City to hold study session on budget

Costa Mesa will host a formal City Council study session Tuesday to discuss next year’s budget, followed by a community workshop on the topic Thursday.

The community workshop, where department heads explain the long, technical budget document to laymen, is usually poorly attended, but city officials are hoping that interest may rise as the budget cuts proposed are unprecedented in scale.

The proposed cuts amount to $26 million and City Hall is saying that residents will likely notice a decline in service as staff members are laid off, programs cut and facilities shut down.

The tentative budget is online at ci.costa-mesa.ca.us. Tuesday’s council session is at 4:30 p.m. in downstairs conference room 1A and Thursday’s is at 6 p.m. in the same place.

— Alan Blank