RIVIERA BEACH — Falling property values continue to take a toll on Riviera Beach's budget.

Facing a 15 percent drop in the city's taxable property value, City Manager Ruth Jones has proposed a budget that offsets a projected $6.7 million shortfall for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.

Jones' proposal includes:

• Offering incentives for employees to leave the city's payroll voluntarily.
• Eliminating 38 jobs, including six firefighters, five police positions and eight marina employees.
• Extending the one-day-a-month unpaid furlough for all employees that began last fall.
• Eliminating the subsidy for the popular monthly Jazz After Dark concerts.
• Imposing a 12 percent tax rate increase that would cost the owner of a $200,000 homestead an additional $150 annually.

Last fall, the council held the tax rate unchanged at $8.43 for each $1,000 in taxable value for the current budget year but borrowed $2.8 million from reserves.

The proposed $49.5 million general fund budget - down from $53.2 million this year - does not tap reserves. But it would increase the tax rate to $9.43 per $1,000.

Consolidations proposed in the budget would combine the Parks and Recreation Department and the library under a Parks and Leisure Services Department.

Jones proposes eliminating one of two assistant city manager jobs and creating a lower-paid assistant to the city manager position to handle special projects and grants.

Communications, marketing and oversight of the city's public access television station, RBTV-18, would be handled under a new public information officer proposed in Jones' plan. Communications is currently handled by the city's chief of staff, Rose Anne Brown .

"I like the idea that she's making some efforts to restructure," Councilman Shelby Lowe said of Jones. "She's got some more work to do.  "We're top-heavy."  Lowe agrees with plans to eliminate the Jazz After Dark subsidy. He said the concerts could be run by a private company instead of the Parks and Recreation Department.

But Councilman Cedrick Thomas is fighting the plans to cut $90,000 in annual support for Jazz After Dark.  "I see a signature event for this city that I'm very proud of," Thomas said during a budget workshop Tuesday .

The only city-funded special event in the proposed budget is the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration.

Thomas also asked Jones to look for ways to support the Weed and Seed and Youth Empowerment Center programs that provide after-school activities for youths.

Proposed police department cuts include laying off one technician and eliminating five vacant officer positions and one vacant position for a lieutenant.

Plans to lay off six of the city's 70 firefighters would force the city to close one of its four fire stations or pay more in overtime to maintain staffing levels, said Chuck Lupo, a union representative with the Professional Firefighters/Paramedics of Palm Beach County.

The manager's proposal assumes the marina will be under construction during much of the budget year.  Jones recommends eliminating eight jobs at the marina: three dock attendants, one clerk and four forklift operators.

The city does not plan to offer on-land boat storage during construction, but about 60 wet slips, fuel sales, the marina store and Newcomb Hall are expected to remain open.