The coronavirus crisis is creating huge financial problems for government agencies on the Central and South Coasts. Officials with one of the first cities to talk about projected impacts now say it looks much worse than they had initially projected.
Santa Maria City officials at first thought they were looking at a $3 million dollar loss by the end of June. They have now upped that projection to $3.8 million dollars.
Potential losses in the new fiscal year beginning July 1st could top $6.5 million dollars.
Like all jurisdictions, the city is hoping for some federal and state help, though officials say they may use some reserves.
They’ve already implemented a hiring freeze, and laid of nearly 100 part time workers. But, they say without assistance, service cuts and more layoffs are possible.
