Berkeley will close most of its $30 million deficit by cutting services and laying off staff under a budget approved by the City Council Tuesday night, though officials preserved funding for nine positions in the fire department that had been on the chopping block.
Now it will be up to voters to decide whether the city must cut deeper. The two-year budget plan banks on Berkeley residents approving a measure on the ballot this November that would raise sales taxes by 0.5%, generating $9 million per year in new funding. Without that money, city leaders have said they could close Fire Station 4 on Marin Avenue, cut jobs in the police and fire departments and slash popular summer and after-school programs.
The council also narrowly voted Tuesday night to direct $1.3 million from a separate pool of affordable housing funding to a program that helps local land trusts buy apartment buildings and convert them into dedicated below-market-rate homes…