Oklahoma City budget officials say they expect the decline in sales tax revenue that is driving budget cuts and workforce reductions to ease in the second half of the fiscal year.

December sales tax fell 6 percent compared to the same month last year. Year-over-year monthly sales tax revenue now has dropped in 14 of the past 15 months.

In response, the city council agreed this week to $9.2 million in budget reductions, eliminating 39 positions in departments including police, parks and public works.

Combined with cuts adopted in June, the city has cut 83 positions from the budget and "frozen" 69 others, 21 in fire and 48 in police, in fiscal 2017.