San Jose City Council Approves Budget, Cuts 500 Jobs

Update 7:15 p.m. The San Jose City Council has adopted a budget that closes a projected $115 million deficit. But as KQED’s Rachel Dornhelm reports, the pain in the spending plan involves cutting 500 positions. Listen here:

Earlier post:
San Jose’s City Council is reconvening at 1:30 p.m. to discuss and vote on the city budget. Agenda here.

Former Merc editor Janice Rombeck, who now runs the site NeighborWebSJ, told us that councilmembers are mostly on board with the mayor’s budget, which would cut 122 police officers, among other things. And that’s with police agreeing to a 10 percent pay cut. Four city worker unions have had a 10 percent cut imposed, Rombeck says. The MEF (Municipal Employees Federation), which represents several thousand workers, has been the most vocal in criticizing the cuts.

As contentious as the budget is, an even bigger brouhaha is brewing over Chuck Reed’s Fiscal State of Emergency Plan, which calls for a ballot measure to enact pension reform that some are already tarring with the W-word. (Update 3:30 p.m. This just in, literally: Wisconsin Supreme Court rules the law can go into effect.)The next vote by the council in that process occurs a week from today.