Letters to the Editor 8-10-23
Budget clarification Dear ER: We would like to clarify two important items in response to the Easy Reader’s recent story about the City of Hermosa Beach’s 2023-2024 budget (“$50 million budget balanced, AI lurks over unfunded jobs,” ER July 30, 2023). The story claims that “The council left 15 city staff positions unfunded, among them a mental health clinician, a homeless outreach coordinator, and a code enforcement officer.” This lacks important context because those 15 position openings do not currently exist and are not reflected — or requested — in the City’s 23-24 budget. To put it simply, the positions cannot be unfunded because they have never been requested. Instead, as an exercise in projecting future staffing needs to meet anticipated future service delivery goals, City staff advised Council of some potential future operational and personnel needs during its June 13 meeting, including the possibility of requesting up to 15 future staff positions. These positions were not requested and are therefore not accounted for in the City’s 2023-24 budget. The story also claims that “One option for averting the looming deficit, Councilmember Justin Massey suggested is AI…
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