The Berkeley City Council’s Budget and Finance Committee proposed budget cuts to city staff in the DEI division of the city manager’s office, the police department and unhoused response programs, all in an effort to reduce the city’s roughly $30 million deficit.
The potential cuts could affect programs across the city, including a proposal to terminate city staff in the DEI division of the City Manager’s office, according to David White, deputy city manager.
In total, the budget proposal aims to reduce spending on citywide departments by 10.3%. Under the proposal, without the introduction of a tax, 100 vacant city staff positions and 38 filled positions would be cut. Currently, 70% of the general fund in Berkeley goes to staff positions.
“With last year’s budget and this year’s budget, we would effectively be eliminating all the staff that were assigned to that division,” White said. “But we will still continue to operate programs that are centered on equity … it will just be done at the department level. It won’t be done through that division coordinating those efforts.”
According to White, under the proposal, DEI programs like Healthy Black Families would continue but be housed under different departments.
Some other programs facing possible cuts include civic arts, small business assistance and unhoused outreach.
Additionally, the budget proposes to reduce police department staff; 15 police officers and six dispatchers would be maintained with one-time funding.
“As it pertains to our work addressing homelessness, when you look at the totality of work that we do, we’re proposing very limited reductions here,” White said. “So really, the effort was to try to preserve as much as we can.”
Public commenters expressed concern over the budget proposal, including the suggestion of cutting programs to the Berkeley Waterfront.
“My first son was 3 days old the first time we visited the Berkeley waterfront; the improvements I’ve watched over his 10 years here have been remarkable,” said one public commenter. “They didn’t happen by accident; they happened because someone on a team was doing the work. Don’t stop now, you are right on the edge of what this place can become.”
White said the Budget and Finance Committee’s main focus on building the budget was maintaining public safety.
A significant amount of the proposed budget plan relies on the assumption that the Sales and Use Tax, an item that still has to be placed on the November ballot by the City Council, will be passed, according to White.
This tax would bring in a new revenue stream of $9.4 million that could fund and save certain proposed cuts, lowering citywide cuts to 7% instead of 10.3%. For example, according to White, the budget proposes to close Fire Station 4, but if this tax is passed, the station would remain open.
The Budget and Finance Committee discussed two scenarios. If the Sales and Use Tax passes, major public service disruptions would not occur, according to the presentation. The second scenario, in which the ballot item does not pass, means deeper cuts would be needed to lower the deficit.
The Budget and Finance Committee will meet April 23 to further discuss the proposed budget.