Oakland City Leaders Bring Solutions for Budget Balancing & Fiscal Health

City of Oakland Office of the Mayor

Oakland City Leaders Bring Solutions for 
Budget Balancing & Fiscal Health 

Oakland, CA — Last night, the City Council rebalanced its budget, closing a projected deficit, maintaining its emergency reserves, and reaffirming a commitment to stronger fiscal health for Oakland while protecting critical services. The Oakland City Council continues to make fiscally sound decisions based on real financial data while prioritizing community safety, housing security, and essential services to keep our city safe, healthy and vibrant.

At its December 17th meeting, Council affirmed the City Administrator’s budget balancing actions, unrestricted and transferred funds to help fill the gap, and provided direction and strategies to close the remaining need. This includes finding new revenue that comes from increased events and success at the Oakland Coliseum/Arena and other sources, making any further cuts a last resort.

To close the remaining deficit, the Council directed the City Administrator to take action on these responsible budget-balancing measures: 

  • Immediately collecting unpaid business taxes by doing an internal audit 
  • Immediately improve controls for OPD overtime overspending
  • Explore the segmenting of Human Services Department’s senior and other relevant services with Oakland Parks & Recreation and Youth Development and homeless services with Housing and Community Development and return to Council with recommendations in Spring 2025
  • Consider the potential merger of Oakland Public Works and OakDOT, and return to Council with recommendations in Spring 2025
  • Proceed with plans for the July 2025 police academy, offering current pending applicants an opportunity to enroll
  • Continue to work to identity, find, validate and collect additional funding sources to reduce the projected deficit, avoid layoffs and fire station brownouts, and provide city services

“The Council made difficult but clear decisions last night. With yesterday’s budget adoption, the City of Oakland is on track to maintain our immediate fiscal health and our emergency reserves are at the required level. The City now seeks to move forward in strong collaboration with its Labor partners and the community-led Budget Advisory Commission toward long-term fiscal sustainability,” said Interim Mayor Nikki Fortunato Bas. “We all deserve to feel safe and secure, whether we’re taking our kids out to play, running our essential small businesses, parking our car on the street, or walking home at night. The balanced and comprehensive budget passed last night protects and strengthens vital investments in our public safety, including addressing crime and violence, fires, traffic dangers, and more. We also proposed a number of measures and potential revenue sources to help avert layoffs and fire station brownouts. And, as we are able to recognize new revenue, we hope to restore additional programs and services next year.” 

Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan (At-Large) said, “It is vital to protect core public services, and the long-term fiscal solvency of our city. I am honored that the extra available funds I had previously identified have been confirmed, and are being incorporated into budget strategies, allowing Oakland to reduce cuts and restore reserves. In addition, important public serving and revenue-generating functions are being strengthened, including to reduce blight and provide safer, cleaner streets.”

Councilmember Kevin Jenkins (District 6) said, “The Fire Department, which had been preserved from cuts in July, was able to rapidly stop the Keller Fire from growing out of control, which prevented a repeat of the horrific loss of life and loss of homes that took place during the 1991 Oakland Hills Fire. Last night, we made it clear that we will continue to prioritize preserving fire safety.”

“Yesterday, the City Council made the difficult but necessary decision to adopt budget-balancing measures while preserving emergency reserves to address one of the most significant deficits we have faced in our city’s history. We sought many paths with the city administration to minimize the impact on our dedicated workforce, preserve vital funding for public safety, senior services, community vitality, and ensure that our most vulnerable residents continue to receive equitable service delivery,” said Councilmember Treva Reid (District 7). “Together, we have taken crucial steps to recover and emerge through this crisis with sustained fiscal solvency and build a stronger, more resilient Oakland for everyone.”

Oakland’s investments in the Oakland Police Department and the Department of Violence Prevention have yielded the fastest and most dramatic reduction in homicides in our city’s history, with levels now far below those of the prior several years. The City’s deep investments in public safety over the past year continue to pay off, with homicides down 35% year-to-date and overall crime down by 34% since last year. Our Public Safety Leadership team is very strong with OPD Chief Floyd Mitchell, DVP Chief Dr. Holly Joshi, OFD Chief Damon Covington, and their Deputy Chiefs having over a century of collective experience in Oakland.

The budget proposals preserve Oakland’s Ceasefire violence intervention strategy, prioritize OPD patrol and investigations, and continue services to improve 911 response times, with currently 71% of calls answered within 15 seconds or less — a dramatic improvement over the prior year. 

Oakland’s investments in sidewalk repair, street paving, clearing abandoned autos, and safer conditions on our roadways are improving both safety and quality of life. The proposals restore funding for important and needed bicycle and pedestrian safety projects, street paving, parking enforcement, and more.

The Council is also considering a sales tax ballot measure for the April 15th special election. The proposed half cent sales tax increase would raise approximately $29 million annually. Ongoing revenue generation and improved efficiencies will help address the City’s structural deficit in the next two-year budget. 

Along with budget balancing actions in the immediate term, city leaders persist in urging the County to take action on the Coliseum land sale to strengthen development, housing, opportunity and bring in revenue to support both City and County needs. This accompanies actions to advance broader economic development, and further revenue opportunities. 

We appreciate our city workforce – including those who brought recommendations for a more sustainable budget, identifying efficient and effective strategies.

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Posted: December 18th, 2024 4:34 PM

Last Updated: December 18th, 2024 4:34 PM

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