As more and more government employees are being asked to forego raises, take pay cuts or accept early retirements in an effort to lower burgeoning budget deficits, questions regarding what sacrifices lawmakers should endure during a fiscal crisis have begun to emerge.

The News recently asked candidates who are seeking the two seat on the Culver City City Council, along with its current members, if they would be willing to relinquish or reduce their council stipends during this coming fiscal year, as the city’s employees and bargaining units will likely be asked to make concessions.

Robert Zirgulis, one of four contenders in the council race, said he was amenable to the proposition.

“I would certainly be willing to give up my salary,” Zirgulis, a substitute teacher with the Culver City Unified School District, said. “I want the workers to know that I stand with them during a budget crunch.”

Mayor Andrew Weissman said all considerations should be a part of the budget deliberations.

“I don’t think that the council stipends should not be a part of discussions,” Weissman said. “When you’re talking about a $6 million budget gap, you have to look at everything.”

Like Zirgulis, Meghan Sahli-Wells also pledged to forego her $440 stipend during her first year in office.

“I would certainly be willing to do that,” Sahli-Wells told the News. “It doesn’t seem fair to ask city employees to make certain sacrifices and not do the same thing.”

Former City Councilwoman Carol Gross recalled during an earlier budget crisis several years ago that she donated her stipend to the city’s coffers as a show of support to City Hall employees that were considering taking pay cuts.

“Others around the city were making sacrifices, and when you’re in a budget crisis, every little bit helps,” Gross said. “It seemed the least that I could do to stand with the city’s employees.”

Vice Mayor Christopher Armenta called the proposal “a no-brainer” considering the fiscal challenges that lie ahead and the concessions that others would be making.

“If my salary will help in some small way to solve our budget deficit, then I’m all for it,” Armenta said.

Councilman Scott Malsin said he would contribute his stipend if the council collectively decided to, but he does not think the proposal has a lot of merit.

“I think whoever is proposing that is barking up the wrong tree,” he said.

The councilman said that he and his colleagues work very long hours before and after they take the dais twice a month on Monday nights.

“It’s like a full-time job sometimes,” Malsin said. “It’s very difficult for anyone who does not have a good income and flexibility in their schedules to serve on the council.”

Taking larger salaries during times of expanding budget deficits has proved to be controversial for officeholders and high-ranking public officials. Much of the public was outraged to learn that former Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Culver City) gave several staff members raises before she stepped down March 1. Three years ago, former Culver City City Manager Jerry Fulwood was criticized publicly by members of the community and some former city leaders for asking for and receiving a significant pay raise.

Marlee Chang, whom Fulwood elevated to assistant city manager from the position of city controller, also received a raise during a time when city officials were grappling with rising pension costs and decreasing revenues.

Both Chang and Fulwood retired at a higher salary rate a year after their raises.

In Los Angeles, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa asked the city council and the public employees unions for “shared sacrifice” on Feb. 19 to help close its $212 million shortfall. He has asked all municipal employees — including the police and fire departments — to take a 5% salary cut and requested that the council loan the city $25 million that the various members have accumulated over the last several years from their discretionary funds. The revenue is derived from the sale of surplus properties and franchise pipeline fees.

The council deposited $12 million into the city’s general fund last month.

Culver City’s leaders will soon be forced to determine how they can continue to keep the city’s public services, long seen a community benefit in “The Heart of Screenland,” while asking the employee bargaining units to take into account the city’s budget difficulties.

Both Jeff Cooper and Malsin have said they plan to maintain the city’s public safety departments at their current levels. Cooper has also stated that he would keep Culver City’s community services intact.

“If I have my way, there will be no layoffs,” the candidate said in an interview with the News on March 11. “As far as services, there is no way those things are going to be compromised. They’re not going to be touched.”

Villaraigosa, on the other hand, conceded Los Angeles residents would likely notice how some municipal services would be affected.

“We’re all going to have to make sacrifices,” the mayor acknowledged. “We can’t lay off people in the numbers we’re talking about without reducing the size of the services we provide.”

Weissman also said it could be challenging, during lean economic times, to keep Culver City’s public services at the level that they are now.

“It’s going to be very difficult to continue to do what we’re doing now,” he said.

Sahli-Wells said council health benefits should also be examined during a time when the city government is facing a budget shortfall and municipal employees, as well as Culver City’s residents, are being asked to do more with less.

“It might sound controversial, but I think that’s something to consider,” the council candidate asserted. “If you serve two terms on the city council, you can get lifetime benefits, while city employees who have worked (at City Hall) for 20 years or more might have theirs limited.”

Gross said an elected city leader relinquishing the council stipend during a budget crisis could be seen as more than just a symbolic gesture.

“If you put all of the council (salaries) together over a year, it might save a program or an employee’s job,” the former councilwoman noted.

Armenta agrees.

“I don’t want to think about one person being laid off, so if (giving up) my salary will help save a job, then I would happily do it,” he reiterated.

Sunkist Park homeowner Thomas Supple says some members of the public might interpret a candidate or councilman’s decision to relinquish half of their salaries during challenging fiscal times.

“(The council) does a lot of work, but I don’t think they will lose as much as a city employee,” Supple added.

Malsin said there were a number of other options that the council could explore to help reduce the deficit.

“I really don’t think it’s a very meaningful thing to do,” he said, referring to the council stipend

Cooper and Councilman Micheál O’Leary did not return calls for comment. Councilman Gary Silbiger is term limited and will leave office at the end of April.