Robert Cherry, president of the police union, said he is hoping his department has flexibility to negotiate a lower figure.
Reached by e-mail before the mayor's announcement, city fire Chief Jim Clack called budgeting issues "the No. 1 topic of discussion right now" among top officers.
Fire union officials worried that the cuts will mean reductions in service, with Stephan G. Fugate of the fire officers union raising concerns that there would be rotating closures of firehouses. Firefighter union chief Bob Sledgeski said his members would "not raise the white flag" and would fight reductions.
When asked to detail targeted reductions at the largest city agencies, the city's finance director, Edward J. Gallagher, said: "No. ...We have to emphasize that we are not going to interfere with them. We are not going to allow the press to dog them with their budget targets."
The reduction announced yesterday was not as deep as had been expected. Several officials briefed on the mayor's plan were under the impression that all agencies would be subject to about a 12 percent reduction in all funding - not just the city portion. Some agencies, such as public works, receive large portions of their budgets from other sources.
Some City Council members complained yesterday that they had not been briefed earlier.
"I thought that we were working together," Bernard C. "Jack" Young said. "I just think that the leadership of the council should have been briefed."
He said he does not want to see more cuts to police or the Department of Recreation and Parks, which runs youth centers around the city. He reiterated his interest in cutting the Mayor's Office on Criminal Justice, which costs $12 million a year, though only $1.6 million comes from the General Fund. The council must approve the mayor's fiscal 2010 spending proposal, and it can cut from the plan she submits.
Several council members have proposed tapping into the $92.3 million "rainy day fund" that the city sets aside for "budgetary flexibility should material funding shortfalls occur," according to the budget.
Councilman Robert W. Curran has long proposed using 25 percent of that fund to shore up this year's budget.
