Democracy In Albany

EL MONTE – The city council will consider Tuesday whether to initiate Chapter 9 bankruptcy proceedings for El Monte if council members cannot immediately find a way to completely fix the city's $12 million budget deficit.

"If I don't have a balanced budget by the end of the evening, we have to initiate chapter 9 bankruptcy proceedings," said City Manager Jim Mussenden.

In order to get that balanced budget, the city's four employee unions will have to agree to cuts to their benefits or face further layoffs, on top of the 100 employees that were already laid off earlier this month, Mussenden said.

In creating that budget, city staff determined city expenses were $12 million short of revenues. To cut $10 million in spending, Mussenden laid off 100 employees and recommended other cutbacks, including the closure of one of the city's four fire stations.

To cut the remaining $2 million, Mussenden is asking city employees to defer pay raises, pay $200 a month for medical benefits and, for some, pay 5 percent of their PARS retirement costs.

If the employee unions do not agreed to these concessions, Mussenden will propose further layoffs and service cuts, he said. And if the city council does not accept those, he will ask the city council to begin bankruptcy proceedings.