NEWPORT BEACH — Fewer permanent lifeguards may be laid off under an alternative budget proposal reviewed at this week's City Council study session.
In the latest of an ongoing series of meetings to draft the 2011-12 fiscal budget, council members and the public were presented with Alternative B. The plan calls for reducing four full-time positions, compared with Alternative A, which had previously been presented to the council and suggested eliminating seven full-time positions.
Alternative B would result in one full-time lifeguard losing his or her job at the end the of summer, Lifeguard Battalion Chief Rob Williams said.
While the city has 17 lifeguard positions accounted for in the current budget, only 13 of those slots are filled, he said.
Alternative B would involve a restructuring of the department that would eliminate those vacancies. It also calls for getting rid of one boat and decreasing seasonal staff by 35 from current part-time staff levels which is about 200. Combined, the cuts would save the city $600,000 a year, he said.