Davis has shaved $6 million from the city’s general fund in the past three years and, while the cuts have been largely superficial, the city now faces an estimated $700,000 deficit in the upcoming fiscal year.

Budget cuts in 2011-12 will hurt more than in previous years, when the city had options for reducing spending without much compromise to programs and services, Interim City Manager Paul Navazio said Friday.

For example, the city avoided mass layoffs by deleting 48 primarily vacant full-time-equivalent positions since fiscal year 2008-09. Five actual employees lost their jobs as a result of the cuts — one in public works and four in the state- and federal-funded, city-run child care program.

But revenues continue to lag and major cuts cannot be put off forever, Navazio said.

Layoffs and cuts to city programs and services are inevitable in the new budget year and they will affect more people and be felt more deeply than in previous years, he said. As of Friday afternoon, Navazio was still finalizing the details of his budget proposal, but he said all options are on the table.

The City Council will take its first look at the budget at its meeting Tuesday, which is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. in the Community Chambers, Davis City Hall, 23 Russell Blvd. The council must adopt a budget before the new fiscal year begins July 1.

In addition to balancing the budget, Navazio said he plans to recommend up to $650,000 in other cuts to free up cash for “priority unmet needs,” such as street and facilities maintenance.

The budget also will identify about $1.6 million in contingencies — cuts that may need to be implemented after the budget is adopted, depending on state-level budget decisions, Navazio said. Included in the contingencies is a net loss of about $1.4 million that will result if the state moves forward with eliminating local redevelopment agencies, he said.

Another contingency is that the city could lose about $190,000 in law enforcement funding that is currently provided by the state, Navazio said.

— Reach Crystal Lee at [email protected] or (530) 747-8057.

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