Tracy's City Council next Tuesday will be asked to ax 69 full-time jobs from the city’s payroll, privatize some services, cut activities for kids and seniors, reduce hours, consolidate work and take others actions as it looks to slash $6.2 million from its budget and close a $9 million deficit.

Dozens of employees starting Monday were told they would be out of jobs, and though administrators are still talking with unions to try to find a way to save a job or two, much of the council's painful task is laid out in detail in a report made public Thursday afternoon.

But because some of the jobs that are expected to cut are vacant, and because some employees have chosen to retire, the actually number of people the council could lay off is 39.

No department is unaffected, and employees are expected to receive lay-off notices starting at the first of the year.

In the police department, the equivalent of 20 full-time jobs will be cut as the department is reorganized and shrunk. The council will be asked to lay off four officers, and disband its gang unit, who will be moved to patrol, where they'll “focus on gang intelligence,” according to a report for the council.

At the animal shelter, a “significant reduction” of service could take place as officers split time between the shelter and fieldwork, while the records department is expected to become smaller and officers take on duties of other non-sworn employees.

Deputy chief Rick Golphin will be out of a job, and captains will be demoted to lieutenants, who will report directly to Chief Janet Thiessen.

In the fire department, the council will be asked to ax about seven full-time jobs to 76 from 83 positions, though no uniformed firefighters will be let go. The plan there is to have building inspectors also do fire inspections and cut the job of fire marshal, cut one vacant firefighter's job, and try to pare down overtime — a big reason roughly 75 percent of department employees earned more than $100,000 in fiscal year 2008-09.

A fire captain's job will be cut “through attrition,” a euphemism for retirement, and the duties split among other fire department managers.

In the parks department, four full-time employees are expected to be laid off, while hours for the senior center are recommended to be cut one hour per day, preschool activities might be privatized, and the Joe Wilson Pool at Dr. Powers Park will be closed next July and moved to West High School until 2011. The after-school activities a Hirsch Elementary School are expected to be shut down.

In the engineering department, five full-time jobs will be cut, including two building inspectors and the task outsourced when the load of building permits gets too heavy for the department.

The public works department, where many employees are Teamsters, is slated to lose 16 full-time jobs, including a couple of senior maintenance workers due to the privatization of the work of trimming city trees.

Matt Robinson, the city spokesman, will be out of a job if the council follows through on the recommendations, and the economic development department could handle marketing city events, while each department might have its own spokesperson.

And the job of the head of the Grand Theatre of the Arts, now occupied by Theresa Yvonne, who said she's leaving the city for a similar job in Lancaster, Calif., will be cut. City administrators suggest the council combine three art galleries at the Grand into a co-op run perhaps by local artists, and the booking of shows at the Grand could be outsourced to a private company.

Several secretaries in city departments could be let go, and the city's computer manager is expected to be laid off.

And while the layoff will get the city much of the way toward closing its deficit, it must also take other measures and has started a move to bring a ballot measure to voters to ask they OK a parcel tax to help pay for police and firefighters' salaries.

The city hopes to get its revenues in line with expenses by the 2012-13 fiscal year, and until then it will continue to use reserves to close the budget gap, and likely ask for concessions from city labor groups.

Contact Tracy Press City Editor Eric Firpo at 830-4223 or efirpo@tracypress.com.