With the City of Oakland drowning in about $129 million in red ink, Oakland City Council voted to approve a plan to cut police overtime, close a few fire stations, and eliminate some arts programs in hopes of closing the deficit.

The recalled Sheng Thao is no longer the Mayor of Oakland, and maybe she got out while the getting was good. New mayor Nikki Fortunato Bas (who will only be in office for about three weeks) spent her first day on the job still performing her City Council President duties. And KTVU reports that one of those duties was voting to approve a series of budget cuts in hopes of trimming Oakland’s $129 million budget deficit.    

Per Oaklandside, the council approved $100 million in budget cuts by a 5-1 vote. “There are no easy answers here, and most of what’s before us is really hard to swallow,” Bas said at the meeting.

The cuts are what was expected, having been telegraphed more than a week ago, and they come in two phases. Phase One is cutting nearly $25 million in police overtime, “browning out” two fire stations (which means reducing the number of shifts worked at those stations, not closing them entirely), and slashing a significant number of arts programs. Phase Two browns out four more fire engine companies, and calls for the layoffs of more than 90 city workers.

The Fire Department was particularly apoplectic.

"I don't understand the fiscal decision to close a third of the fire department and the idea that that will be a sustainable city," IAFF Local vice president Captain Seth Olyer said before the vote. "We're talking about people's lives. We're talking about members' lives. We're talking about everyone out here who's talked about how important services are to them."

Some of those Fire Department cuts could be avoided if the stalled sale of the Oakland Coliseum goes through. So things can change here, and maybe they will. As Oaklandside points out, four of the five councilmembers who voted for the cuts will be out of office a month from now, and a largely new City Council will take over. So they may seek an entirely different pathway out of this mess.

Related: Oakland City Council Weighing Drastic Cuts as $130 Million Deficit Looms [SFist]

Image: View of Oakland City Hall from 14th Street on a sunny winter day. (Getty Images)