More than 350 jobs, including those of 80 sworn police officers, could be cut to balance the city’s budget, Interim City Manager Bill Edgar said Friday.

The city manager’s office released recommendations Friday on how to resolve a $39 million budget gap. The proposal released by the city is not set in stone: The City Council is responsible for making final budget decisions.

“This is the budget that everyone has dreaded,” Edgar said. “(This is) the budget where the chickens come home to roost.”

The city manager’s office proposes cutting 294 positions. In addition, Edgar said he is recommending that the City Council cut about 60 more positions to privatize maintenance of city golf courses.

In the coming weeks, representatives for the city’s unions are expected to negotiate with city officials over the planned budget cuts.

The proposed budget recommends that the City Council lay off 80 of the city’s 701 sworn police officers. The city manager’s proposal also suggests laying off about 70 civilian workers in the Police Department and cutting 18 vacant positions for sworn police officers.

Detective Mark Tyndale, vice president of the Sacramento Police Officers Association, said the union’s members are upset, scared and “very angry” about the proposed cuts to the department.

The union made concessions on raises in 2009 that resulted in $13 million in savings for the city, he said.

“We have stepped up, and we have given,” he said.

SPOA’s view is that the city unfairly gave raises to a few top city officials recently.

Tyndale also argues the city mismanaged money by paying raises to members of another city union, Local 39, after negotiations fell apart between Local 39 and the city in 2009.

(However, it should be noted that Local 39 members suffered layoffs as a result of the failed negotiations with the city in 2009. Local 39 Director of Public Employees Joan Bryant, who represents city workers that are not in the public safety field, recently argued that the city unfairly favors public safety workers on retirement benefits.)

Despite Tyndale’s anger over the proposed budget, he said SPOA will continue to “have a dialogue with city management” on the budget.

“We expect to be treated fairly by them,” Tyndale said.

The proposed cuts will reduce police services, said department spokesman Sgt. Norm Leong.

“It will have impacts to crime and to the service level we’re providing,” he said.

In one of many examples, Leong said the department would not be able to respond in person to property crimes like theft and home burglaries if there are no suspects on the scene. “We’re not coming out,” he said.

However, if there are suspects present, the department would respond, he said.

Sacramento City Councilman Darrell Fong, who retired from the Police Department in 2009 after a 30-year career there, said no officers were laid off during his tenure with the department.

“I’m really concerned about the cuts to public safety,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Fire Department also faces major cuts in the proposed budget. There are “whole communities that aren’t going to have EMS or fire response,” said Jaymes Butler of Sacramento Area Firefighters Local 522. “They’ll have to pull from another community.”

The numbers of layoffs and the cuts to services for the fire department are still unclear because the city has been selected to receive a $5.6 million grant earmarked for fire services.

However, Butler estimated that the cuts would result in the following actual layoffs: 14 captains, nine engineers, 35 firefighters and seven firefighter/paramedics.

Positions are different from actual layoffs, because the city sometimes saves money by cutting vacant positions.

However, Edgar said he doesn’t expect the number of positions – more than 350 – to differ much from actual layoffs.

“I think it’s fair to say that most of (the positions) are filled at this point,” he said.

The city budget document released Friday projects that the city will continue to face budget gaps until fiscal year 2015/2016. The gap for fiscal year 2012/2013 is $11.7 million and is expected to rise to $22.9 million in fiscal year 2013/2014. In fiscal year 2014/2015, the city expects to be $18 million in the hole. The gap drops to a $13 million deficit predicted in fiscal year 2015/2016.

Read the full text of the proposed budget here.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.