Richmond Mayor Tom Butt says his city faces a whopping $27 million budget deficit, half of which can be attributed to a loss of retail sales tax dollars since the Bay Area went into lockdown in March.
Three months ago, Richmond's budget deficit was manageable.
Now, the city's libraries may be among the first places to see services eliminated.
Mayor Butt said about $13 million of the overall deficit can be tied to the coronavirus pandemic.
"We're up against a rock and a hard place," Mayor Butt told KCBS Radio. "We have a $27 million budget shortfall to deal with and there aren't a lot of places to go to find it."
For starters, two of three city libraries will likely close.
"The last time we went through an economic crisis, we closed the branches for two or three years and I think that may well happen this time," Mayor Butt said.
Butt doesn't believe the city council has an appetite for closing the main library at the Richmond Civic Center.
What other services may take a hit is yet unknown. But, you'll be hearing a lot more in the weeks and months ahead on how the pandemic is draining local government funds from one end of the state to the other.
