Council adopts budget of $3B

Federal and state funds help city avoid deficit for fiscal 2022, but shortfalls projected in later years

Long Beach’s budget for the next fiscal year has been decided.

The City Council voted Tuesday to adopt a $3 billion budget for the 2022 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.

The document looks similar to the budget for fiscal year 2021, largely thanks to state and federal funds that helped the city replenish its reserves and avoid a deficit, but projected shortfalls remain in the years ahead.

The budget would have faced a $30 million deficit without the help of those one-time federal and state funds. Officials are projecting a $36 million shortfall in fiscal year 2023.

But as far as fiscal year 2022 is concerned, every department will see increases in their budgets. The Police Department, for example, will receive $262 million from the general fund, up from the $247 million that was adopted last year. The Fire Department, meanwhile, will get $117 million, $10 million more than the fiscal year 2021 adopted budget allocation. The Department of

Health and Human Services’ proposed budget out of the general fund is $5.8 million, compared with last year’s $4.9 million, and the Department of Public Works would receive $47 million, compared with last year’s $41 million.

But not everyone in Long Beach is pleased with what the City Council adopted. Dozens of people spoke

during the public comment portion of Tuesday’s meeting, most of them calling on the panel to approve the People’s Budget, a document compiled by community organizations that demands Long Beach invest less in police and more in such resources as housing, health care and youth programs.

“Rather than focusing on the root causes of the issues, we’re thinking about giving more money to policing,” said Gaby Hernandez, executive director

of the Long Beach Immigrant Rights Coalition. “You know what the community needs? You heard it here: Resources, access to housing, access to health care that we’re not getting.

“We need to defund the police now,” she added, “and we need to adopt the People’s Budget.”

This year’s version of the People’s Budget specifically called on the city to cut Police Department funding by 25%, but that didn’t happen. Instead, the City Council voted to stick with its original proposed budget and add $100,000 more to convert two civilian positions in the Police Department’s air support unit into sworn officer positions.

The community groups behind the People’s Budget did, however, see some of their priorities reflected elsewhere in the final budget. The document, for example, includes more than $1 million toward a youth fund, as well as $1 million for housing navigation, $1 million for a community

land trust and $3 million for down payment assistance.

Other adjustments from the proposed budget the city revealed earlier this year include $165,000 to create an ethics officer position to support the newly created Ethics Commission, $100,000 to support the fireworks enforcement team and $100,000 for speed mitigation efforts on residential streets.

Councilman Al Austin, who serves as chair of the City Council’s Budget Oversight

Committee, said he was proud of the budget the panel ultimately approved.

The “budget will promote ethics, equity and will establish a youth fund,” he said, “and it will largely reflect the values of most residents in Long Beach.”

“Balancing our budget is not just a financial goal, but this council also has a responsibility to balance ideas and the needs of our vastly diverse city,” Austin added. “The budget in front of us today accomplishes that.”