Dear Friend —

Yesterday we announced some really good news as we begin public discussions of our 2023 budget. Thanks to a strong economic recovery and responsible budgeting, we are once again looking at a budget that includes no significant reductions or cuts.

These last two years have been focused on our health recovery. As we continue moving forward from COVID-19, we must focus our efforts on our economic and safety recovery.

Long Beach’s economic recovery will directly impact public safety — and there’s no doubt Long Beach’s small businesses are at the center of this work. The city will be doing everything we can to support local businesses and community groups with grants, a citywide clean team program and public safety resources.

When the City Council adopted the Long Beach Recovery Act last year, we invested over $83 million to secure our city's future by replenishing our emergency reserves, eliminating last fiscal year's budget deficit, and restoring city staff and services.

In the past two years, unemployment in Long Beach swung from a record low 4.6% to over 21% at the height of the pandemic. Through tremendous effort, we have gotten unemployment back down to 6.7%, but we need to and will continue to do more.

There are certainly still challenges to come and a lot of hard work ahead, but the news we heard tonight going into our FY 23 budget cycle is fantastic. I want to thank everyone involved in this effort.

To be in a second consecutive year with no budget reductions in the face of a historic crisis is truly commendable.

Thank you and go Long Beach,

Mayor Robert Garcia