Oakland council OKs police, fire, cultural arts cuts to balance budget

OAKLAND, Calif. - Police , fire services and cultural arts programs are among the services to see budget cuts in Oakland after the city council on Tuesday accepted a plan to balance its budget while facing a nearly $130 million deficit. 

The cuts will come in two phases: A short-term plan, where changes will take effect immediately, and another round of changes after the new year. 

Oakland's city council voted to make cuts to police overtime spending, browning out two fire stations, and cutting some city staff.

All that is supposed to save about $100 million.

Firefighters say the cuts could be life-threatening and people calling for help could end up waiting a long time.

"I don't understand the fiscal decision to close a third of the fire department and the idea that that will be a sustainable city," Fire Capt. Seth Olyer, IAFF Local vice president, told the council. "We're talking about people's lives. We're talking about members' lives. We're talking about everyone out here's who's talked about how important services are to them."

Other union members and residents spoke against the cuts at the council meeting. 

"Public works, and even libraries are directly involved in public safety," said Oakland employee Olivia Kane. "And we're engaged in this work with a  lot less compensation and a lot less funding. I recognize the difficulty of balancing the budget, and I appreciate the work of the council, but if we can balance the budget without layoffs, and we can….we must." 

Oakland police also responded to the cuts, saying slashing overtime could delay criminal investigations. Union members also said that cuts will affect officers working on active crime scenes, and potentially lead to an increase in criminal activity. 

There were also a number of people involved in cultural affairs and arts who tried pleading with the council to keep their funding. 

"If you defund cultural affairs, it will have a ripple effect through the new few generations," a resident said. "You're not just taking away funding, you're defunding social cohesion, violence prevention, community safety, youth development."

Another young woman added that the arts are especially important to give at-risk communities something fun to do. 

"Y'all need to let this art comunnity thrive," she said. 

The second phase of budget cuts could come at the end of January. 

That's when up to 91 jobs will be cut, as well as more fire stations will be out of service.

Council members did say if Oakland does get the money from the sale of the Oakland Coliseum, $7 million will go toward restoring those fire stations.