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Council Scheduled To Discuss Police, Fire & Health Dept. Budgets On Same Night (Aug. 12)...And Council Meeting Will Start An Hour Later Than Usual (6:00 p.m.)


(Aug. 10, 2014) -- Unless a City Council majority moves to adjust a current schedule, the City Council will discuss proposed budgets for LB's Police Department, Fire Department, and Health and Human Services on a single night -- Aug. 12 -- and the discussion will take place on a night that the Council meeting is scheduled to start an hour later than usual (6:00 p.m. instead of 5:00 p.m.)

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The Council's Aug. 12 late start results from scheduling a Council closed session at 5:00 p.m. (to discuss upcoming negotiations with three city employee unions) preceded by a 4:00 p.m. meeting of the Council's Budget Oversight Committee, chaired by Vice Mayor Suja Lowenthal (comprised of Lowenthal, Austin, Mungo), whose Aug. 12 agenda includes six items (plus minutes approval) for discussion (no voted action items) between 4:00-5:00 p.m.:

Recommendation to receive and file the review of Long Beach budgetary and financial policies.
Recommendation to receive and file an update on the Management Partners projects.
Recommendation to receive and file presentations on the City Manager's proposal for Fiscal Year 2015 Budget, Mayor Foster's and Mayor Garcia's recommendations.
Recommendation to receive and file an update on CalPERS rate increases and their impact on the City of Long Beach.
Recommendation to receive and file an update on Tidelands CIP list for Fiscal Year 2015.
Recommendation to receive and file an update on the proposed one-time Uplands Oil infrastructure projects.

On July 22, Vice Mayor Lowenthal, named to chair the Budget Oversight Committee by Mayor Garcia, issued a press release announcing that as incoming Committee chair, "I want to strongly endorse Mayor Garcia's budget recommendations."

Councilwoman Suzie Price, who chairs the Council's Public Safety Committee (Price, Austin, Mungo), has indicated she plans no meetings of her Committee until some time in September. On August 6, her office indicated to LBREPORT.com that she doesn't plan to hold meetings of her Committee to discuss the proposed FY15 budget regarding public safety. In an Aug. 7 email, she indicated that she has "always intended to have several agenda items for the September Public Safety committee meeting, which directly address programs and public safety funding issues for the FY15 budget." [We'll report those agenda items and the date for their Committee discussion as they become public.]

Council Committee voted actions are advisory to the full Council.

LBREPORT.com will carry the Aug. 12 Budget Oversight Committee meeting (4:00-5:00 p.m.) and the full Council meeting (starting at 6:00 p.m.) LIVE on our front page: www.LBREPORT.com.

After its August 12 meeting, the City Council has only one more regularly scheduled meeting on August 19 before its September 2 and 9 meetings at which it could take budget enactment votes. Five Councilmembers can always vote to hold additional meetings on any date to deal with budget issues. Under the LB City Charter, the Council must enact a budget by Sept. 15 or the city manager's proposed budget goes into effect.

City management/staff routinely hold community meetings in Council districts to explain what management proposes and to answer questions, but management and staff can't do much with public comments beyond pass them on to Councilmembers or their staffers (who may or may not be at the district presentations.) Councilmembers can only take voted actions at full Council meetings.

As proposed by city management and recommended by Mayors Foster and Garcia, the FY15 budget doesn't restore police or fire services Long Beach taxpayers had as recently as 2008-2009. Long Beach now has roughly 200 fewer citywide deployable police officers than five years ago, a level roughly equivalent per capita to cutting roughly 30% of LAPD's officers.) The proposed FY15 budget again proposes to eliminate both of LBPD former 22-member field anti-gang units, which Mayor Foster's recommended FY13 budget first proposed to eliminate, but which the Council halved (using "one time funds") for FY13, and LBPD management maintained in FY14 with a skeleton staff using patrol officers and backfilling their positions with overtime.

The proposed FY15 fire department budget would continue to leave three eastside fire stations without fire engines (8 in Belmont Shore, 17 in Los Altos and 18 in the Palo Verde/Wardlow area) and continue a trial paramedic system that costs less and provides paramedic responses that LBFD Chief DuRee says are faster on average and the LB Firefighters Ass'n says provide poorer care and coverage with unintended negative consequences.

LB's Dept. of Health and Human Services' public health programs are grant funded (no General Funds.)

The city management and Mayors' recommendations are not binding on the City Council. A Council majority can make changes in the proposed budget subject to a Mayoral line item veto that six Councilmembers can override.



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