Local cities are beginning to assess the impact of the governor’s revised 2008-09 state budget.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger unveiled his revised proposed budget Wednesday.

The state’s deficit has grown to $17.2 billion, up from about $14.5 billion in January.

Humboldt County cities, many of which in the process of preparing city budgets for the coming fiscal year, will now factor in what the state cuts could mean to various city services.

Eureka Finance Director Valerie Warner said an item possibly in peril is public safety funded through a portion of the state’s sales tax.

But what’s happening in Eureka has much more of an impact, she said.

“It’s a very tight budget,” Warner said.

Part of that has to do with raises that employee groups, including police and fire, were given last year, she said.

The flattening out of the local economy has impacted the sales tax, she said, and the city is now seeing shrinkage.

Warner said that as the week progresses more information will become available.

City staff will present the budget at the “high” level during Tuesday’s city council meeting, Warner said.

“At that point, the council will get what the big picture is,” she said.

In Fortuna, the budget outlook was slightly different.

Fortuna City Manager Duane Rigge was unavailable for comment Wednesday, but told The Eureka Reporter Tuesday that the city could “weather the storm.”

Rigge anticipated impacts to the city’s funding from the Citizen’s Options For Public Safety program and a delay in gas tax funding.

Arcata is expecting the worst, City Manager Michael Hackett said.

Today, the city will receive a video update related to the budget from the local League of Cities.

“There are certainly many impacts that could happen,” Hackett said.

The city has already seen impacts on funding for booking fees and COPS grants, he said, and expects it could see more cuts to overall municipal funding.

“We’re going to have to be very careful with our money,” he said.

A moratorium has been placed on the gas tax that the city intended to use on projects until August, Hackett said, but Arcata has been able to budget around it.

Public safety projects and public works could also take a hit.

The city is proposing a one- half cent sales tax increase dedicated to transportation enhancement, rehabilitation and improvements, which will be before voters on the November ballot.

Hackett described it as a “self-help initiative,” so as the city is not left to the mercy of the state’s budget.

If the city continues to have deferred maintenance, street conditions will become worse and more expensive to repair, he said.

“If we don’t start taking some self initiatives, we’ll just continue to get further and further behind,” he said.

Whatever the city gets right now is not final, he said, though expects it to “get worse before it gets better.”