Andrew Edwards, Staff Writer
Posted: 07/23/2012 06:13:16 PM PDT

Special Section: San Bernardino

SAN BERNARDINO – Bankruptcy reorganization may lead to a literal reorganization of city government. Early proposals to restore the city to financial health include the outsourcing of some city functions or merger of city departments.

Potential moves include outsourcing Animal Control to San Bernardino County or merging Parks and Recreation with the Library Department.

With the city facing a $45 million budget deficit and a bankruptcy filing in the space of about one month, a Finance Department document from late June holds open the possibility of joining forces with the state or neighboring cities to preserve firefighting services.

As of Monday, however, there was no official comment whether any of these reorganization proposals would be incorporated into the short-term budget scheduled to go before the City Council Tuesday.

The City Manager’s office has been unwilling to discuss budget balancing details in advance of the meeting given the likelihood that whatever happens will hit city workers hard.

“I’m sorry but there are absolutely no specifics we can talk about yet,” Acting Assistant City Manager Gwendolyn Waters said in an email.

“No one knows what any of the specific plans will be until the Council votes on them and speculating would be disrespectful to those whose lives are involved,” she continued.

In late June, however, the Finance Department released a budgetary analysis containing several ideas to cut costs and raise revenue, some of which have been rejected during prior years’ budget debates.

Waters cautioned that Finance Department’s report only contained suggestions and may not be the basis for

Among those ideas are a proposal to begin talks with CalFire and cities to create a joint firefighting agency in which San Bernardino would take a lead role.

The Finance Department analysis also broached the possibility of hiring San Bernardino County to take over Animal Control operations.

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