With the city unable to provide, residents have begun to take more responsibility. Volunteers help with park maintenance, work at the city animal shelter and, in some cases, even replace broken streetlights.

Neighborhood watch groups have also grown in number in the last year, as they did in Vallejo and Stockton after those cities filed for bankruptcy. There are now more than 100 groups and counting, up from 76 last year. Chief Handy said the groups would play a “huge part” in fighting crime, especially given the cut to the police.

In less affluent parts of the city, though, community groups have had less influence. On the West Side, traditionally a gang-controlled area, one resident, Elisa Cortez, said that almost all the neighbors on her block had recently moved in, and that she did not know them.

On a recent Saturday, Ms. Cortez repeatedly called the city about a stray dog that lay dead on the sidewalk just outside her house. No one came. “We can’t get ahold of anybody to get rid of it,” she said.

The city is still doing regular trash collection — at least for now — if not dead animal removal. But after 15 years driving a garbage truck here, Carlos Teran does not know if the city will have enough money to pay him next month. His payroll is now month-to-month, he said.