There's no better place to observe bare-knuckled, sleeves-rolled-to-the-elbows governing than budget negotiations.

That's what happened at Roanoke City Hall on Monday afternoon as city council members spent nearly three hours considering potential tax increases and spending cuts to make up a $7.4 million shortfall in its 2009-'10 budget.

"Some axes swinging up here," Vice Mayor Sherman Lea said at one point.

The final budget won't be approved until May, following a public hearing on April 20. Until then the council's decisions are only tentative.

City residents can take a survey to give their two-cents on the budget. The survey deadline is Friday. Surveys can be found at roanokeva.gov, and copies are available at fire stations and library branches.

As of Monday evening, here's what's likely coming down for city residents starting July 1, which marks the beginning of the next fiscal year:

• Closing of the city's two pools in Washington and Fallon parks this summer. That would delay any proposed renovations to the pools, which had been recently discussed.
• Reduction in Valley Metro bus service. Buses would stop running at 7:45 p.m. instead of 8:45 p.m. In addition, peak service -- where buses run on the half-hour instead of the usual hour -- would be trimmed city-wide and eliminated altogether along the Brambleton and Southeast Roanoke routes.
• Elimination of the city's loose leaf collection.
• The elimination of six Fire-EMS positions that were assigned to the Roanoke County Clearbrook station.
• Closing of branch libraries one day a week.
• A reduction in the frequency of mowing athletic fields, parks and rights-of-way.

The cuts join others already approved by the council, including elimination of city funding for what was its arts festival, the elimination of the police department's mounted patrol and suspension of the library bookmobile.

There may be tax increases coming, too. The council ran short of time before it came to anything close to a decision, but city staff is recommending a 1 percent increase in the meals tax, along with a potential increase in the lodging tax. There are no proposed increases in the city's real estate or personal property taxes.

The budget gap was brought on largely by the national recession and a corresponding drop in tax revenues. Although Monday's considerations included some new money from the federal stimulus package passed last month, the council is still faced with tough choices.

Even those decisions that seem relatively easy are going to hurt the city's residents, Lea said.

The Valley Metro service cut was just one example.

Council members quickly agreed to make the reductions. Lea noted that although the decision seemed easy in comparison to some others yet to be made, the cuts would hurt some city residents who work late and rely on the bus to get to their jobs.

"It's not like nobody's going to feel any pain," Lea said.

The council's discussion was free-flowing and touched on a range of topics across the city, resulting in a number of frank comments by both council members and city staffers.

During a discussion of the two city pools, City Manager Darlene Burcham said, "This community looks at the pools that we have in a very segregated way -- segregated racially and socioeconomically." She said that one of her goals is to "create really good facilities some place in the city that everyone uses, and not any one group. ... We can't afford to have facilities in different parts of the city that are just for that part of the city."

A couple of council members expressed disillusion with the city's participation in funding the New River Valley Commerce Park in Pulaski County. City Attorney Bill Hackworth said the city might be sued if it tries to discontinue funding for the enterprise; Councilman Court Rosen responded that it may be worth the risk.

The council's work ended Monday unfinished. It's scheduled to meet with the school board next week in a joint meeting that should provide more clarity on funding of the city school system, which represents a large percentage of the city's budget.

In other business Monday, Councilman Rupert Cutler, who was appointed to complete the unfinished term partially served by Alvin Nash and Alfred Dowe, announced that he'd resigned from the boards of several organizations "so there's no whiff of conflict of interest."

The boards included those of the Western Virginia Water Authority, the Council of Community Services, Opera Roanoke and the Roanoke Valley Cool Cities Coalition.

Cutler said he will not resign from the board of the Virginia Outdoors Foundation.

"I think that's too important," he said.