Update: City Awaits Word on Service and Program Cuts

Hercules residents are waiting to hear final decisions by the city council on which city services and programs will be cut and how deep the cuts will be in the next fiscal year.

Pink slips went out to 25 full-time city employees Friday, resulting in a decrease in staff levels compared to the start of the 2010-2011 fiscal year. Information on which positions were eliminated has not been released.

The layoffs come weeks after Municipal Resources Group—the firm hired by the city to do an in-depth audit of Hercules’ financials—gave a public on its findings, which included a recommendation for Hercules to reduce general fund spending by one-third in order to maintain vital services and make debt payments.

City staff gave presentations on their department's current expenditures, revenues and core services at Tuesday's (see attached PDFs for full presentations), but they did not indicate how their departments would be affected by the reduced budget.

MRG’s full report and recommendations were scheduled to be released Friday along with more specifics on how city services will be affected by the pending cuts. The release of that information has been pushed back until next week, according to a put out by interim city manager Fred Deltorchio.