Oakland Has to Cut Salaries Now

The city of Oakland’s projected budget deficit for next year has grown to $83 million, according to the Trib. If it wasn’t clear already, then it certainly is now: The city must begin talking seriously about across-the-board wage cuts. More layoffs make no sense for a city that already struggles to provide basic services. And more tax increases are absolutely the wrong thing to do in a steep recession. But will Mayor Ron Dellums and the council have the courage to take on the city’s powerful employee unions? And will the unions do the right thing and choose to give up parts of their salaries in order to save their colleagues’ jobs? Or will we just lay off a bunch of people and shut down city government some more? Stay tuned…