Monterey Park installed Councilman Anthony Wong as mayor at a special  council meeting held on Wednesday, Feb. 17 at city hall.

Wong succeeds Mitchell Ing who has been in the Mayor’s spot during most of last year. Ing presided over his last meeting early Wednesday at a four-hour session to cut the city budget.

Also installed at the event was Council woman Betty Chu who will serve as Mayor Pro Tem. In a previous term of office, Chu also served as mayor.

Monterey Park has an automatic rotation of council members in the Mayor’s position. Council members serve as Mayor for nine months and two weeks.

Wong, a local real estate broker, has indicated he will launch an outreach program to bring residents, businesses and community organizations closer to the city council.

The new city officials will be tackling a city budget that is beset by a drop in revenue due to the loss of sales taxes and other revenues becausse of the the state and national economic recession.

The Wednesday morning meeting the council voted on several measures to reduce city expenditures and reduce expenses. Among the budget cuts was reduction of library hours to help save $247,000.