Tomorrow, the Long Beach City Council will have their final deliberations before approving the fiscal year 2021 budget.
This time, the People’s Budget Coalition will have a seat at the table.
The coalition is made up of several Long Beach advocacy groups, including Black Lives Matter, Long Beach Forward, the Grey Panthers and many others.
The group released the Long Beach People’s Budget in June. Since then, demonstrations, marches and protests have taken place in support of their budget.
The demonstrations are often focused on divestment from the police, but the budget also advocates for affordable housing, job training, universal legal representation for immigrants and language access.
The City is facing a substantial budget deficit due to a combination of pandemic-related costs and pandemic-related revenue losses.
With a $30 million deficit, councilmembers have less flexibility when it comes to rearranging money in the city’s coffers.
The council’s Tuesday, Sept. 8 meeting will be the first time this year that the coalition has been invited to the teleconferenced council chambers.
Their voices have been “agendized” by Councilmembers Jeannine Pearce and Mary Zendjeas, meaning they’ll be able to conduct a full presentation on the People’s Budget.
“It is important that the Council has a moment to review and comment on what ‘the people’ need on this year’s budget,” the memo from Pearce and Zendejas states. “It reflects the historic movement we have seen this year with thousands of people marching in support of defunding police, reallocating of funds, and reimagining public safety.”
For months, advocates of the People’s Budget have had to use the public comment portion of the council meeting to voice their support. Residents have advocated for divestment from the police, along with other People’s Budget requests, at almost every city council meeting since the budget was released.
These public comments are often limited to one and a half minutes or three minutes, with many being cut off mid-sentence when their time is up.
This won’t be the first time councilmembers consider the People’s Budget during their budget deliberations.
At a Budget Oversight Committee meeting on Aug. 25, Director of Financial Management John Gross made a presentation outlining all the ways that the currently proposed fiscal year budget aligns with the coalition’s requests.
He pointed to a $12.9 million cut in the police budget, including furlough amounts. This 5.2% reduction in the police budget is a greater percentage than Los Angeles’ reduction.
Gross also outlined a number of allocations that address some of the coalition’s requests.
• $200,000 in structural funding for language access programs
• $900,000 for seniors and $3.1 million for youth programs in the Parks, Recreation and Marine budget
• $300,000 in structural funding for universal legal representation for immigrants
• $250,000 for right to counsel for renters
But the People’s Budget is only one way that city representatives try to pinpoint the values of Long Beach residents.
The city’s Racial Reconciliation Initiative, the first of its kind, revealed a desire for divestment from police and investment in underserved communities.
Their annual budget priority survey, the results of which were presented at last week’s council meeting, also help inform city leaders about the wants and needs of their constituents.
The items voted most important were maintaining a low crime rate and providing emergency medical services.
Neither the Racial Reconciliation Initiative, budget priority survey or People’s Budget are wholly representative of the public at large. Rather, they give councilmembers a taste of what their constituents value.
Though the People’s Budget Coalition will have an opportunity to advocate for their budget proposal, it’s unlikely that their arguments will result in dramatic changes to the city’s budget.
Councilmembers are expected to approve the budget on Tuesday, Sept. 8, the same day as the council meeting and the People’s Budget presentation.
If they don’t approve the budget, the city manager’s budget will be implemented, which won’t include any alterations or suggestions from the council.
The budget hearing will take place tomorrow, Tuesday, Sept. 8 at 5 p.m. via teleconference.
