SACRAMENTO, Calif. --
The Sacramento Police Department lost 167 jobs Tuesday night when the City Council approved a budget that slashed $12 million from the departments funding.
The cut positions include 98 sworn officers who will no longer be patrolling Sacramento streets.
From The Field: Sac Makes Deep Cuts
The latest round of cuts brings the total number of jobs lost at the Sacramento Police Department to 372 in the last three years.
"The cuts we have had over the last 3 years have basically been 30 percent of the department, in a department that is already highly understaffed, " said Police Chief Rick Braziel in an interview following the vote.
Braziel said taxpayers can expect fewer services from the department and less contact with officers who will no longer have time to take reports at break-ins and property damage crimes.
"We have become an emergency response department to handle violent crimes in progress," said Braziel.
The Sacramento Fire Department also slashed $9 million from its budget.
The department lost 65 positions that were already vacant due to a four-year hiring freeze.
The city manager proposed more rolling fire station closures in the coming years.
The fire department already has two stations temporarily closed, and was facing four more in the coming year.
Sacramento's fire chief said a FEMA grant will allow them to keep the number to just four stations with rolling closures.
The city also approved contracting golf course maintenance at a savings of $500,000.
Community centers that were on the chopping block were spared closures thanks to increased help from volunteers to staff the buildings.
On top of this year's budget cuts, interim city manager Bill Edgar warned leaders to start bracing now for an additional $23 million dollars that will need to be cut over the next two years in what he describes as structural deficits.
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