City officials in Tucson, Arizona have seen the future and it doesn’t look pretty. Members of the city council, meeting on Tuesday to discuss Tucson’s 5-year fiscal outlook, acknowledged that the city is facing a $51 million budget deficit for the next fiscal year. There is some hope that revenue generated by taxing medical marijuana (approved in a November ballot measure) will help close the budget hole, but at least some layoffs look inevitable.

Councilman Steve Kozachik stressed the need to balance short and long term concerns: “We can’t go into fiscal year 12 with an unbalanced budget,” said Kozachik, “but we also can’t go into fiscal year 12 without a long term plan.”