![\"People](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Natera_CityCouncilMeeting-MigrationRally_250121_08.jpg\")
Members of the Berkeley City Council are seen in a 2025 file photo. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside\/CatchLight Local<\/p>\nMembers of the Berkeley City Council are seen in a 2025 file photo. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside\/CatchLight Local<\/p>\n
Berkeley leaders\u2019 plan to balance a nearly $30 million budget deficit<\/a> includes cuts to homeless services and community health programs that advocates said would harm the city\u2019s most vulnerable residents. It would force cutbacks on everything from pothole repairs to small business assistance. City employees would lose their jobs at a time of rising costs and sluggish hiring<\/a>. And a worst-case-scenario proposal to close a North Berkeley fire station and slash police positions would lead to longer 911 response times.<\/p>\n But members of the City Council indicated at a meeting Tuesday night that they see few alternatives to most of those budget cuts.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThese are not easy decisions for any of us,\u201d Mayor Adena Ishii said at the meeting. But after years of closing budget gaps with one-time maneuvers, Ishii said, the cuts are meant to \u201caddress the underlying structural deficit \u2014 to make changes that are really tough, but hopefully will create the ability for us to have a sustainable budget moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n Ishii and other council members signaled their support Tuesday for the budget balancing plan<\/a> City Manager Paul Buddenhagen unveiled last month, even as they said they hoped to avoid layoffs, service cuts and the potential closure next year of the Berkeley Fire Department station on Marin Avenue. The council must adopt the two-year budget by the end of June.\u00a0<\/p>\n Along with the steps Buddenhagen proposed, officials are also pursuing a plan to put a 0.5% sales tax increase before voters this November that would raise more than $9 million per year \u2014 enough to keep the station open and avert other cuts to fire, police and parks staff.<\/p>\n Even if the sales tax is approved, though, the city would still lay off the equivalent of 20 full-time employees, and cut another 130 vacant positions, under Buddenhagen\u2019s plan.<\/p>\n Potential fire station closure would \u2018put lives at risk,\u2019 firefighters say<\/p>\n Fire Chief David Sprague described shuttering Fire Station 4 as a \u201cnuclear option.\u201d He said the station was identified for closure because it handles the second-fewest calls in the city and \u2014 unlike the least-busy station, on Shasta Road high in the hills \u2014 its territory could be more easily absorbed by other firehouses. While officials did not provide specific estimates for how the closure might affect 911 response times, Deputy City Manager David White told the council the plan to cut the station and jobs in the police and fire departments \u201cmaterially reduces public safety service levels.\u201d<\/p>\n The union that represents Berkeley firefighters has pushed back on the budget plan, warning in a statement ahead of the council meeting that it \u201ccould put lives at risk by increasing emergency response times, reducing the number of available crews during major incidents, and weakening Berkeley\u2019s ability to respond to fires, medical emergencies, wildfires, and disasters.\u201d<\/p>\n City leaders hope those cuts won\u2019t come to pass. Earlier on Tuesday, they directed staff to move forward<\/a> with ballot language for the sales tax increase, which would bring the total levy in Berkeley to 10.75%.<\/p>\n A city-commissioned survey of 500 likely voters found 52% said they would vote yes on the sales tax, which can pass with support from a simple majority. That was within the survey\u2019s 4.4% margin of error, but pollster David Mermin told the council the tax and a separate infrastructure bond measure<\/a> city officials are considering this fall are \u201cin a position to pass assuming there is a solid campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n Even if the sales tax fails in November, the council could still amend the budget to prevent the station closure.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not comfortable voting on a budget that would actually close the fire station,\u201d North Berkeley Councilmember Shoshana O\u2019Keefe said, \u201cbut I understand this is a projection \u2014 sort of a loose plan for next year \u2014 and hopefully we won\u2019t have to figure that out.\u201d<\/p>\n Council looks for ways to lessen pain of budget cuts<\/p>\n The budget plan would also eliminate a wide range of city programs, including a seasonal homeless shelter<\/a> that provides 25 beds for unhoused people during the winter, city support for an outreach worker focused on homeless residents downtown, a mobile crisis team<\/a> that helps respond to emergency calls and a program in South Berkeley that aims to eliminate disparities in treatment for heart disease.<\/p>\n \u201cThese cuts fall hardest on residents with nowhere else to turn,\u201d said Rent Stabilization Board Member Andy Katz, who spoke during the public comment period of Tuesday\u2019s meeting in support of the health equity program known as Heart to Heart<\/a>.<\/p>\n Among the cuts are a staffer in the city\u2019s Office of Economic Development assigned to work with small businesses and merchant districts, as well as the currently vacant position leading the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, which would be shut down.<\/p>\n Speakers from two unions that represent city workers told the council their members are fearful about the job cuts. One employee who spoke Tuesday night said she left another job to take a position with the Rent Board, only to be notified weeks into her new role that she could be laid off. Meanwhile workers who keep their jobs, many of whom have been stretched thin in recent years as city departments struggle with staffing shortages<\/a>, would have to shoulder larger workloads.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not going to get any less 911 calls, we\u2019re not going to get any less 311 calls,\u201d said Rebecca Webb, the president of the clerical chapter of Service Employees International Union Local 1021. \u201cAll of this work needs to get done.\u201d<\/p>\n Several council members said they will look to minimize the number of job cuts Berkeley enacts to balance its budget, though they offered few specific proposals to fund those positions.\u00a0<\/p>\n The council is slated to consider increasing a wide range of city fees this year \u2014 everything from a parking ticket to permits for street festivals<\/a> could become more expensive \u2014 but it\u2019s unclear whether those steps would raise enough revenue to avert other cuts. Members approved several fee increases at Tuesday\u2019s meeting, though they postponed to next month a vote on a package of changes to parking policies<\/a> that includes raising citation amounts and extending meter enforcement to evening hours and Sundays.<\/p>\n Councilmember Rashi Kesarwani asked Buddenhagen to explore whether the city could limit the number of layoffs by eliminating more vacant positions instead.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to make sure that that\u2019s the right call,\u201d Kesarwani said of cutting current employees\u2019 jobs. \u201cI don\u2019t want to do that if we can find vacant positions and save those folks.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tRelated stories<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\tLayoffs, service cuts, sales tax hike: How Berkeley plans to close a nearly $30M budget deficit<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\tApril 15, 2026April 15, 2026, 10:29 a.m.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\tBerkeley approves budget that cuts $1.4M from affordable housing program<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\tJune 25, 2025June 25, 2025, 8:09 p.m.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Mudslide-04.jpg\")
Fire Chief David Sprague described shuttering Fire Station 4 as a \u201cnuclear option.\u201d Credit: Kelly Sullivan for Berkeleyside<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260507_-FLOCK_EG_027.jpg\")
City Manager Paul Buddenhagen rolled out a plan for balancing Berkeley\u2019s $30 million structural budget deficit last month. Credit: Estefany Gonzalez for Berkeleyside<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"Layoffs,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/large-JPS_7255-1.jpg\")
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"Berkeley](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/large-BS_Natera_220601_Housing-Story_002.jpg\")
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"Berkeley](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1779318970_880_large-Smart-Parking-Meter-1.jpg\")
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