THE FIRST WAVE of budget cuts were announced Thursday at 5 p.m. by City Hall.

Managers proposed 5 percent cuts to every department and on the casualty list are the city's roving fire medic team which has improved emergency response times; the popular Downtown ArtWalks; the children's event "Cowboys, Heroes, and Outlaws"; sidewalk repairs; drainage repairs for the rest of the year and 33 full-time positions including an assistant police chief who will take early retirement. Reductions in services include preventative street maintenance, park maintenance, tree trimming, building inspections, code enforcement, weed clearing, and many other services.

Some of the positions eliminated were vacant posts that had been left open because of the hiring freeze. Eighteen were filled positions.

Setting an example, City Manager Rick Cole agreed to take a 10 percent pay cut and asked the entire staff to do the same. While some negotiations are still in progress, all management has agreed to the slashes in pay.

Our firefighters agreed to put off a planned pension increase for at least a year and the police association agreed to a reduction in leave-time accrual equal to a 5 percent pay cut. Over 80 hours of patrolling will be lost in addition to such areas as records keeping and evidence processing. Two of the vacant positions which were eliminated were patrol positions.

For a complete list of current reductions, go here.

The City Council will be asked to sign off on the proposed reductions with an eye toward the next round of much larger cuts which will be announced in March. The looming budget gap could be as high as $12 million.

Upcoming are "deep cuts in every department, total elimination of many popular services and facilities and significant erosion in the level of almost every other service to our community," Cole wrote in an administrative report. "This alternative also exacts a heavy toll on city staff and the long-term capacity of the organization to provide quality services since it would require significant lay-offs, pay cuts or both."

Needless to say, the mood at City Hall among staff is very somber these days.

ALSO UP FOR Council consideration at a special meeting called for Tuesday at 7 p.m. will be a 1/2-cent sales tax measure which would require just a majority passage. The cities of Oxnard and Port Hueneme recently approved such measures. Of 19 California cities who put such measures to the voters last fall, 15 were able to get them passed.

Current polling done by the City of Ventura indicates the majority of residents would likely support such a measure. Respondents were presented with arguments both for and against the measure as well as information about the 911 fee, which was recently rescinded.

"The vast majority of Ventura voters have a high opinion of the city's performance in providing municipal services," the research firm wrote in an accompanying report, "and they consider maintaining the quality of existing services to be among the most important issues facing the community -- substantially more important than avoiding
local tax increases."

What will complicate any sales tax increase proposal will be proposed plans by the state to do the same. The Assembly has scheduled a floor session for 5 p.m. Saturday to vote on the state budget.

DEEP CUTS TO CITY SERVICES are in our future, a somber Ventura City Manager Rick Cole told the City Council on Monday night. A worsening economy bringing with it a drop in city revenues will necessitate a restructuring of how the city is run.

"These will be the most difficult and painful choices that have been faced by at least six of the seven of you in your service on the City Council," Cole said. "The impact on services, the impact on individual employees will be significant, severe and controversial. ..."

"You will have to look the public in the eye and say 'I'm sorry, ma'am, we don't do that any more.' "

Cole estimated that 20-30 jobs would be gone from city government by next year. Some might be handled through retirements and resignations, he said, but it is not possible to make up all the difference through attrition alone.

Cole's words followed a presentation from Chief Financial Officer Jay Panzica which showed a $4 million revenue shortfall for the current 2008-09 fiscal year. The gap could grow to be as much as $8 million by next year. This comes on the back of a $4.3 million cut to this fiscal year's budget and a $3 million midyear cut a year ago.

Lower sales tax revenues coupled with an expected loss of vehicle license fee revenues from the state and other factors helped contribute to the misery. Other cities around the country are experiencing similar difficulties. The City of Los Angeles, for instance, is facing a deficit of $110 million.

City staff will recommend a restructuring plan which should come to the council in March. The plan will be part of a new multi-year budget system.

"We need to do fewer things and do them better," Panzica said.