Long Beach
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Vol. 31 No. 38
SEPTEMBER 17 - 23, 2020
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City must spend $3M on payouts result of its messy finances, a situation that has worsened in recent years. Long Beach’s financial strugThe latest bond authorization gles came into sharp focus at a touched off a lively discussion virtual City Council meeting among council members, who Tuesday night, when the city defended the borrowing as an comptroller said that the munici- unfortunate necessity, and Roy pality would likely spend $3 mil- Lester, a former president of the lion next year and Long Beach Board every year “for the of Education and a foreseeable future” frequent critic of o n p ay m e n t s t o some of the city’s employees leaving policies. their jobs. Lester, a bankThe city has no ruptcy attorney in rainy-day fund, and Long Beach, asked so has had to resort what the city’s proMikE DEluRy t o b o r row i n g t o jections were for the make the separation City councilman next fiscal year. payments. Whether Reznik, who joined it will have to borthe administration row the money again next year 14 months ago, said Long Beach or in the years afterward will would likely spend around $3 depend on how its finances million for separation payments. shape up. “That seems to have been the Comptroller Inna Reznik trend for the last few years,” offered her forecast for future Reznik said. “That has been, on spending after the council unani- average, about $3 million.” She mously approved $2.7 million in added that such spending would borrowing to make separation continue, and that if the city borpayments to about 40 people. rowed again in the future, it As recently as May, the city would again seek five-year notes. issued a bond for $4.7 million for Several council members another batch of separation pay- reluctantly defended the pracments. Wall Street bond-rating tice. “We didn’t start this proagencies have lowered the city’s ratings several notches as a Continued on page 3
By JaMES BERNSTEiN jbernstein@lbherald.com
T
here’s no quick fix to this.
Courtesy Long Beach Public Schools
She couldn’t mask her excitement Ellie, like many other children in the Long Beach School District, returned to school last week.
City, MLK Center seek accord
Facility remains closed amid pandemic restrictions By JaMES BERNSTEiN jbernstein@liherald.com
Schoolchildren and seniors alike remain bar red from entering the Martin Luther King Center while the center and Long Beach officials try to resolve a number of safety and other issues that have kept the facility closed to the public since the coronavirus pandemic shut it down in March. The center, on Riverside
Boulevard, provides educational and recreational activities to children and adults yearround. But since the pandemic took hold six months ago, the public has not been allowed inside the building. The center, in conjunction with the Long Beach school district, still provides food to those in need, but it must be distributed outdoors. Administrative workers are allowed inside, but are subject
to temperature checks and must adhere to other pandemic safety regulations, such as sanitizing and social distancing. In order to continue operating, the center must have a plan to control the spread of the coronavirus, and in order to maintain any contracts it has with Nassau County, it must have a physical location, which it has, but must get a Continued on page 3