The City of Bridgeport announced Thursday its latest attempt to cut costs and close a $20 million budget deficit.

Mayor Bill Finch said he is reducing the number of city employees who are allowed to take city-owned cars home with them by nearly half. About 35 vehicles will be cut from the city?s take-home vehicle fleet.

The cars that are eliminated will be auctioned off, providing a little extra revenue for the city.

Officials said take-home cars will only be available to those that are on-call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including the mayor and the public works director.

?I think Bridgeport is leading the state in terms of asking employees for sacrifice,? said Finch. ?I think we're leading the state in terms of becoming more efficient. I think we're leading the state in terms of cutting our own public spending.?

Finch said the $20 million deficit is down to about $11 or $12 million.

Several city jobs have been cut and the unions have been asked for concessions. In addition, the mayor asked to cut departmental budgets by as much as 20 percent.

To watch an interview with Mayor Finch turn to Channel 612 on your iO digital cable box and select iO Extra