Driving the news: Long Beach City Manager Tom Modica unveiled a proposed $4 billion budget Thursday. It eliminates roughly 260 filled positions and another 200-plus vacancies. That is about 4% of the city's nearly 6,000 employees.
By the numbers: - $58M — the deficit the cuts must close - $27M — reserves already spent, leaving $33.6M on hand - $11M — outside funding the Health Department lost - 79 — Health Department positions eliminated - 17 — vacant patrol officer slots cut; 18 investigator jobs also gone
Zoom in: Fire Engine 14 gets shut down, saving $3.8M. Officials say 87% of its calls are medical, not fire. Sworn officers and firefighters who lose positions get reassigned. Libraries at five branches drop to five-day weeks. Teen programs, summer swim lessons and the after-school WRAP program disappear. Hourly parking rises from $2 to $3.
Between the lines: The city still funds a 12-officer High Crime Focus Team, expands its real-time crime center and buys a $6.5M police helicopter with forfeited assets and a grant. Mayor Rex Richardson wants to restore 70 positions using Measure ER revenue and port-agreement savings.
What's next: The City Council holds public hearings before a final vote expected in late September. A $27.3M deficit is already projected for the following year.
The bottom line: Long Beach is a case study in what happens when government payrolls and legal liabilities outpace revenue for years. Taxpayers now absorb the bill — in fewer cops, closed library hours and gutted youth programs. Structural surpluses don't arrive by 2028 on their own; they require discipline that Sacramento has rarely modeled.