BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — The Bakersfield City Council adopted the upcoming fiscal year’s budget Wednesday night, making a last-minute amendment to allocate money to spay and neuter services, tree planting and the city’s fire rescue units.

The City Council approved the adoption of the fiscal year 2026-2027 budget in a 5-1 vote, with Ward 3 Council member Ken Weir voting no.

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The budget is $926,782,551 with a total projected revenue of $848,761,894.

The budget includes about $13 million in spending reductions, $20 million increase in overall costs and about $8 million in additional revenue increases since the current fiscal year, according to city officials.

Weir said it’s ridiculous that the city’s budget for one year is nearly a billion dollars and that the city can’t survive with that kind of spending.

Several Bakersfield residents attended the meeting to ask the city to spend more on spay and neuter services for the community, halt or reduce the use of Flock surveillance cameras, plant more trees and more.

Eric Arias, council member representing Ward 1, said he thinks this is a well-balanced budget. He thanked city staff for putting together the budget during a financially and economically tough year.

“Times are tough, you know, families feel it, neighborhoods are feeling it, we the city, too, are feeling it,” said Arias.

Arias said the city should invest more in spay and neuter services, as well as tree planting and urban canopy expansion, which were both listed as optional capital projects that could be added to the budget at the meeting.

There are $13 million allocated to capital projects. Among that, less than $5 million has not yet been designated for specific projects, according to City Manager Christian Clegg.

That remainder would go to any optional items the City Council decided to add to the budget, Clegg said.

Ward 2 Council member Andrae Gonzales proposed including spay and neuter services and fire rescue units to the budget.

Fire rescue units are two-firefighter units that respond to calls for medical aid, fires and rescues. At the last Council meeting, Gonzales and Arias said the city should spend money to maintain these units.

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Vice Mayor Manpreet Kaur made a motion to invest $500,000 in tree planting and urban canopy expansion, $100,000 in spay and neuter services and $900,000 in fire rescue apparatus as part of the budget.

The motion passed with only Weir voting against it.

This budget will be in effect from July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2027.

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