Hiring freeze, cuts to fire and police as Oakland slashes $29M from budget

The city of Oakland will cut $29 million in personnel, law enforcement and public safety spending in an effort to close its projected $62 million deficit, city officials said Tuesday.

The city will cut $9 million in general spending by enacting a hiring freeze, reducing the use of temporary staff, freezing discretionary spending, cutting pay for senior staff members who are not unionized and using unspent funds from the last fiscal year, which ended June 30.