As Long Beach leaders consider millions of dollars in cuts to city services to balance next year’s budget, the debate is putting renewed attention on how the city has managed some of its largest projects in recent years.
The city is confronting a $58.2 million structural deficit in its General Fund for fiscal year 2027 — the portion of the budget that pays for many of the city’s basic services, including police and fire.
While Long Beach’s total proposed budget is roughly $4 billion, much of that money sits in separate funds dedicated to specific purposes and cannot simply be used to cover the General Fund shortfall. To balance the General Fund, the city manager has proposed a combination of departmental reductions, funding shifts, new revenue and other cost-saving measures…