The bad economy is hitting home for the city of Tucson. All of us are spending less, sales tax revenues are down, and now services will be cut as well.

At their meeting on Tuesday, December 9, City Council directed staff to cut $31 million out of this year’s budget. One of the hardest hit departments is the Tucson Police Department, with $7.5 million in potential cuts.

“We’re estimating that an additional $31 million needs to be trimmed from the budget to make it through this fiscal year,” says Tucson City Manager Mike Hein. Such is the reality for the city of Tucson after a slumping economy resulted in decreased sales tax revenue.

“There’s never been two consecutive years of stagnant or declining growth,” says Hein. “We are entering our second year of declining growth, and we may foresee yet a third.”

Now the city has to learn how to do more with less – specifically, less staff due to attrition, hiring freezes and restructured departments. Thus far there has been no word on layoffs, yet.

“I appreciate that we need to basically say that everything needs to come to the table for a look,” says Vice Mayor Karen Uhlich. Council members say that public safety remains a top priority, but because of these budget cuts, TPD isn’t operating at full capacity.

“We currently have 1,048 officers,” says Assistant City Manager Richard Miranda. “We are 65 officers down.”

There are different interpretations as to what that means. “It’s dangerous out there,” says TPOA President Larry Lopez. “We cannot protect this community at the staffing level we are at today. We have officers that have been involved in the most violent history of the police department over this last summer.”

Yet, TPD says emergency calls for service will be the main priority. “Our focus on the Chief of Police has provided this direction,” says TPD Chief of Staff, Captain Clayton Kidd, “that we will continue to provide core services.”

In order to do that, TPD will have to move support services, such as bike patrols into the field, leaving other areas unwatched. “That’s when crime will rise in those areas,” says Lopez.

In the meantime, city staff doesn’t think things will improve much financially next year. They are already scheduled to look at another round of cuts in the spring.