![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/12_RB_180712_City_Hall.jpg\" "\\"The")
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The old and new buildings of Sacramento\u2019s City Hall stand downtown on July 12, 2018.<\/p>\n
Randall Benton<\/p>\n
Sacramento Bee file<\/p>\n
Sacramento\u2019s inspector general<\/a> \u2014 a position created in response to the 2020 police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis \u2014 and an investigator with a police and fire watchdog group could be laid off as the City Council works to close a $66 million budget deficit.<\/a><\/p>\n The City Council could also approve removing two vacant positions in the Office of Public Safety and Accountability,<\/a> also known as OPSA<\/a>. A deputy inspector general will remain with the city. The shrinking office may receive a $1.3 million budget for the next fiscal year, down from more than $2 million. The total spending plan is slashed by 33%, which is the largest percentage cut in an office under the purview of the mayor and City Council, according to the proposed budget released April 29.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a profound change,\u201d said Keyan Bliss, the former chair of the Community Police Review Commission.<\/p>\n Mayor Darrell Steinberg created the role of inspector general amid a raft of public safety changes in July 2020. It oversees police\u2019s deadly shootings and critical incidents resulting in great bodily harm.<\/p>\n The changes to OPSA\u2019s staffing will match its current workload, according to a city spokesperson.<\/p>\n \u201cThe proposed staffing reductions were part of the broader effort to align OPSA\u2019s budget and staffing levels with its current workload and operational priorities,\u201d wrote city spokesperson Jennifer Singer in an email. Singer added the city manager\u2019s office is \u201ccommitted to working collaboratively with OPSA to support the timely and accurate completion of its oversight responsibilities.\u201d The police department, OPSA and other city leaders are working together to further strengthen \u201ccommunication, coordination and responsiveness,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n OPSA probes police and fire departments, which are the city\u2019s largest agencies. Their collective budgets account for more than $487 million.<\/p>\n City Manager Maraskeshia Smith had previously suggested either cutting or demoting 37 current city employees.<\/a> A large portion of employees include park maintenance workers.<\/a> Also on the chopping block includes an administrative analyst in the city manager\u2019s office and an IT support specialist.<\/p>\n The City Council has moved to save parks maintenance workers, scrambling to find them other jobs in City Hall if their positions are eliminated. But elected officials made little mention, if at all, about sparing the OPSA during their City Council meeting on Tuesday.<\/p>\n Council members also submitted to Smith a document outlining their priorities for how the city can bridge its budget shortfall. Those documents also do not include protecting OPSA.<\/p>\n \u201cI definitely worry that we\u2019re not going to have any type of oversight in Sacramento,\u201d said Tanya Faison, the founder of Sacramento\u2019s Black Lives Matter chapter. \u201cAnd that our City Council and mayor is treating it as less of a priority.\u201d<\/p>\n The changes of OPSA comes as the agency has sat rudderless for the last few months, just as conversations around the budget kicked off.<\/p>\n Former Director LaTesha Watson resigned in October and received a $270,000 settlement. The reasons behind her resignation are unclear. Emails sent just weeks before her resignation show what Watson portrayed as a rift between herself, Police Chief Kathy Lester and Assistant City Manager Leyne Milstein.<\/p>\n Watson emailed Milstein, who was then interim city manager, expressing frustration over how she and another Black female city leader were excluded from an upcoming City Council workshop, according to The Sacramento Bee\u2019s previous reporting.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe must learn to do better,\u201d Watson said. \u201cThis treatment is absurd and uncalled for. My position in accountability does not warrant such horrible treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n