Despite efforts to adopt a balanced budget without slashing jobs, the City Council authorized the elimination of nine city positions Monday night in an attempt to bring spending in line with revenue.

"I will vote to support this budget with a heavy heart because it impacts people, but I think as a government we are being responsible on behalf of our residents, and that's our job," Councilmember Glen Becerra said.

The difficult move was part of a multifaceted strategy to close a more than $5-million general fund budget gap. The council also approved cutting all employees' salaries by 2 percent and borrowing $1.75 million from the workers' compensation fund.

The vast majority of large cities across California saw declines in both violent and property crimes last year -- though there were several communities that bucked the trend.

Of the 65 cities with more than 100,000 residents, 45 saw drops in violent crime, while 52 cities had fewer property crimes when factoring in population changes in 2008, a Times analysis of FBI preliminary crime statistics for 2008 shows.