Late last Friday, Mayor Barbara Lee published her proposed budget for the fiscal year that starts on July 1.

The highly anticipated budget will determine whether or not Oakland can maintain, cut, or increase critical services like police, fire, illegal dumping cleanup, libraries, and senior centers.

The City Council has final say on the budget and must approve a spending plan before July.

In 2024, then-Mayor Sheng Thao and the council gambled by passing a two-year budget that relied on millions in revenue from selling the Coliseum, a deal that has still failed to go through, and which caused some painful budget adjustments.

This time, Lee is hinging her plans on a big electoral bet. Oakland residents are currently voting on Measure E, a new parcel tax that would add roughly $34 million to the city’s coffers each year. 

If voters pass Measure E, Lee has has a spending plan ready to go:

$10 million to replace aging ambulances, fire engines, and trucks.

$10.8 million to restore a police academy and pay for 22 police officers to focus on sideshows, the Ceasefire program, human trafficking, and burglary suppression.  

$6 million for crews to clean parks, clear homeless encampments, and replace equipment.

$3 million to pay for emergency temporary shelter beds and to evaluate the city’s homelessness services.

$1.9 million to fund 10 life coaches who focus on violence prevention.

$1.6 million to draft various plans, including how to put Oakland on the path toward long-term financial stability.

If Measure E doesn’t pass, then Lee’s balanced budget proposal would move ahead without that additional spending plan.

While the proposed budget doesn’t appear to plan for any layoffs, some departments would have to tighten their belts. Lee also warned that due to losses and delays in federal and state funding, Oakland will takes 190 shelter beds offline this summer.

“The City is chronically distressed,” Lee wrote in a letter accompanying her proposal. “Simply put, the ongoing cost of providing city services continues to grow faster than Oakland’s recurring revenues.”

Under the no Measure E scenario, police will take a major cut

An OPD patrol car parked at the municipal service yard on Thursday May 14, 2026. Credit: Estefany Gonzalez for The Oaklandside.

Lee’s budget cuts $35 million from the budget that council approved for OPD in the coming fiscal year. This would put the department’s total budget at $375 million for next year. 

OPD would slash roughly $17 million for expenditures related to service and supply contracts, plus travel and education. The department will also reduce $648,000 in overtime, with the bulk coming from patrol. OPD started investigating its overtime practices after The Oaklandside reported that one officer had accumulated hundreds of thousands of dollars in overtime that was poorly documented.

Thanks to outside donors, OPD has money to pay for a cadet program to create a pathway for young people who want to become police officers. But the budget freezes seven non-sworn positions and cuts the number of budgeted police officers and sergeants — the majority of OPD’s sworn staff who conduct patrols and other on-street duties — from 695 to 634. 

Oakland is currently budgeted for 678 officers, but as of May 14, the department has only 610 positions filled. 71 sworn employees are on medical or administrative leave. The department’s actual operating strength is 495. 

Lee has spoken about wanting OPD to reach 700 police officers as part of the Measure NN spending plan. But OPD has struggled with high attrition and trouble recruiting and hiring new officers. Lee has noted that Oakland will face longer emergency response times due to the lack of officers.

The OPD budget will likely be the most controversial element of Lee’s proposal. It partly explains why she has been campaigning for Oaklanders to approve Measure E, which would net the city government tens of millions of dollars in extra revenue every year, most of which would go toward public safety programs.

Fire avoids major reductions

Oakland firefighters outside of a house fire in West Oakland on July 19, 2021. Credit: Amir Aziz/The Oaklandside.

 OFD’s overall budget for the coming year will drop from a planned $244 million to nearly $234 million. But the department’s budgeted manpower will grow slightly from 659 to 669.

Under Lee’s proposal, OFD will add several positions to the department’s training program focused on recruitment. It will also add three supervisor positions to the MACRO program, which serves residents experiencing non-violent mental health crises. And the department is getting some cash to help buy a couple used ambulances to set up its own ambulance program. Currently, Alameda County contracts for ambulance service with the private company Falck. But that contract is opening up in the future, which means cities like Oakland can run their own ambulances and charge fees.

In an announcement accompanying her proposal, Lee stated that the budget does not provide sufficient funds to replace aging fire vehicles, and that Oakland “may have no choice but to shut down fire stations” in the coming year.

Unsurprisingly, Councilmember Zac Unger, who previously served as the union president for OFD workers, has championed Measure E.  

The Police Commission and Public Ethics Commission will see significant cuts

In 2022, Oakland voters approved a ballot measure to fund a city initiative that would have given qualifying residents vouchers to support candidates of their choosing in each election. The goal of the so-called Democracy Dollars program was to level the political playing field.

