Langley City Hall will no longer be open on Fridays beginning next month as the city continues its struggle with decreasing revenues.

“The front office will be closed, and the front door will be locked,” Debbie Mahler, Langley finance director, said Thursday.

City hall currently is open from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Fridays, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays. New business hours beginning next year will be 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday.

Mahler said the closure is to accommodate one-day-per-week furloughs required of the four employees of the Finance and Administration Department as stipulated in the 2010 budget, which is expected to be adopted at next week’s city council meeting.

City officials with offices in city hall will still be available on Fridays by appointment, Mahler said.

If the city council approves the ordinance directing the closure, the new schedule will start the week of Jan. 4.

The council meets at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 21, at city hall on Second Street. A public council workshop begins at 4 p.m.

Mahler said reduced city-hall hours were the result of a 20-percent reduction in the Finance and Administration Department’s budget for next year.

The new department budget is $39,159 for next year.

The new city budget also eliminates money for janitorial service for city hall, the Langley Library and the Langley Visitor Center. City Public Works department employees will take over those tasks, Mahler said.

Also, all employees covered by the general-fund budget will be required to take off one day per month without pay, Mahler said.