Long Beach officials vote to declare a fiscal crisis

Long Beach officials tonight voted to declare the city in a state of fiscal crisis.

The City Council voted 5-0 and will now allow City Manager Jack Shnirman to start fixing the budget immediately.

Auditors briefed the board about the status of the city's finances, saying that in three years every department ran a massive budget deficit, squandering a rainy day fund of more than $7 million.

Shnirman says it's still unclear how much the deficit actually is.

The next council meeting is scheduled for Feb. 21.

Audit released detailing how Long Beach got into debt