LONG BEACH - In a surprisingly quick and efficient budget hearing Tuesday afternoon, the Long Beach City Council approved the 2010 fiscal year budget, cutting $20.3 million from the general fund but restoring some proposed reductions in police, fire, youth and arts programs.

After last week's lengthy budget negotiations, during which council members reached consensus on restoring programs, the council neither debated nor did much grandstanding Tuesday. Council members unanimously approved the remaining measures to enact on Oct. 1 a $2.5 billion budget with a $380 million general fund for core services.

Long Beach's budget has been hammered by declining property tax, sales tax and oil revenues, leading to a $38.3 million general fund deficit.

Citywide, 297 positions will be eliminated and up to 150 workers laid off under the new budget plan, which is a decrease from the original budget proposal that would have eliminated 312 positions and laid off 161.

About 30 police officers may still get laid off, but the number of firefighters on duty at any given time will now drop from 137 to 133, instead of to 130.

Contract spats

However, while the council approved the budget by Tuesday's deadline, Long Beach hasn't resolved its financial troubles yet.

In addition to $20.3 million in budget

cuts, city officials have been negotiating pay raise concessions with five employee associations to eliminate the remaining $18 million of the deficit. Four other unions are or soon will be without contracts and must agree to pay freezes for Long Beach to stay in the black.

If the city can't reach a deal with its unions, that may mean further layoffs or furloughs.

Some contract talks haven't been going smoothly.

More than 100 members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, which represents 3,800 city of Long Beach employees, filled the Council Chambers at City Hall on Tuesday to pressure council members to renegotiate a fair contract with the union.

Union officials say they have offered city management a deal that would save Long Beach $8.5 million, but that city officials say it isn't enough.

IAM members said they aren't any less important than police and firefighters.

"The IAM represents the folks that catch the potholes out there, that cross your kids going to school, that immunize your children for the school programs," said IAM representative Janet Schabow. "We want fairness for our city employees."

Only the Long Beach Police Officers Association has agreed to a new, cash-saving contract, which the council approved Tuesday.

However, even that vote led to some surprising conflict, when 3rd District Councilman Gary DeLong announced he was voting against it. He said that although the POA met the city "more than halfway," the contract should include reforms of Long Beach's costly pension system.

Other council members praised police officers for reopening their contract and delaying their raises when they didn't have to.

The contract will give officers an 11 percent raise spread out over five years instead of the nearly 9.3 percent raise they were due Sept. 30. The deal, which was overwhelmingly approved by the POA, will save the city $7.6 million this year and $15 million over the next five years.

"Your comments are the epitome of the dysfunction we've dealt with," POA President Steve James told DeLong. "Don't slap these people (police officers) in the face. This needs to pass with a 9-0 vote. They deserve it."

DeLong responded that he had tried to reach James on Monday to inform him of his decision and that he doesn't like to "blindside" people, but a visibly angry Councilman Patrick O'Donnell interrupted DeLong.

"Why didn't you tell us?" O'Donnell said. "This is grandstanding."

The council approved the POA contract 8-1, with DeLong dissenting.

Programs cut, saved

Although the fate of the other contract negotiations is unclear, most city worker associations will be affected in some way by the budget restorations and cuts that the council approved Tuesday.

The council restored to full strength Fire Station 1 downtown and Fire Station 18 in East Long Beach, as well as added a sixth firefighter to Station 14's new reduced "light force" crew. Under the budget proposed by City Manager Pat West and supported by Mayor Bob Foster, stations 1 and 18 would have shared a fire engine, which would leave the downtown station understaffed at night and the Eastside station closed during the day.

To help pay for the restorations, Fire Station 19 east of Long Beach Airport will cut personnel, creating another six-person "light-force" unit operating an engine and a ladder truck.

A Marine Rescue boat that had been slated to be cut also will be fully restored, and some funding for marine police patrols will be restored as well under the council plan.

The Police Department also saw some funding restored for the J-Car juvenile truancy patrols, the Youth Services Division, night auto theft detectives, the nighttime vice team and Civic Center security.

Other changes made by the council include cutting the Department of Parks, Recreation and Marine by 6 percent rather than 8 percent; restoring some funding for Rancho Los Alamitos and Rancho Los Cerritos; increasing sidewalk and infrastructure funding; restoring hours for the library's Homework Helpers program; restoring part of the funding for the Arts Council of Long Beach; keeping the Spanish language simulcast interpreters for council meeting broadcasts; and leaving $169,000 for operations at the Long Beach Museum of Art, rather than eliminating the entire $569,000 budget as proposed by Foster.

To balance the budget restorations, the council came up with new revenue sources such as contracting in fire dispatch services for the cities of Compton, Downey and Santa Fe Springs; initiating an accident debris program to collect the costs of cleaning up after vehicle accidents; collecting more towing fees; charging a fee for private haulers; eliminating vacant positions in several departments; reorganizing and relocating the office of the Citizen Police Complaint Commission; and transferring water quality testing costs from the Tidelands Fund to Public Works.

Still, every department citywide is being affected by the cuts, which is expected to reduce services to the public.

paul.eakins@presstelegram.com, 562-499-1278