The City of East Lansing is in a position it never thought it would be in.

"Property taxes have declined, revenue sharing has declined," Mayor Victor Loomis said. "The fees we would get off of development -- we have had any new development in East Lansing in a few years."

All of which has forced the City Council to make decisions it never thought it would have make. But Tuesday council members passed several amendments that cut $2 million just to balance this year's budget.

"We're going to defer all capital improvements , we're going to defer major street repairs and discontinue sidewalk improvement programs," Loomis said.

On the heels of those cuts, now begins the hard work for next year, which the Mayor said should be even tougher.

"The challenge really is moving into the next fiscal year," he said.

That challenge facing East Lansing in 2010-2011 is finding ways to cut nearly $3 million from its budget. The mayor said the savings must start right away, beginning with how and when the city will plow snow.

"Maybe we don't plow at 2 inches, maybe we wait until 4 inches," Loomis said. "If we have a snow storm on a Sunday, maybe we only do the major streets and wait until Monday for the side streets."

Another real possibility for next year is the City Manager's proposal of raising property taxes by a half mill.

"It's something the Council has the authority to do," Loomis said.

At this point anything goes to try to balance a budget with fewer and fewer dollars.

East Lansing residents can log onto the city's web site to fill out survey about where and what they believe the city should cut next year. That will be available online through April 15th.