Fullerton City Council members are looking to sign off on a new budget that could keep them out of a deficit for as long as three years tonight, with city leaders looking to cut across several departments.

It comes after city leaders were set to blow through nearly all Fullerton’s remaining reserves this year after their budgeting team made a multi-million dollar mistake that over inflated the city’s reserves when the money was already allocated elsewhere.  

[Read:  How Cooked is Fullerton’s Budget?]

Normally, cities across Orange County adopt their budgets by the end of June to wrap up their fiscal years, but Fullerton delayed their adoption now to brainstorm ways to fix their budget problems. 

Now, city council members are set to vote on a budget plan that cuts nearly $7 million in spending by eliminating a series of vacant jobs, including six police officer positions and a host of other staff vacancies across the parks and public works departments. 

While the move does balance out their general fund for this year, it’s only balanced through shifting $2.5 million from their maintenance funds back to the general fund, along with a little under $1 million from other funds according to budget records. 

It’s unclear what Fullerton leaders will do to generate more income, with city council members taking a sales tax increase off the table for now and not offering any ideas on how to dramatically increase their income over the next few years. 

[Read: Recall Efforts, A Failed Sales Tax Proposal, An Ongoing Deficit: Fullerton’s Wild Ride]

It also remains unclear if the budget will last three full years – the staff’s assumptions require no raises and no unanticipated spending in that time frame. 

Several of their largest union contracts are set to end within that window, including the Fullerton Firefighters Association Contract, which wraps up in June 2027 and the police officer’s association contract that wraps up in June 2028, meaning negotiations for raises will open up.  

Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org.

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