The city of Sacramento is facing a $66 million budget shortfall, and to close it, one proposal includes cutting funding to youth violence prevention programs.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The city of Sacramento is facing a $66 million deficit, and councilmembers are discussing what cuts to make to pass a balanced budget for the coming fiscal year, which starts July 1.
One option from the police department includes a one-time $1.4 million reduction to the Gang Prevention & Intervention Taskforce project. That’s one of the programs that partners with and funds community-based organizations (CBOs), which do the boots-on-the-ground work of responding to – and preventing – gang violence and other youth violence.
Mervin Brookins is the CEO and founder of Brother to Brother, a CBO in Sacramento’s Del Paso Heights neighborhood focused on empowering at-risk youth and preventing and interrupting violence.
“We’ve been inside every school in Twin Rivers (Unified School District) – junior high and high school – and we teach them the 10 reasons not to pick up a gun,” Brookins said, while giving ABC10 a tour of the Brother to Brother offices on Tuesday.
Brother to Brother is part of a patchwork of organizations throughout the city building relationships with the local youth, preventing violence and responding to the scene when it does happen.
“When you think of the K Street shooting a few years ago – horrendous incident – one of the things that happened is—afterwards, there was no retaliation,” Brookins said. “That was a result of the intervention services…Brother to Brother, All N’together, H.O.P.E., several other organizations – that got involved on both sides and say, ‘Hey, we can’t have this back and forth.’ That’s intervention.”
Prevention, on the other hand, “is what you have when you’re dealing with youth programs, mentoring and things of that nature,” Brookins said. “Both are extremely necessary.”
Looking at proposed cuts in funding to CBOs, Brookins said, “for me that means lives lost in the community…That means a lot of youth that have come to depend on us and trust on us, they don’t have a place to go. They don’t have that trusted individual that they can look to for guidance, and where are they going turn to? The streets. And we all know what that leads to.”
Brookins said he has been talking with city councilmembers about this, and ABC10 asked Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty where he stands.
“I’m concerned just like Merv. He’s an ally of ours in the city. I know about his programs, Brother to Brother. I’ve helped support and fund them as a lawmaker,” he said. “Look, our choices before us tonight and this month, they’re all awful. They’re all terrible.”
He pointed to a new source of revenue that could potentially help fund Brother to Brother and other violence-prevention organizations.
“One thing we are looking at is, there was a new law at the state level. There’s a new surcharge on gun and ammunition sales in California. I know about it because I helped write it; it’s AB 28,” McCarty said. “And with that comes over $100 million a year to violence prevention programs like Brother to Brother. So they’re going to be applying for that, so we’re hopeful that there’ll be other ways to continue the work that is happening out there to prevent needless gun violence amongst our youth.”
The constitutionality of AB 28 is currently at question in a civil lawsuit making its way through Sacramento Superior Court, Poway Weapons & Gear and SGR Ventures (Sacramento Gun Range) v. California Department of Tax and Fee Administration and CDTFA director Trista Gonzalez. The state has asked the judge to dismiss the case, saying the plaintiff does not state a valid legal claim. The plaintiffs disagree and have asked the judge to invalidate AB 28. The next hearing is set for May 14, according to Sacramento Superior Court’s website.
Regardless, McCarty reiterated City Council will have to grapple with tough choices from now until the budget is set to be passed on June 9. Councilmembers started discussions at Tuesday evening’s meeting, looking at City Manager Maraskeshia Smith’s budget proposal.
Some of the proposals include eliminating 46 occupied full-time positions and 101 vacant full-time positions. Proposed cuts to the Police Department include eliminating the mounted patrol unit, getting rid of the human trafficking unit and discontinuing the use of ShotSpotter except in the north area of the city.
No sworn police officers or firefighters will be laid off, but many civilian support positions are on the chopping block.
Community members can attend meetings, submit comments or contact city leaders to participate in the process.
City leaders said the budget maintains a focus on priorities, including economic development, homelessness and public safety. Planned investments include creating a new Economic Development Department, expanding homelessness outreach and shelter capacity, and maintaining sworn police and fire staffing levels.
City officials say economic uncertainty remains, including inflation, potential recession risks, unfunded pension liabilities and deferred infrastructure needs.
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