During a virtual meeting on Aug. 22, Long Beach City staff reviewed the results of over 860 public surveys where residents answered what city services they think are most important.
The City released a proposed budget for fiscal year 2023 on Aug. 2, which laid out how it hopes to spend $3.2 billion across its departments.
The survey was released online in January in an effort to gauge how residents wanted the City to distribute its funding. A total of 39 city services were listed in the January survey and participants were asked to rank each one as either very important, somewhat important, not very important, or not at all important.
The top three priorities that residents identified as being most important were the same as last year, including the upkeep of natural gas, water systems and streets as well as fire protection services.
Long Beach council has proposed to allocate $322 million of next year’s budget to improving things like streets, sidewalks and ADA curb ramps. They have also proposed allocating almost $50 million to public services, which include fire stations, libraries and health facilities.
The top ten city services that residents prioritized, in numerical order, were:
- Maintaining natural gas and water systems in good physical condition
- Providing fire protection services
- Keeping streets in good repair
- Providing police and patrol and response
- Providing ambulance services
- Maintaining bridges and alleys
- Providing services that address and prevent homelessness
- Maintaining wastewater and flood prevention services
- Improving local air and water pollution
- Investing in mental health
Two significant changes between this year’s survey results and last year’s were that “maintaining public parks in good physical condition” and “investing in emergency preparedness and response for earthquakes, wildfires, and other natural and man-made disasters” didn’t make the list of the top ten priorities this year, whereas last year they ranked as the seventh and tenth priorities on the list, respectively.
The two new priorities that made it to the top ten list this year were “providing police and patrol and response” and “maintaining wastewater and flood prevention services.”
The 2023 proposed City budget includes funding to create 20 new police positions, 16 of which will be for bicycle patrol officers and four positions for “quality of life” officers meant to address homelessness and the root causes of crime.
The virtual meeting on Aug. 22 was the last of three virtual meetings where residents were invited to ask questions and give feedback on the City’s budget.
Further hearings are planned during city council meetings on Sept. 6 and Sept. 13. The budget may possibly be adopted during either of these meetings.
City Council meetings are held at the Long Beach Civic Center, located at 411 W. Ocean Blvd. at 6 p.m. on Tuesdays. To watch the meetings online, visit www.lbtv3.com.
