Irvine City Council members are wrestling with a projected budget shortfall of $6 million by the end of this fiscal year – a deficit that could balloon to $47 million by the end of the decade.
Yet half of the city council largely brushed off concerns and voted against immediately cutting Irvine’s spending through measures like hiring freezes, saying they’d like to get more information on the matter at next month’s meeting.
Officials in nearby Santa Ana are gearing up for a series of spending cuts and potential new fees as they try to tame a projected $19 million budget deficit – a massive shortfall that could hit city coffers before the sales tax increase begins to sunset…