those strategies include $18 million in an employee salary freeze, and a $20.3 million reduction to the budgets of City departments, which could potentially result in the loss of 38 police officer positions and 23 fire positions – although West says that they will first attempt to eliminate empty positions and fill others with civilians. Under the umbrella of the department reductions, West also outlined cuts that may include reduced homework assistance at public libraries (although hours will remain intact), reduced services to children and pregnant women, longer lines to pay parking citations, fewer Municipal Band concerts and Nature Center programs, fewer grants to non-profits and arts organizations, and new fees for recreational programs. Mayor Foster also proposed eliminating funding for the Long Beach Museum of Art.

Mayor Foster reported that the city will be able to keep revenues from its Gas Tax, which the State of California attempted to raid to balance its own budget.  That action saved the 2010 budget from about a $8 million hit.  In addition, Long Beach will be able to borrow from a Subsidence Fund to cover $10 million from Prop 1A funds seized by the state (although Long Beach will have to repay the fund with interest once the state repays the city). Long Beach also negotiated an exemption from State plans to tax 10% on oil barrel revenue – saving between $2-3 million – and pointed to potential revenue streams that may be generated by the continued Boeing C-17 program and expansions to the Long Beach Airport (though amounts are unknown and purely theoretical at this point).

“We’ve not been sitting on our hands when it comes to new revenue,” West said.

Still, several funds are facing deficits according to the budget report, which are listed below:

• General Fund
• Tidelands
• Towing
• Health
• Fleet
• Prop H
• Development Services

“This is not going to normalize anytime soon. At least for the foreseeable future we’re going to be dealing with difficult fiscal problems,” said Mayor Foster. “If we manage well and face reality squarely, we will prosper.”

More coming tomorrow…