It’s budget season once again and the City of Sacramento is scrambling to find answers to the $66 million shortfall. While many groups are putting their hands out expecting city funding, District 7 and neighborhood leaders are requesting the city get back to basics.
City services such as Parks are taking a hit as well as deep cuts being suggested for Police. Cuts are separated into Levels 1 & 2 being the “lightest” and 3 & 4 being the heaviest type of budget cuts: Here is the breakdown: SUPPLEMENTAL_MATERIAL_Item_03_2024-00630_Fiscal_Year_FY_2024-25_Budget_Development_Update (1)
District 7 City Councilman Rick Jennings shared his thoughts on the budget in the Land Park News for 4/26/24. Councilman Jennings noted “It is clear if the City of Sacramento does not provide public safety services, both police and fire, no one else will.” Land Park News April 26 2024
And while these essential services are being reviewed, others don’t appear to be scrutinized enough. For example, the review of city funding to non-profits, this includes homeless services, lack full transparency.
A coalition of neighborhood associations and neighborhood leaders sent a letter to the city manager and city council with their thoughts on the 2024 budget review process. The goal of this letter is to set the expectation that basic city services should be made a priority. After that, other expenses such as non-profits, consulting fees and the like should be disbursed to those entities that provide the Sacramento and its citizens with real value for their dollars. This requires careful vetting of these entities which has not occurred in the past. Here is the letter Letter to City about Budget 2024_04_25 Letter w_Signatures Public
If you are interested in learning more about the budget process and speaking up during the budget review, here are some important dates and links:
There is a budget update scheduled at the city council meeting for April 30 at 2pm. Here is a link to the published Council agendas and meeting info: https://sacramento.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=21
The budget and audit meeting on April 9th can be watched here- it includes a good overview by the finance manager, it is item 3-https://sacramento.granicus.com/player/clip/5882?view_id=38&redirect=true
Here is a link to the LPCA article about the City Parks Budget: https://landpark.org/save-sacramento-parks-and-tell-the-city-dont-cut-invest/
Here is the link to the other budget and audit committee meetings: https://sacramento.granicus.com/viewpublisher.php?view_id=38
Important dates to put on your calendar:
April 29 – City Manager Howard Chan is expected to release his initial budget proposal
May 7 – Budget and Audit Committee Mtg. at 11 am and City Council Mtg. at 5 pm
May 14 – City Council Mtg. at 2 pm and 5 pm.
May 28 – Final Budget Review
June 11 – Final Budget Review and Vote
The public is welcome to contact their city councilperson, the mayor and city manager to share their thoughts on the budget for 2024: https://www.cityofsacramento.gov/mayor-council