El Cajon firefighters and crime lab technicians raised concerns about proposed cuts Tuesday as the city council reviewed a preliminary $104.3 million general fund budget for fiscal year 2026-27 that calls for about $2.5 million in cuts to balance the budget and avoid draining reserves.
Anticipating $105.7 million in expenditures, officials said the $1.46 million shortfall was expected as revenue has fallen short of spending in the last four years.
“We did see this coming,” Clay Shane, the city’s director of finance, said. “These mitigating actions, austere in some cases, will likely need to continue in the near future in order to keep the General Fund approximately balanced.”
The proposed budget would also pull about $1.5 million from the city’s general fund reserve, bringing the city’s reserve balance to $6.9 million for the upcoming fiscal year. El Cajon’s general fund reserve policy calls for maintaining about 20% of expenditures — roughly $21 million for fiscal year 2026-27 — which the projected ending balance falls far below.
El Cajon’s main stream of revenue is sales tax, with property taxes also making up a significant chunk of their income stream. Although the proposed budget anticipates $33.3 million in revenue from sales taxes and an additional $13.4 from Prop J sales taxes, Shane said softened revenue over time created the need for additional budget trimming.
Officials said the shortfall has forced 2.5% reductions across every department. That included the proposed “reallocation” of all firefighting staff at Fire Station 6, a rapid response unit operated by Heartland Fire & Rescue located in downtown El Cajon.
Notably, restructuring would not take place until after their new fire engine is operational, but local firefighters and union leaders said the change would put immense strain on their emergency services.
“This will negatively impact services to the community and not provide the cost savings that you are proposing,” said Michael Hays, union president for San Miguel Firefighters Association.
Displacing the firefighting squad would displace personnel and create burned out firefighters, while potentially impacting response times to nearby communities, he said.
Another proposal would shut down the city’s crime lab, which is operated by the El Cajon Police Department to provide forensic services to agencies across the county.
City Manager Graham Mitchell said those services would be turned over to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office.
Consolidation of those services would negatively impact criminal justice services across the county, said Shelly Webster, the crime lab’s manager.
“We identify offenders through forensic evidence, we provide justice for the victims and we help exonerate the innocent,” Webster said. “These functions are essential to public safety and the integrity of our criminal justice system.”
Other proposed cuts include laying off 5.5 police department employees, delaying long-term traffic projects, slowing consultant work on the city’s potential acquisition of Parkway Plaza, delaying building maintenance, and more.
“Our goal was to minimize the impact on residents,” Mitchell said.
City leaders shared concerns about the budget outlook and made alternative suggestions to the proposed cuts to the fire department and crime lab.
Councilmember Michelle Mitzel proposed closing down city-run recreation centers to close the budget gap, which Mayor Bill Wells opposed.
“When we start closing down recreation centers, they’re not coming back,” Wells said, noting concern about “potential psychological impacts.”
Councilmember Steve Goble said he is against closing the crime lab and cutting fire department staffing. He suggested the city pull additional funding from the city’s general fund reserve, which Wells said he was against.
“Somehow, we have to structurally change our revenue because this isn’t working for us,” Goble said. “We have a revenue problem … Hopefully something gets on the ballot to get us more revenue.”