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Mayor—s office cites hundreds of millions in shortfall as unions and advocates urge revenue options
Summary
The mayor—s budget office told the Budget & Finance Committee the city faces a multi-hundred-million-dollar general-fund deficit and has asked departments to identify steep reductions; union and community speakers urged the board to pursue new revenue as program cuts threaten public health and housing services.
Greg Wagner, deputy director of the Mayor—s Budget Office, told the Budget & Finance Committee on Feb. 4 that the city faces a deep current-year shortfall and that departments were asked to identify budget reductions and revenue options to help close the gap.
Wagner said the city—s preliminary base budget picture showed an estimated deficit of about $575,600,000 before midyear reductions. He said midyear cuts taken earlier this year reduced costs by roughly $115,000,000 but left a substantial remaining gap. Departments were issued guidance to identify a 12.5% reduction target and an additional 12.5% contingency; Wagner described the period now as an "idea generation" phase in which departments and their commissions should propose savings and revenue measures for mayoral review.
The mayor—s office…
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