Thirty-three Chula Vista Police Department officers were laid off Thursday as part of the latest round of job cuts that have plagued San Diego County's second biggest city.

"It's very difficult to say the least. It's a crisis," said Chula Vista Police Department Chief David Bejarano.

Bejarano met with each officer individually Thursday afternoon to discuss the layoffs, which go into effect January 7, 2011. The layoffs would cut the department from 230 sworn officers to 197. The cuts mean Chula Vista would have only 0.83 officers for every 1,000 residents, which is the worst ratio in the county.

"That would hurt any agency, especially our agency is one of the lowest-staffed agencies in the county," Bejarano said.

"The house of cards that is the Chula Vista Police Department is going to come tumbling down," said Fred Rowbotham, the president of the Chula Vista Police Officers Association. "The citizens of Chula Vista need to be prepared to take care of themselves in the absence of professional law enforcement."

Chula Vista City Manager Jim Sandoval authorized the layoffs and said the city needed to let the officers go to help the city cut more than $12.5 million from next year's budget.

"If we don't lay these folks off, what we'll be doing is closing down the libraries, closing down the recreation centers," Sandoval said.

Sandoval added the layoffs can be avoided if the police union agreed to give up their pay raises this year and if officers begin paying into their own pension accounts. So far, negotiations have been icy.

"They've told me it's not something they're willing to talk about, that they would rather take the money and not have to pay the contribution and see the officers go," Sandoval said.

Rowbotham told 10News the opposite, and said the unions are willing to negotiate but the city is asking for too much at one time.

"We are absolutely willing to work with them, however the demands that he's made are absolutely ridiculous," Rowbotham said.

Thursday's layoffs will impact more than 33 police officers. More than a dozen senior officers were part of the cuts but they have the right to take a pay cut and rank demotion. Doing so would push a more junior officer out the door.

Chula Vista has been plagued by severe budget cuts for three years. The city has cut more than $40 million during that time and laid off roughly 150 employees, but none of them were police officers.

The city is asking all of its employees to begin paying into their pension accounts, but so far, none of the other employee unions, including the Chula Vista Employees Association and the Fire Fighters union, have agreed to the pension reform either.

Sandoval will present his budget cuts during an Oct. 5 Chula Vista City Council meeting.