But the rollout of Democracy Dollars has been postponed for several years due to the city’s financial turmoil. Under Lee’s proposal, the Public Ethics Commission, which oversees Democracy Dollars, would net about $252,000 for software to run the program but lose $372,000 for contracts.

With the ongoing delay of Democracy Dollars, the city would maintain the Limited Public Financing Program, which historically has provided small sums of money for candidates who need help paying for ads and other campaign materials. This will have direct bearing on the November 2026 election.

The Police Commission’s budget is being cut by nearly $700,000, or nearly 12%. The commission’s Community Police Review Agency, which investigates police misconduct, will see its budgeted staff drop from 18 to 14, including investigators and an attorney. The City Auditor recently reported that lack of funding in Oakland’s police oversight bodies is hindering them from performing their jobs.  

Beleaguered HR Department gets some help hiring

Human Resources Management will get enough money to pay for six employees to focus on recruiting and hiring police. 

Councilmembers expressed outrage with the department earlier this year after learning that the city has failed to hire hundreds of budgeted positions, including police officers. The department will also receive $350,000 to handle fingerprinting services, transferring this onerous task from OPD. According to a recent staffing report, nearly half of HR’s budgeted positions were vacant as of February. 

Lee’s proposal will also give HR an extra $250,000 to pay for negotiators who work on contracts with the city’s labor unions. 

Finance completes takeover of parking enforcement

Oakland parking workers showed up in force at a City Council committee meeting. Several spoke out against a proposed reorganization that would move their work from the Department of Transportation to the Finance Department. Credit: Jose Fermoso/The Oaklandside

The Finance Department will absorb 17 parking enforcement positions from OakDOT, formalizing a controversial takeover.

Finance staff claim that placing parking under their department will increase revenue. But OakDOT staff protested this idea at public meetings and accused Finance of attempting to dismantle their department. Michael Ford, a senior OakDOT staffer, also credited the current arrangement with preventing “people in power” from leaning on city workers to fix parking citations or obtain other parking privileges.

OakDOT will get $1.25 million to pay contractors for parking meter mobile payment application services. The department is also dedicating $1.6 million for street sweeping and $100,000 in overtime pay to cover parking enforcement on weekends and evenings. The proposal cuts $447,000 for repairing and replacing parking meters. 

Oakland says it is investing in Artificial Intelligence

Oakland will continue its flirtation with AI by providing Microsoft Copilot AI licenses to certain staff across the city. Oakland officials created an AI working group a couple years ago to explore potential tools that could improve city services. And the city solicited pitches from companies for AI tools that could be used in pilot programs in different departments. Officials said a couple dozen staffers were being trained to use Copilot, a powerful AI assistant that can draft reports, analyze data, and summarize documents.   

The IT Department, which is overseeing the AI rollout, is losing four positions that were added several years ago to bolster the city’s cybersecurity after the disastrous ransomware attack.

A mixed bag for several struggling departments

Lee’s budget would restore all of the city-run senior centers to full-time operations four days a week, and would reopen the West Oakland Senior Center by restoring roughly two positions. The department is also gaining several administrative positions but losing five senior aides.

Human Services, which recently lost its department head, is reducing $1.4 million in funding for Kids First, a program that contracts with community organizations to provide services for thousands of youths each year. The proposal also freezes three vacant Head Start jobs.

The Department of Workplace and Employment Standards is regaining a supervisor to oversee labor standards investigators, but losing an investigator who reviews complaints about wage theft and inhumane working conditions. 

DVP is repurposing roughly $540,000 to maintain Ceasefire-Lifeline positions. These roles were supposed to be funded with grants, but the grants weren’t awarded. Nearly $1 million in unused carryforward funds are being directed to this program, too. 

Oakland Animal Services will have several positions restored, including workers who provide medical treatment to animals and respond to animal cruelty and neglect complaints. And the budget would restore a public service role so OAS can remain open seven days a week instead of just five. 

Economic and Workforce Development is paying for three permit inspectors who will help regulate cannabis businesses, mobile vending, cabarets, and other ventures. The continued management and development of the former Oakland Army Base would also get some funding. Community initiatives, including $200,000 for the mayor’s summer youth program, and $250,000 for the city’s film rebate program are also included in the budget plan. 

The proposal unfreezes four jobs at Housing and Community Development, which the mayor claims will restore the department’s capacity for rent adjustment hearings by 20%. It also adds a couple positions to help implement a city program that removes lead paint from homes.

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