The Oakland City Council got their first glance at the mayor’s proposed budget for next year and they aren’t thrilled with what’s on the table.
The council met Wednesday to discuss Mayor Sheng Thao’s proposed $2.2 billion spending plan for the 2024-2025 fiscal year, which starts in July. The proposal—released late last Friday—balances an operating deficit and a roughly $95 million shortfall in next year’s general purpose fund, thanks in large part to the city striking a deal to sell its stake in the Coliseum for at least $105 million.
But the sale is only half the solution, and it doesn’t fix the city’s long-term, structural financial problems.
To reach the level of savings necessary to pass a balanced budget, the mayor and city administrator want to freeze or eliminate nearly 100 vacant full-time positions and reduce spending across most departments. The city is also cutting back on grants and contracts, which includes terminating $750,000 in community grants available to City Council members to disburse to organizations in each district.
The City Council must pass a balanced budget before July 1. Councilmembers can submit questions to the city administration and offer amendments to Thao’s proposal, which are due over the next week or two. Thursday was the first time the full council had a chance to pepper city staff with questions about Thao’s budget plan, which covers expenses for 26 departments.
The city is maintaining investments in its Ceasefire program, crime reduction teams, foot patrols, 911 system, and the MACRO civilian responders who address non-emergency incidents.
But several councilmembers said they are alarmed that some of the proposed cuts might have a negative impact on public safety.
These include freezing several unfilled evidence technician and crime lab jobs at OPD and eliminating $1 million in funding for community safety ambassadors.
“It seems like it creates a serious gap in our investigations capacity for crimes, that everybody—including City Council—has explicitly said should be a priority,” said Councilmember Dan Kalb. “I don’t have an alternative (cut) that is really easy to do, I’m just saying that is not a great choice—not even close to being a great choice.”
In response to questions about the community ambassadors, city staff said they plan to seek philanthropic funding to continue the program.
OPD’s budget—which was slated to be $360 million this coming fiscal year—is increasing to $374 million. However, the department is freezing the hiring process on 18 sworn positions and 38 professional staff, which the department says will impact responsiveness to emergency and non-emergency calls for service. Oakland currently has 714 budgeted sworn police positions. The department’s actual personnel count is much lower because approximately 80 sworn staff are on long-term administrative or medical leave.
“This budget will have an impact on overall operations and the level of service we can provide to citizens of Oakland,” Chief Floyd Mitchell, who started the job a couple weeks ago, told the council on Wednesday.
Councilmember Treva Reid quizzed staff about how this reduction will affect the department’s ability to allocate staff to the anti-gun violence Ceasefire program, which the mayor sees as the central pillar in her public safety strategy. Reid was also concerned how this reduction will impact police officers who are already working extensive overtime to fill shifts.
“We’re clearly stretching our employees beyond capacity with the significant impact that we’re facing and the tough choices we have to make in this budget,” Reid said.
Councilmember Noel Gallo complained that OPD used to have 800 sworn officers. However, the department has struggled to hire enough recruits to fill budgeted positions. For example, the department’s most recent academy graduated just 12 members. The proposed budget includes three academies for this coming year.
“I think we want to get a better return than 12 officers,” said Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas.
Mitchell told the council that the department currently has 34 applicants for the next academy, and he believes most of them will graduate in six months.
The Oakland Fire Department is freezing dozens of vacant positions, including one captain, 13 engineers, and 20 firefighter paramedics. The department is also deleting 14 vacant positions responsible for fire inspections, investigations, community engagement, and prevention and education programs.
Speaking to the council on Wednesday, Chief Damon Covington said that before the Coliseum deal was reached, he was asked to slash $47 million from his budget. This task was so daunting he could not bring himself to do it, letting the city administrator choose what to cut. Under the original proposal, OFD would have been forced to close four firehouses, a decision that would have been “catastrophic,” Covington said.
“To not have to close firehouses and not have to reduce day-to-day staffing is a huge win,” Covington said. “However, there will still be deep cuts into our personnel and day-to-day administrative staffing.”
OFD is permanently losing two captains who handle a wide range of important tasks, said Covington, including public outreach, grants, and other administrative work. The two captains aren’t being fired but are returning to frontline jobs within the department.
Cuts, freezes, and some investments in Oakland’s proposed budget
Police Commission
The proposed budget freezes 13 full-time positions for the Community Police Review Agency—the investigative arm of Oakland’s police accountability board. CPRA Executive Director Mac Muir, who took over the agency last year, said he’s adequately staffed to investigate police misconduct complaints. But he said the cuts might delay the plan to eventually transition full responsibility for investigating police misconduct from OPD’s Internal Affairs Division to his agency, a transition that was originally thought of as a cost-savings plan.
Department of Violence Prevention
The Department of Violence Prevention is seeing a slight increase in its budget over what was proposed last year. DVP is an important partner in the Ceasefire strategy, and the city is giving the department money to hire several new case managers and analysts who will help mostly Black and Latino men who are at high risk of violence.
Economic and Workforce Development
The Economic and Workforce Development Department is adding $600,000 for a pilot program to encourage filmmakers to shoot productions in Oakland in exchange for rebates. The department is also giving $1.75 million to the operator of the Scotlan Convention Center, which employs 270 people and provides the city with hotel and parking tax revenue. Thao has said these are examples of economic programs her administration hopes to fund to kickstart more revenue generation for the city.
But EWD Director Ashleigh Kanat said her department is also freezing several important positions they were on the verge of hiring. On top of cuts for public safety ambassadors, the department is also reducing $342,652 to support summer jobs for youth, over $800,000 in funding to help organizations pay for permits for community events, and $227,000 for a consultant who was going to help vendors around Lake Merritt secure permits.
Housing and Community Development
The department responsible for helping develop affordable housing is still expected to receive $52 million in funding from the voter-approved Measure U. It is also getting $2 million to fund a homelessness prevention pilot program.
Director Emily Weinstein said HCD is also receiving $200,000 to pay a consultant who will guide its merger with the Homelessness Services Division of the Human Services Department. Mayor Sheng Thao proposed this consolidation as part of last year’s budget. A similar plan to merger Economic and Workforce Development with the Planning Department was scrapped.
Human Services
Human Services is cutting $191,000 in funding for four community organizations that have relied on support from the department for years to provide recreation and social services for seniors and non-English speaking communities in Oakland. One of these organizations, Rebuilding Oakland, doesn’t exist anymore, while the Vietnamese American Community Center moved to San Leandro. Two other organizations—Vietnamese Community Development and Family Bridges—continue to rely on this money. Director Scott Means said the department hasn’t contacted the organizations about this proposed reduction.
Public Ethics Commission
The board that monitors Oakland’s politicians, candidates, and lobbyists and enforces government ethics rules and campaign laws is receiving one of the harshest cuts in the budget.
The mayor’s proposal would slash some funding for the Democracy Dollars program—an initiative approved by voters in 2022 to create a campaign public financing system that levels the playing field during elections. The budget approved last year already cut funding for the program and delayed the rollout to 2026.
The mayor’s new budget would also cut money for voter education and eliminate funding for the 20-year-old Limited Public Financing Program, which gives relatively small amounts of money to candidates to encourage more competition and level the electoral playing field.
“I’ll remind councilmembers that the PEC has already absorbed a 50% cut and it’s well documented how understaffed we are,” Commission Chair Ryan Micik told the Council during Wednesday’s meeting. “Speaking on behalf of an agency that has already contributed quite a bit to balancing the budget, I ask you, please don’t defund democracy.”
