Sidewalk repair, a trash barge and more parking tickets: An overview of Long Beach’s proposed 2025 budget
The city is facing a potential deficit of up to $61.5 million over the next five years.
Long Beach’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2025 is relatively status quo, with no major reductions or new programs, but it includes a few new items in the total $3.6 billion package.
For city leaders, not making cuts is good news, since they’re facing a potential deficit of up to $61.5 million over the next five years as they deal with the end of federal pandemic aid money and diminishing oil revenue.
Officials said Thursday they’ve reduced the current budget gap to about $20.3 million and hope to shrink it further by 2026. They’re looking at a variety of ways to increase revenue, including selling ads on city vehicles, a planned new concert venue on the city’s waterfront, and a possible tax measure on the November ballot (which would not directly affect Long Beach residents).
Mayor Rex Richardson, City Manager Tom Modica, Public Works Director Eric Lopez and other city officials presented their budget proposal Thursday near the construction site of a new police training academy, which they highlighted as part of the solution to significant understaffing in the police department.
Here are some highlights of the 2025 budget and Richardson’s additional requests, which now head to a series of public hearings and community meetings before the City Council votes on it Sept. 10.
Crime and safety
- A special law enforcement task force would proactively address violent crime.
- An infusion of $550,000 would pay for improved neighborhood lighting, gun violence prevention efforts and other safety initiatives.
- The new police training facility would allow for larger academy classes to help staff up the department.
Cleaner city
- The city would purchase and deploy a trash collection barge to capture refuse coming down the Los Angeles and San Gabriel rivers to keep it out of the ocean.
- Two new positions and a new truck would help increase removal of trash from homeless encampments.
- Beach cleanups could be increased with spending for new sand-sifting “surf rake” and an added staffer to operate it.
Other proposals
- Mayor Richardson wants to see 2,000 more trees planted around the city to get Long Beach’s tree canopy to the 10,000 mark.
- The city could add four new positions to step up parking enforcement around the city.
- A “concrete team,” similar to the slurry seal street repair team, could focus on fixing curbs and sidewalks.
- The city would buy special containers for organic waste and begin working to educate residents and businesses about how to use them.
- More than $1 million, most of it carried over from fiscal 2024, would help provide legal aid to tenants facing eviction.
What’s next
- The City Council will hold the first hearing on the proposed 2025 budget at 3 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 6, in the civic chambers at City Hall, 411 W. Ocean Blvd.
- The first of five community meetings is set for 6 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 7, at the Recreation Park community center, 4900 E. 7th St.
- Read the full budget or explore any section of it at this link. Find the full schedule of public hearings and community meetings here.
We need your support.
Subcribe to the Watchdog today.
The Long Beach Watchdog is owned by journalists, and paid for by readers like you. If independent, local reporting like the story you just read is important to you, support our work by becoming a subscriber.
