Sacramento City Council approves $1.7 billion budget in 7-2 vote

The Sacramento City Council approved a $1.7 billion city budget Tuesday night in a 7-2 vote, finalizing a plan to close a $66 million budget deficit while preserving some community programs and eliminating some jobs.Councilmembers Mai Vang and Lisa Kaplan voted against the budget.Before the vote, the council heard from dozens of residents, many of whom urged city leaders to reconsider parts of the spending plan during a sometimes-disruptive meeting at City Hall.“It’s not what the community wants,” one public commenter told the council. “The community has told you what they want, and we expect you to listen.”The budget comes after weeks of council meetings and debate over how to address the city’s shortfall.“This budget contains a lot of difficult decisions and trade-offs, but advances council priorities to preserve its core services,” City Finance Director Pete Coletto told the council.According to city officials, the approved budget preserves violence prevention programs, restores recreational swim hours at city pools and keeps park maintenance positions. It also retains unfilled positions in the police and fire departments.At the same time, the budget increases some fees and parking rates and eliminates jobs in several departments.“This was a difficult budget,” Coletto said. “We closed a large budget gap. The council had to make a lot of difficult decisions. But we made real progress in addressing our structural deficit.”Vang said she could not support the plan because it did not go far enough in reducing vacant police department positions.“We need to have the courage to absorb PD vacancies in the police department,” Vang said. “We aren’t bold enough to do that, and so I can’t support this budget.”Kaplan said she opposed the budget because of cuts affecting community ambassador stipends.“I can’t support something that is an oxymoron for when we talk about supporting diversity and inclusion, yet we are eliminating the community ambassador stipends for the areas we need to hear the most from,” Kaplan said.During public comment, several residents criticized the city for balancing the budget in ways they said would disproportionately affect vulnerable communities.“It’s really sketchy that they have hundreds of positions that are unfilled,” one speaker said. “So is that their piggy bank? Their overtime account?”Another speaker told the council, “When you say we are balancing the budget, you’re actually saying we are balancing it on the back of our community members.”One public commenter also criticized staffing reductions in the Office of Public Safety and Accountability.“The Office of Public Safety and Accountability, the one mechanism that has some form of power for police accountability other than the city manager’s department, is being cut by a quarter of its staff,” the speaker said.The new budget takes effect July 1.City officials said Sacramento remains in a structural deficit, meaning spending continues to outpace revenues. The city expects to face a nearly $36 million deficit next year.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

SACRAMENTO, Calif. —

The Sacramento City Council approved a $1.7 billion city budget Tuesday night in a 7-2 vote, finalizing a plan to close a $66 million budget deficit while preserving some community programs and eliminating some jobs.

Councilmembers Mai Vang and Lisa Kaplan voted against the budget.

Before the vote, the council heard from dozens of residents, many of whom urged city leaders to reconsider parts of the spending plan during a sometimes-disruptive meeting at City Hall.

“It’s not what the community wants,” one public commenter told the council. “The community has told you what they want, and we expect you to listen.”

The budget comes after weeks of council meetings and debate over how to address the city’s shortfall.

“This budget contains a lot of difficult decisions and trade-offs, but advances council priorities to preserve its core services,” City Finance Director Pete Coletto told the council.

According to city officials, the approved budget preserves violence prevention programs, restores recreational swim hours at city pools and keeps park maintenance positions. It also retains unfilled positions in the police and fire departments.

At the same time, the budget increases some fees and parking rates and eliminates jobs in several departments.

“This was a difficult budget,” Coletto said. “We closed a large budget gap. The council had to make a lot of difficult decisions. But we made real progress in addressing our structural deficit.”

Vang said she could not support the plan because it did not go far enough in reducing vacant police department positions.

“We need to have the courage to absorb PD vacancies in the police department,” Vang said. “We aren’t bold enough to do that, and so I can’t support this budget.”

Kaplan said she opposed the budget because of cuts affecting community ambassador stipends.

“I can’t support something that is an oxymoron for when we talk about supporting diversity and inclusion, yet we are eliminating the community ambassador stipends for the areas we need to hear the most from,” Kaplan said.

During public comment, several residents criticized the city for balancing the budget in ways they said would disproportionately affect vulnerable communities.

“It’s really sketchy that they have hundreds of positions that are unfilled,” one speaker said. “So is that their piggy bank? Their overtime account?”

Another speaker told the council, “When you say we are balancing the budget, you’re actually saying we are balancing it on the back of our community members.”

One public commenter also criticized staffing reductions in the Office of Public Safety and Accountability.

“The Office of Public Safety and Accountability, the one mechanism that has some form of power for police accountability other than the city manager’s department, is being cut by a quarter of its staff,” the speaker said.

The new budget takes effect July 1.

City officials said Sacramento remains in a structural deficit, meaning spending continues to outpace revenues. The city expects to face a nearly $36 million deficit next year.

See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel