The Fullerton City Council will discuss a $290.4 million budget proposal for fiscal year 2026-27 during a study session on July 14, 2026. The council faces a projected $3.8 million shortfall in the General Fund, primarily due to higher service costs, labor agreements, and inflation.<\/p>\n
Current figures show General Fund expenditures at $150 million, with revenues at $146.3 million. A previous deficit of $13.7 million was reduced through departmental efficiency measures.<\/p>\n
The proposed budget allocates funds across various categories:<\/p>\n
\u2013 General Funds: $150,462,773
\u2013 Special Revenue Funds: $39,878,224
\u2013 Water Fund (operating only): $45,973,797
\u2013 Other Enterprise Funds (operating only): $13,623,759
\u2013 Capital Improvements Program: $28,883,342
\u2013 Successor Agency: $11,603,925
\u2013 Total Budget: $290,425,820<\/p>\n
The Capital Improvement Program focuses on infrastructure but cannot be used to cover ongoing costs. Three scenarios for addressing the shortfall include:<\/p>\n
\u2013 Scenario A: Cuts $4.6 million and unfunds 11 vacant positions, using $3.8 million from reserves.
\u2013 Scenario B: Aims for a balanced budget for one year with $6.2 million in cuts and 27 vacant positions, avoiding reserve use.
\u2013 Scenario C: Seeks a balanced budget over three years with $7 million in cuts and 35 vacant positions, significantly impacting services.<\/p>\n
The city\u2019s own Budget Options Detail chart \u2014 the centerpiece that lays out the three scenarios \u2014 cannot agree with itself. The summary says the options would unfund 9, 23, and 31 vacant positions. The totals row at the bottom of the chart accompanying the agenda report says 11, 27, and 35. Those are not rounding differences. They are the headcounts of real jobs the city proposes to erase.<\/p>\n
In the two community budget meetings, which collectively had approximately 32 residents show up, urged the city to maintain public safety and infrastructure funding while considering alternative revenue measures. The council\u2019s decisions could significantly affect the city\u2019s financial outlook, safety, and service provision.<\/p>\n
Your voice matters. These decisions matter. Please attend the special budget meeting on July 14 at 5:30 pm at City Hall located at 303 West Commonwealth Avenue, Fullerton.<\/p>\n
071426 AS FY 26-27 Budget Study Session Agenda Report \n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n \tDiscover more from Fullerton Observer<\/p>\n Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Fullerton City Council will discuss a $290.4 million budget proposal for fiscal year 2026-27 during a study…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":397054,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,159523],"class_list":["post-397053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-fullerton-city-council-faces-3-8-million-budget-shortfall-ahead-of-fiscal-year-2026-27"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=397053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397053\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/397054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=397053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=397053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=397053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\n071426 AS FY 26-27 Budget Study Session Budget Options Detail
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