Tempe City Council members discussed a list of proposals to eliminate the projected $34 million shortfall in the city’s budget at a special meeting Thursday afternoon.

The proposals, which are outlined in a 36-page report released last week, include the elimination of 146 positions, 84 of which are currently filled.

Some of the cuts proposed would affect the city’s police and fire departments, and would result in increased emergency response times and workload on remaining personnel.

“The proposals that are in [the report] are very, very difficult,” said city manager Charlie Meyer. “They have impacts on services, they have impacts on members of the community, and they certainly have impacts on our staff.”

The major issue addressed at the meeting was the effect the cuts would have on city employees. Before a large crowd of observers that included many city employees, Meyer and city councilmembers discussed ways to balance the budget while keeping layoffs at a minimum.

One such measure would be to provide long-time employees with incentives to retire. Many of the retirees’ positions would be filled by employees whose jobs were eliminated, helping the city avoid layoffs.

Councilmember Corey Woods said he wants to see the city manager explore alternatives to re-organization and layoffs, such as employee furloughs and reduced hours, more deeply.

“[Furloughs] could potentially allow us to not do some of those re-organization measures, therefore not subjecting some of our staff to the upheaval of moving people around,” Woods said.

Many more city programs may be cut or eliminated in order to save jobs, said Mayor Hugh Hallman.

Hallman said it was the city’s large reserves that allowed the council to avoid the massive layoffs of other Valley cities. Many programs, particularly in the Parks and Recreation Department that would need reserve funds to survive, may be on the chopping block, he said.

“We have been following a different model of fiscal prudence that has allowed us to avoid layoffs,” he said. “Of all of the benefits we provide our employees, the most important one is security.”

Program cuts mean residents could see changes that would include a reduction in library hours and the elimination of certain city-sponsored events, such as the Family Halloween Carnival.

Meyer’s proposals are part of an ongoing effort by the city of Tempe to plan a balanced 5-year budget, which could spare the city from a financial crisis on the scale of the one it faces now.

Reach the reporter at derek.quizon@asu.edu.