Overview
- City Manager T. C. Broadnax’s revised plan proposes nearly $55 million in net cuts, cancels a $40.5 million transfer to reserves, and taps $14.1 million from savings, with staff projecting a potential $37.4 million deficit by 2029 without further changes.
- Four council members have outlined a roughly $4.4 million EMS restoration by drawing $1.8 million from reserves and trimming nine departments, citing strained staffing and overtime pressures reported by the EMS union.
- Under the revised proposal, previously planned Prop Q additions for EMS and Fire are removed, though EMS funding would still rise year over year to about $148.2 million compared with $143 million last fiscal year.
- City officials say police salaries cannot be reduced this cycle under state law and the APD budget cannot drop below last year’s level; a CFO memo indicates the city will not invoke a contract clause to trim scheduled raises worth about $11.7 million next year.
- Following a public notice complaint by attorneys Bill Aleshire and Rick Fine, the city postponed last week’s meeting, added attachments and a taxpayer impact statement online, held a public Q&A session, and set work sessions this week with a vote possible as early as Thursday.