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After months of workshops, special meetings and public comment from the community, the Pleasanton City Council is poised to approve the city’s two-year Operating Budget and five-year Capital Improvement Program.
If approved as is, the city will cut millions of dollars in funding for the library and recreation department; parks, streets and facilities; and internal citywide departments.
“Staff recommends that the City Council adopt the revised proposed budget, which incorporates the City Council’s direction from the May 20 budget workshop,” according to the June 17 staff report. “Staff will continue to monitor the progress of the economy, keep track of actual revenues and expenditures and report back to the City Council during the mid-year budget reviews and a more detailed (fiscal year) 2026/27 mid-term update with recommended adjustments based on the latest trends and more up-to-date information.”
Every two years, the City Council adopts a balanced two-year Operating and Capital Budget, along with the five-year Capital Improvement Program.
The city is facing a structural budget deficit that is projected to set the city back, on average, roughly $13 million each year over the next eight years — that number could go as high as $22 million if a recession hits. These projections came from a 10-year financial forecast that was previously found to be accurate by an independent accounting firm.
Over the past four months, the council has been meeting with staff to discuss various components of the budget and CIP before taking that feedback and working it into what is now the final draft for the dais to approve.
A large number of residents have spoken out against the proposed cuts to the library, which is set to see a $1.6 million reduction in year one and $1.7 million in year two with a 6.5 reduction in full-time equivalent staff positions.
At the council’s May 20 meeting, staff presented the proposed budget and CIP where the council agreed with staff pulling back on their recommendation to eliminate the fire marshal position from the budget and to freeze the Emergency Preparedness Manager. For the latter position, staff are now recommending adding the position back on the budget as a part-time position at a reduced cost.
But during that same meeting, tensions rose between council members after Mayor Jack Balch proposed the idea to reduce the use of Section 115 Pension Trust funds from $4 million — which the council majority previously agreed on — to $3 million.
Craig Freeman from Livermore Pleasanton Fire Department Local 1974 firefighters union told the Weekly a week after that May 20 meeting that the union supported Balch’s recommendation.
“We have been against use of these funds to balance the budget,” Freeman said on behalf of the local union. “We were happy to see Mayor Balch get majority support from council for waiting to withdraw and deploy these funds until it is proven they are needed.”
The council also agreed to reduce the transfer to the city’s deferred maintenance asset management program by $1.6 million.
Some of the other key changes to city departments that would be seen as a result of the budget changes include changes to the organizational structure for the Pleasanton Police Department; personnel position changes to the Community and Economic Development Department; and reduced hours to the library, which has been one of the most contentious changes in the eyes of the public.
The City Council meeting is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Tuesday (June 17). The full agenda can be accessed here.
In other business:
* During a closed session meeting, the City Council will be meeting with legal counsel to discuss “significant exposure to litigation” regarding the city’s sixth housing element.
According to a letter dated Nov. 27, 2023, the Housing Action Coalition — a nonprofit that advocates for more affordable housing in the Bay Area — the coalition plans to “bring an action to attack, review, set aside, void or annul the adoption of the Housing Element for 2023-2031 and the findings and other determinations made in support of the adoption of the Housing Element.”
It also seeks a “writ of mandate requiring the city to adopt a new Housing Element that complies with state law.”
* The council will be looking to approve the city’s 2025 Sewer System Management Plan, which is required by the state in order for the city to continue managing its sewer program. The plan, according to the staff report, is internally audited every three years and updated every six.
During the consent calendar, which are items considered routine in nature and are typically approved through a single vote, the council will be looking to approve a fourth amendment for the professional services agreement with Bonita House to increase the contract amount by $896,500 and extend the term of the contract for two years through 2027.
Bonita House is a nonprofit mental health agency that provides the city with clinician services for the police department’s Alternative Response Unit, which typically responds to mental health related calls. The total contract between the city and the nonprofit would be increased to a not-to-exceed amount of $2,020,416 over the five-year term.
* Also during the consent calendar, the council will be looking at approving a second amendment to its memorandum of understanding with the Pleasanton Unified School District for a final term of two years for the School Resource Officer program. The amendment would be for a final term that is estimated to cost about $1.64 million over the two years up until June 2027.
* Outgoing Assistant City Manager Pamela Ott will be recognized during the regular meeting for her two decades of public service before she gets set to enter retirement later this month.
