Oakland mayor’s two-year budget calls for layoffs but spares police officer cuts

OAKLAND Faced with a crushing financial deficit totaling million over the next two years Oakland s interim mayor proposed a budget Monday that includes dozens of layoffs and the freezing of hundreds of other positions But the two-year budget spares the city s police and fire departments from further staffing cuts Councilmember Kevin Jenkins serving as the city s acting leader before Mayor-elect Barbara Lee is sworn in later this month laid out what he called a pathway to financial stability aimed at beginning the long arduous process of reshaping the city s checkbook from its usual pattern of stinging annual deficits He did so in a seven-page budget summary ahead of the full budget s formal release which was expected at a yet-to-be-announced hour Monday evening Jenkins proposal includes cutting jobs that are at present staffed though city authorities on Monday expressed optimism they could shuffle all but less than a dozen of those people to similar now-vacant positions with the city In addition more than vacancies will remain unfilled City personnel on Monday did not describe which departments would be impacted by the job cuts Calling residents safety the city s top responsibility Jenkins proposed funding sworn police officers for both upcoming fiscal years He also proposed funding six police academies over the next two years along with two firefighter academies Jenkins also wants to drop the number of fire station closures from three to two and have those two closures rotate throughout the city For example the two fire stations in the Oakland hills that were in recent weeks closed for budgetary reasons will likely reopen over the summer fire season while others facing lower call volumes will temporarily shut down city bureaucrats reported Jenkins stressed that four more fire stations would have closed had voters not in the last few days approved Measure A a sales tax increase which is expected to add million to the city s budget next year and million the following year We are working very diligently to restore inhabitants safety in the city Jenkins declared at a press conference Monday afternoon You see from the referendum that in recent days happened that residents are demanding that they want to feel safe in the city that they love The budget proposal now heads to the City Council which is expected to haggle over amendments and changes ahead of a June deadline for passage City staff also must hold society budget meetings in each council district for residents to offer their input The budget which calls for billion in spending from July through June and another billion the following fiscal year is largely contingent on federal funding remaining steady even as President Donald Trump vows to gut federal spending in the coming years It also assumes the passage of a yet-to-be-drafted ballot measure in June which could bring in another million in tax revenue for ongoing population safety materials according to the budget overview circulated Monday That tax revenue if put on the ballot and passed would pay for services and staff as of now on the city s payroll city leaders announced Oakland Mayoral candidate Barbara Lee right greets supporters after her speech during a special Balloting Day watch party in Oakland Calif on Tuesday April The following Oakland mayor will replace former mayor Sheng Thao who was recalled last Nov Ray Chavez Bay Area News Group The proposal comes at a turbulent time for Oakland as the city grapples with a perilous budget situation and an ongoing leadership void Oakland leaders have warned the city faces a million budget shortfall over the next two fiscal years amid lagging revenues from taxes on real-estate transfers and business licenses along with rising overtime costs for the city s police and fire departments That deficit includes a million shortfall during the next fiscal year which runs from July through June and a million shortfall the following fiscal year Already this year the city has laid off employees and demoted others to rectify a deep budget shortfall in its current fiscal year Other procedures to balance the current fiscal year budget have included temporarily closing two fire stations cancelling all police-training academies and slashing million in funding for outside nonprofits and a host of other grants and citywide programs In the process several agencies among them Moody s Fitch and S P have lowered Oakland s bond rating making it more expensive for the city to borrow money for infrastructure projects That could complicate plans outlined Monday by Jenkins to buy million in bonds for affordable housing projects over the next two years along with million in bonds for street paving projects Oakland isn t the only municipality in the Bay Area to struggle financially San Francisco faces a million shortfall over that same two-year time period while the city of San Jose is grappling with a million shortfall in the coming fiscal year Unique to Oakland however is a run of deep political upheaval within the mayor s office In November voters recalled the city s former mayor Sheng Thao barely two years into her first term About two months later a federal grand jury indicted Thao along with her romantic partner and the father-and-son duo running the city s recycling contractor on federal bribery charges tied to an alleged pay-to-pay bribery scheme Since the recall electoral process two councilmembers have served as interim mayors including Jenkins who authored the budget circulated Monday The city s fourth mayor in seven months Lee is expected to be sworn into office later this month with the goal of serving out the remainder of Thao s original four-year term The budget s rollout was itself a rocky process Jenkins last week delayed its release by four days citing a period of transition following the newest voting The announcement came two weeks after Finance Director Erin Roseman submitted her letter of resignation amid growing scrutiny over her handling of the city s coffers Also missing in the past few days has been any hint of the city s latest five-year financial forecast which is typically distributed in the weeks ahead of the mayor s two-year budget proposal City bureaucrats expect that document to be distributed by the end of the month