The Rohnert Park City Council - already committed to seeking a half-cent sales tax hike in June - set the stage for deeper budget cuts Tuesday, saying it must achieve at least $2.5 million more in savings in its 2010-2011 budget.
"Two million is the basement," said Mayor Pam Stafford.
Many of those cuts will likely have to come through staff cuts or attrition, said Dan Schwarz, the interim city manager.
And of those cuts, he said, many may come from the city's already beleaguered public safety department, which provides police and fire protection services. The department has already slashed millions from its budget, part of $4.8 million in cuts the council made in July.
As the city's fiscal condition has worsened, though, prior savings have not been enough, and the council has been plowing again through the budget looking for more areas to cut.
"The council has revisited the budgets of most of the city operations," Schwarz said. "The most significant department not yet considered is the public safety department.
"The reality is I think we're going to come back to staffing levels," he said.
Reaction from the Rohnert Park Public Safety Officers Association was swift.
"I'll have to see what the chief comes back with, but it looks bad," Dale Utecht, the association's president, said outside the meeting.
The council last week, through a variety of cuts that included layoffs and frozen positions, saved about $400,000 from this year's budget, which has about four months to go.
Those cuts will translate into just over $1 million in cuts next year, said Sandy Lipitz, the city's finance director.
If the sales tax passes, it would bring in between $2.4 and $2.8 million in annual revenue. But the city faces a $6 million deficit and even with the new savings and the tax revenue, a $2.5 million hole remains, Lipitz said.
The slumping economy has slashed at the city's sales and property tax revenues; they are now about $2 million lower than at their peak, Lipitz said. The state has also taken back about $4 million in redevelopment funds from the city.
"I say when the budget is balanced, that's when you stop," Councilman Joe Callinan said during a discussion of what kind of cost-cutting goal the council should set.
"We have some very serious decisions we have to make and we've got to do it now," said Vice Mayor Gina Belforte, "rather than wait and drag out all these people and all their jobs ... and have them wonder every six months what are we going to be doing next."
The police department last year cut $3.5 million from its budget through buyouts and layoffs, and reducing spending on operations, training and overtime.
At $19.5 million, however, the department's budget still represents more than 70 percent of the city's $26.5 million budget.
UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy: