Mayor Dan Sullivan's proposed $421 million city budget for next year is set for action and a showdown tonight with several Anchorage Assembly members who want to tinker with a plan the mayor isn't much interested in changing.

This is Sullivan's first opportunity to really shape city government since he won the job with 57 percent of the vote in a runoff election last spring. He came into office as city officials were struggling to contain a 2009 budget deficit approaching $20 million, and the new budget now before the Assembly would do away with almost 200 city jobs, shorten hours and increase fares for bus service, and slash the amount of money the city awards in grants to arts programs and community service nonprofits.

That's just for starters.

Assembly Chairwoman Debbie Ossiander said she's not sure if the Assembly will wrap up its work on the budget tonight. She and Assemblyman Patrick Flynn have tossed more than 20 amendments on the table and most other members are expected to try to work some changes into the mix too.

On the other hand, Ossiander said, an Assembly majority may decide to just vote down Sullivan's budget. If that happens, another public hearing would have to be scheduled with a second attempt at the budget next month. A first round of public hearings closed earlier this month.

"We're either going to have a lot of amendments that will take a lot of time, or a majority will refuse to pass the budget," said Ossiander, an unlikely no vote. "There's a real stark, different approach between the majority and the mayor."

Sullivan took office in a year when national economic problems hit investments and tourism-related taxes, and when a series of new, long-term labor contracts took effect that the mayor argues will drain city finances for years to come, especially if he's not successful in reining in spending quickly.

Sullivan has said all along that his priorities are keeping police officers and firefighters on the streets but that budget reductions will touch all city departments. Because of his public safety emphasis, however, they would fall more heavily on areas like parks and recreation, libraries and transportation.

In an interview Monday, Sullivan said he may be willing to consider some changes, but not many and not very big ones.

"The fiscal health of the city has been so dramatically altered that you're probably not going to see the kind of horse trading (on the budget) you've seen in the past," he said. "If you're going to add something, you have to cut something of commensurate value. If we add on to spending without the complementary cuts, it just means I have to cut more next year."

WANTS AND NEEDS

Flynn and Assemblywoman Sheila Selkregg want to boost funding for bus service and after-school programs like Camp Fire that help young people. Neither offered much hope that Sullivan -- who has the power to veto any budget change and enough Assembly support to make most vetoes stick -- will come around to their way of thinking.

Flynn said he is so discouraged that he is likely to be one of the "no" votes Ossiander was talking about.

A Friday afternoon meeting with Sullivan left him feeling that "the mayor has been unwilling to work with us on any aspect of the budget," said Flynn, who wants to add back about $500,000 to keep branch libraries open on more days next year and about $450,000 to restore early morning and late evening bus service and cancel a transit fare increase.

Selkregg said Sullivan's budget, which holds property taxes about $10 million below the level allowed by the city's tax cap, most benefits the city's largest property owners at the expense of its neediest citizens.

"Why aren't we providing adequate bus service for people who need buses to get back and forth to work or to the hospital?" she said.

And Assemblyman Matt Claman said Sullivan's plan shorts the police and fire departments too, by not including training academies for new hires next year. Because both departments lose employees to normal attrition, the city likely will end up paying more for overtime, he said.

But Assemblywoman Jennifer Johnston, who chairs the Assembly's budget committee, said she thinks Sullivan has tried to produce a reasonable budget in difficult times.