News
Public health, safety among proposed cuts
Posted: Oct 11, 2012 5:58 PM by David Ortiviz
Updated: Oct 11, 2012 6:29 PM
In Pueblo, public health and safety may take cuts to make up for a $7 million budget shortfall. We're following up this story from Tuesday night, when city council got its first look at the proposed 2013 budget.
We've learned of the 41 vacant positions that may not be filled next year, 21 of those are police officers and dispatcher jobs; another recommendation is to cut funding for the Pueblo Health Department by 10%; plus use $1.5 million in reserves which is controlled by council.
"There's a lot of areas in here where I think I want to make sure before we go to the reserves for this 1.5 million that we've cut every little area that we have within district," said Councilman Leroy Garcia. "And that's why we have the mark up session to do that," said Sam Azad, City Finance Director.
Using reserves doesn't solve the city's long-term issues. Azad warns city expenses are escalating much faster than revenues. A public hearing on the budget will be held on October 22.
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