Long Beach Budget Plan Averts Layoffs

Buoyed by a surge in sales tax revenue and other signs that Long Beach is in the midst of an economic recovery, City Manager James C. Hankla introduced a two-year stopgap budget plan Tuesday that would avoid threatened layoffs.

Hankla, while presenting a new city budget to the nine-member City Council, said Long Beach sales tax revenues increased 8.2% during the first quarter of 1996.

Hankla said Long Beach faces a $24-million deficit in the upcoming fiscal year, caused in large part by a long-term economic slump that has been plaguing the city. But by tapping into special accounts and using reserves, he said the city should be able to weather the deficit without drastic service reductions and layoffs.