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Last Ditch Effort to Avoid Layoffs

OAKLAND, Calif. (KCBS) 80 Oakland police officers will be laid off on Monday unless the city and police officers union can somehow reach an agreement over concessions to try to avert the cuts.

Oakland City Council President Jane Brunner said these are tough budget times and the budget that was passed at the end of June was a difficult one to swallow.

"We are laying officers off as of July 1. If we have a Measure Y amendment, which is a fix, but no revenue added to the city revenue, then we know we have to lay off another 27 officers," said Brunner.

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And the budget woes could continue, as Brunner said if a parcel tax measure is not passed in November, another 124 officers will be on the chopping block come January.[pullquote quote="If we have a Measure Y amendment... we know we have to layoff another 27 officers." credit="Oakland City Council President Jane Brunner"]

"We had a philosophy and I think we followed that, which is to cut across the board," she said.

Brunner said that the city has made every effort to lay off as few police officers as possible to meet the budget.

"Other places had serious cuts. Every elected official's department got a 15 percent cut," said Brunner. "Every administrator who makes over $100,000 got an extra 5 percent cut over their already 10 percent cut they took last year."

At this point, the council does not plan to revisit the budget unless the projections the city administrator provided are incorrect.

Brunner adds that budget projections have often been incorrect these days.

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