Budget cuts in Phoenix could be huge

PHOENIX - Phoenix's budget deficit is at least $200 million and will require big cuts to every department, according to city officials.

Budget figures released Tuesday show that the deficit ranges from between $200 million to $250 million, depending on how badly tax collections decline from now to June 30, 2009, when the fiscal year ends.

The figure represents up to 22 percent of the city's $1.2 billion general fund, which pays for most city services.

To balance its budget as required by law, Phoenix will likely reduce hours at libraries, community centers and public pools, among dozens of other reductions.

Bus routes are likely to be threatened, and the deficit could kill a proposal to extend light-rail service on Friday and Saturday nights.

Hundreds of city employees could lose their jobs, and the city might not fill some vacancies in the police department.

"The services that are left are critical services," City Manager Frank Fairbanks said. "They are senior programs. They are graffiti programs. They are after-school programs. They are programs to keep the neighborhoods from declining."

Sixty-eight percent of the budget is devoted to public safety departments: police, fire and courts.

The City Council now must decide how much it can trim from those departments without significantly diminishing crime-fighting efforts.

If it chooses not to cut the public-safety budget at all, the council would have to reduce support for libraries, transit and all other programs by 60 percent.

Despite its budget woes, Phoenix will continue to hire new police and fire personnel under a sales-tax increase approved by voters last year.

In a meeting Tuesday, a majority of the City Council expressed support for increasing the public-safety budget by $10 million, or about 1.3 percent, while cutting the other departments by 25 percent to 45 percent.

Over the past six years, Phoenix already cut $125 million from its general fund. Earlier this year the city slashed $90 million from its budget, a record at the time.

City staffers will now work on a budget proposal, using suggested cuts from department heads and from the city council.

The proposed budget will be released Jan. 6, followed by two weeks of community hearings. The cuts would go into effect March 2.