... the State of California — facing a $24 billion deficit of its own — appears intent upon raiding up to $3.6 million in revenues that would otherwise go to City Hall...

... councilmember and mayoral candidate Iya Falcone announced she wanted to re-instate all the cuts proposed for the police and fire departments. Initially, it appeared Falcone — who has been strongly backed in her mayoral bid by the Police Officers Association and the Firefighters Association — was seeking to restore $2.2 million in funding to the two departments, but with refinement from councilmember Dale Francisco — and help from harried city budget analysts — that sum would shrink to $430,000. Even so, it was way too much for Falcone’s fellow councilmembers to swallow. Councilmember Grant House objected — through a series of pointed questions directed at staff — that Falcone was attempting to balance the entire budget deficit on the backs of other city departments. He noted that the police and fire departments had been asked to absorb much smaller cuts than other departments in deference to their importance. Councilmember Helene Schneider — also running for mayor — accused Falcone of playing “the public safety card.” Mayor Marty Blum expressed vexation that Falcone had not declared her intentions earlier; Falcone retorted that her support for public safety had been unequivocal throughout the weeks of preliminary budget discussions, if not the whole last year. And councilmember Das Williams, now running for state assembly, demanded to know where Falcone hoped to find the half a million dollars to restore police and fire funding. Falcone, he charged, was resorting to budgetary “gimmicks and illusions” by assuming City Hall would receive certain revenues that state lawmakers had all but vowed to keep...

-- "Tempers Flare in Budget Brouhaha - Public Safety Pitted Against Other City Functions," By Nick Welsh, SB INDEPENDENT, June 11, 2009