\t\t\t\t\tWhat\u2019s at stake?<\/p>\n
One city official said she was \u201cnot looking forward to the types of cuts that are going to be coming from departments\u201d in the next budget cycle after multiple years in a row of cuts.<\/p>\n
The City of Fresno expects another tough budget year where they\u2019ll have to plug at least a $23.3 million hole \u2014 higher than the shortfall the city projected around this time last year<\/a>.<\/p>\n The estimated deficit for the upcoming fiscal year was shared in an annual mid-year budget presentation during Thursday\u2019s Fresno City Council meeting.<\/p>\n Mayor Jerry Dyer\u2019s administration has already put the call out to departments to come up with plans to accommodate roughly 5% cuts.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is going to be the third year in a row we\u2019ve requested cut plans from departments,\u201d City Manager Georgeanne White said. \u201cI know the low-hanging fruit is gone.<\/p>\n \u201cFrankly, I have to say: not looking forward to the type of cuts that are going to be coming from departments,\u201d White added, \u201cbecause they don\u2019t have a lot of options left.\u201d<\/p>\n A year ago when preparing for the current budget year, the city projected a deficit of closer to $20 million, which ultimately ballooned to approximately $50 million, White said.<\/p>\n Dyer said he doesn\u2019t expect the gap to widen quite as much this year due to more accurate accounting at this stage in the game. But he said he\u2019d also be surprised if the shortfall doesn\u2019t ultimately cross at least the \u201c35 mark.\u201d<\/p>\n While the mayor added that he\u2019ll be looking for creative solutions to raise revenue, he thinks they\u2019ll have to increase attrition rates \u201cin order to make the budget balance.\u201d<\/p>\n These projections come even as the city brings in higher sales tax revenue than anticipated, according to Thursday\u2019s presentation.\u00a0<\/p>\n Following \u201cyears of very slow or negative growth,\u201d said Edward Chinevere, an assistant director with the Finance Department, the city expects to bring in $3.9 million more in sales tax dollars than budgeted for the current fiscal year.<\/p>\n Property tax has also stayed \u201crelatively strong,\u201d Chinevere added, coming in a little more than $100,000 short of what was expected.<\/p>\n New restrictions coming for sex offenders in Fresno?<\/p>\n During Thursday\u2019s meeting, members of the Fresno City Council said they\u2019re also working on legislation to restrict registered sex offenders\u2019 ability to serve in office at the city level.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t immediately clear what those restrictions would entail, but Councilmember Miguel Arias suggested the policy would \u201censure no sex offender gets to serve in this role without some significant precautions in place that safeguard the general public and the employees that we have within this building.\u201d<\/p>\n The discussion at Thursday\u2019s regular meeting followed news that Rene Campos, a candidate who\u2019s announced a run for District 7, is a registered sex offender, which was first reported by The Fresno Bee<\/a> and subsequently made national headlines.<\/p>\n \u201cI did hear some of the concerns of a potential future or former Epstein-type candidate coming to this dais,\u201d Arias added. \u201cI do want to be very clear, this is a public building. These are public chambers. Any given Thursday, we have kids in this room. We have families, and the last thing I want to be concerned about is whether there\u2019s a registered sex offender in these chambers.\u201d<\/p>\n Councilmember Nick Richardson added that he and his colleagues are already working with the Fresno City Attorney\u2019s Office on the matter.<\/p>\n \u201cCity Hall is for everybody, but if your presence here means that other people cannot be here,\u201d Richardson said, \u201cthat\u2019s unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n Attempts to reach Campos weren\u2019t successful Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n Existing state election law doesn\u2019t specifically target registered sex offenders with any restrictions. The only code on the books regarding convictions that disqualify individuals from running for office is California Elections Code Section 20<\/a>, according to Fresno County Clerk James Kus.<\/p>\n That section bars people from running for local or state office if they\u2019re convicted of a felony \u201cinvolving accepting or giving, or offering to give, any bribe, the embezzlement of public money, extortion or theft of public money, perjury, or conspiracy to commit any of those crimes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFor all felonies, while a felon is actually serving a sentence in a prison, they will have their voter registration canceled, making them ineligible to run for office,\u201d Kus added in an email Thursday. \u201cAfter completing their sentence, they may re-apply for registration and become eligible again (as long as they don\u2019t run afoul of EC 20).\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The possible new restrictions for registered sex offenders seeking office in the City of Fresno come after the Fresno County Board of Supervisors passed its own law limiting how many registered sex offenders can live together<\/a> in a single-family home.<\/p>\n A Sacramento-based advocacy group called the Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws, Inc. has since challenged that policy in a lawsuit<\/a>, claiming it violates the state constitution.<\/p>\n The Alliance didn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday regarding the new restrictions for sex offenders that members of the Fresno City Council teased.<\/p>\n New crosswalks and speed limits coming to school zones<\/p>\n The Fresno City Council also approved a slew of new investments and policies promoting pedestrian safety, particularly around the city\u2019s school campuses.<\/p>\n Those investments include funding for two new pedestrian-activated crosswalks, or \u201cHAWKs\u201d: one at First Street and Home Avenue near Mayfair and Ericson Elementary Schools, and another at First Street and Dovewood Lane near Hoover High School.<\/p>\n First Street was the road 15-year-old Hoover student Rashad Al-Hakim Jr.<\/a> was crossing in 2022 when a driver hit him, resulting in his death.<\/p>\n The $2.1 million project on First and Home, funded by an Active Transportation Program<\/a> grant with local matching from the city\u2019s SB1 Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Account<\/a>, also covers the cost of adding a traffic signal to the intersection of Chestnut and Weldon Avenues.\u00a0<\/p>\n The project near Hoover comes in at just over $955,000, drawing from both SB1 and Local Pedestrian & Bicycle Facility funds.<\/p>\n The council also approved a new citywide resolution to lower the speed limit near city campuses from 25 miles per hour to 20.<\/p>\n A state law requiring the reduced speed limits in school zones<\/a> across California by 2031 allows local jurisdictions to enact early implementation ahead of the deadline.<\/p>\n Fresno City Council Vice President Esparza, the sponsor of the resolution, said he hopes the new speed limit can be rolled out in time for the start of the 2026-2027 school year.<\/p>\n City documents didn\u2019t specify an estimate the cost of replacing the speed limit signs citywide, but Esparza said in a text message on Thursday that \u201cback of the envelope\u201d calculations suggests that could cost around half a million dollars.<\/p>\n Research has shown<\/a> that the risk of severe injury and death for pedestrians struck by cars decrease significantly at lower speeds.<\/p>\n \u201cIt really could be the difference between a close call,\u201d Esparza said, \u201cand a tragedy.\u201d<\/p>\n Downtown housing project gets one more last chance<\/p>\n The Fresno City Council also approved on Thursday another extension for a roughly $81 million downtown housing project that\u2019s already blown through previous deadlines, as well as $11 million total to help finance it.<\/p>\n The project is a proposed eight-story, 174-unit housing development offering a mix of affordable and market-rate apartments.<\/p>\n Dyer, a vocal proponent of the project, had previously proposed a \u201cdrop-dead\u201d deadline of Saturday, Feb. 28, for the developer \u2014 The Park Partners LLC, co-managed by Mehmet Noyan and Jeff Isenstadt \u2014 to secure the rest of the financing for their project.<\/p>\n