SANTA MONICA – Staff from The City of Santa Monica outlined a proposed plan for restructuring City operations on Friday, May 1 due to the public health emergency and related economic impacts caused by COVID-19. The proposed plan will be considered by City Council at a special meeting on Tuesday, May 5 at 3 p.m.  

City Staff’s proposed plan seeks to balance City budget in accordance with updated financial projections and newly aligns City operations to three priorities:

  • Foundational services for a clean and safe Santa Monica
  • Effective emergency response
  • Economic recovery for all

The plan eliminates the deficits in all funds affected by COVID-19  using a combination of one-time funds and ongoing budget reductions. The plan contains significant reductions in City funded programs, services, capital projects, and staff. City staff has recommended creating a $20 million Shutdown Fund to recover a two month loss in revenue if COVID-19 resurges in the fall or winter, requiring a second wave of stay at home orders and associated impacts.  

Support for vulnerable residents including social services, affordable housing, and aid to seniors enrolled in the Preserving Our Diversity Program remain preserved. Maintenance of Santa Monica’s well-known public spaces including City parks, beach, and Pier is considered prioritized.  Events, in-person programming, and facility access and hours are reduced. 

“The path ahead will be painful, and fraught with shared sacrifices to stop cuts in services and prevent further layoffs,” said Interim City Manager Lane Dilg. “We grieve with our colleagues who have dedicated themselves to this work whose jobs will be lost. In the coming days and weeks, I look forward to hearing from our broad City community to ensure that we implement a plan that leads with our values.” 

Community and Cultural Services has become a single entity of ‘Community Services’,  Planning and Community Development has become ‘Community Development’ with the Housing and Economic Development Division integrated into the newly formed departments. Efforts to continue to digitize City operations for expedited online service delivery will continue. 

The City has proposed citywide reductions of $86.2 million in net on-going costs, including 337.2 permanent and 143.9 temporary positions overall. The Interim City Manager and Interim City Attorney have taken 20% reductions in pay while department Heads and other executive staff will take pay cuts of up to 15%. 

The City previously initiated a Voluntary Early Separation Incentive Program to identify staff members who wished for their own reasons to separate from the City. The VESIP program is expected to identify approximately 100+ individuals across the organization who wish to separate from City employment. The programs purpose is to avoid layoffs of other employees and open needed positions to be filled by City staff.