Evanston City Council already is expecting a difficult budget process next year.

Aldermen planned a meeting for Oct. 9 to begin determining how to plan for what city staff is telling them will be a substantial deficit.

“The preliminary budget we’ve given to the council shows around a $3 million gap between revenue and expenditures,” said William Stafford, director of finance. Stafford said he blames a natural increase in the cost of living that increased staff wages and a decrease in city revenues for the year.

“Revenues are down because of the economy,” Stafford said. “Normally we see a 3 percent growth in revenues. This year the increase has been 1.5 percent.”

Stafford said he also attributes the deficit problems to several lawsuits the city is facing. At the Sept. 9 City Council meeting, he said the city could face up to $20 million in liabilities, partly due to an $11 million decision against the city.

“Liabilities are a problem and will continue to be one,” Stafford said. “So far they’ve been manageable, but we haven’t gotten any settlements on any cases.”

City Manager Roger Crum emphasized the initial budget report is preliminary and has not gone through each city department. He added Monday night that a $1.5 million deficit is the lowest possible estimation.

“We have a rough estimate that takes into account the worst-case factors,” Crum said.

Council members debated Monday night the need to begin dialogue on a budget that is not due until Feb. 28.

Ald. Arthur Newman (1st) said he would not be ready to recommend expenditure cuts to the city manager until he is presented with numbers that most accurately portray the impending deficit.

“I question if $3.5 million is truly accurate,” Newman said.

Crum said he could present council members with a ?status quo budget’ that represents the current fiscal year budget, with no additions, by Oct. 4.

“We need to get some political will,” said Ald. Melissa Wynne (3rd). “No one has a good cut but we have a problem we’re trying to solve. At least we’ll be able to explain to people how we’ve come to these conclusions.”

Ald. Stephen Engelman (7th), chair of the city’s Budget Policy Committee, said the committee has been working on several options to present to the council. One policy being considered puts a limit on the amount of revenue the city manager can raise through property taxation, Engelman said.

The city also will try to invoke residents’ opinions through a series of community outreaches, he said.

Although Engelman said he could not pinpoint the programs the council might choose to cut first, he said some city programs might be suffering from overzealous cuts from the past.

“There’s not a program we have that isn’t providing a valuable benefit to somebody,” he said. “At this point in time, we have cut the fat out of every program. Some of the staff efficiencies that were implemented in the past couple of years are so efficient that services are beginning to suffer.”

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City officials already meeting to discuss possible cuts for next year’s budget