Facing huge debt, Atwater may cut firefighter jobs, freeze police
The cash-strapped city of Atwater is looking at cutting more than $1 million from its $42.4 million budget in a city that already mostly shuts down on Fridays and is considered to be understaffed.
With a deficit of about $2.5 million in the general fund, a debt of more than $2 million to its own sewer fund and unfunded liabilities of about $7.75 million to employee pensions, city leaders are facing down difficult decisions that could lead to cuts in several city services.
Councilman Paul Creighton said the council needs to be "brutally honest" with residents about the proposed cuts, which could include slashing positions in the fire department, freezing police positions and cutting parks and recreation, as well as privatizing other city services.
"Either we make tough decisions now or we fail to be a city," Creighton said on Friday.
Art De Werk, the interim city manager laid out the options for the City Council during a meeting on Wednesday in which he said city spending has to be slashed by more than $1 million, including potential cuts to fire battalion chiefs and freezing up to three positions for police officers.
Leaders also need to reduce spending to put at least $800,000 toward pensions and find a way to bring in at least $225,000 in new revenue. The potential changes are the second in a two-step plan to shore up the city for at least the next four years, de Werk has said.
City leaders have struggled to prove its solvency and have worried publicly that the state could take over control of the city of about 29,000 and turn it over to Merced County. The city came close to declaring bankruptcy in 2012.
The police department would not see any cuts, but would not fill open positions. Fire protection, which is provided by CalFire in Atwater, would see cuts from the command positions. City leaders noted that the fire marshal position, which is on the table to be cut, has been vacant for some time.
Councilman James Vineyard said he was skeptical of the plan at least until he could dig into the hard numbers, saying the city can't afford to brush off any ideas without study.
"We need to look at it really close. We don't need to panic," he said. "We need to look at everything and make good decisions."
He said the plan to charge businesses for fire marshal inspections, which has been provided for free, should help bring in new revenue.
The city manager who has been in the interim position since January narrowly gained the support of the council for the first step, which included elevating two longtime employees to deputy city manager positions. He argued that the move could add stability to a city that's seen six different top administrators in recent years.
Faced with the staggering numbers, the council is now considering finding new revenue by allowing cannabis dispensaries, which have been off the table until this week.
De Werk said he would try to use reserve officers in the police department, and admitted the plans to cut fire crews would lead to a "lopsided" relationship with surrounding cities. During mutual aid calls, Atwater wouldn't have the same kind of response that the county or the city of Merced can provide.
"We're just hoping that we can get our finances under control before Merced and the county lose patience," he said.
This story was originally published March 30, 2018 at 4:04 PM with the headline "Facing huge debt, Atwater may cut firefighter jobs, freeze police."