Faced with a $14 million budget deficit, officials in Flint are looking to cut costs by laying off more city employees as part of its proposed budget, The Flint Journal reports.

The budget’s details will be presented at City Hall today at 5:30 p.m. by Flint’s temporary mayor, Michael Brown, who said the state’s fourth-largest city needs to begin steps to operate in the black and fend-off a possible state takeover of its finances.

 

“I don’t think we can avoid layoffs. There will be some layoffs,” Brown told The Journal.

Brown said the number of layoffs won’t be a firm numbers, as he is still negotiating wage and benefit concessions with the unions. Last year, 45 police officers were let go to save costs. Brown also let go a number of administrative officials in February when he took over the city’s top job from former Mayor Don Williamson, who resigned in February in advance of a recall vote.

The proposed job cuts come the same day as the announcement that City Council President Jim Ananich said he would not seek re-election in November.

A council member for four years, Ananich said in a statement that he didn’t want to have his attention divided between Flint’s budget crisis and campaigning.