Fresno City Council Special Meeting and FY2027 Budget Hearings – June 15, 2026
Fresno City Council Special Meeting and FY2027 Budget Hearings – June 15, 2026
The Fresno City Council convened a special meeting and continued FY2027 budget hearings on June 15, 2026. The budget hearings covered the general fund overview and departments (General Services, Information Services, Finance, Parks). A special meeting established a Commission on Family Affordability and Childcare Access and approved a $3.5 million grant to First Five of California. Council also heard public comments and made several motions for future consideration.
Consent Calendar
- No consent calendar items were noted.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Fabiola Gonzalez (Executive Director, First Five Fresno County) – Expressed strong support for the commission and the city’s role in child care, calling child care a right and an economic issue.
- Linda Gleason (Director, Fresno County Cradle to Career) – Supported the commission, citing child care as a key barrier to workforce participation and economic development.
- Brooke Frost (Independent contractor) – Supported the commission, highlighting the need for child care during non-traditional hours and for shift workers.
- Rosalina (District 3 resident) – Asked for investment in communities, citing a heat-related death, water contamination, air quality, and need for parks, street lights, and safe routes to school.
- Additional public speakers – Advocated for more parks, participatory budgeting, and investment in underserved areas.
Discussion Items
- General Fund Overview (Mayor’s presentation) – The mayor noted a $34.5 million shortfall, a $2.5 billion overall budget, $555.3 million general fund revenues, and a $541.8 million expenditure budget. Property tax growth estimated at 5.94%, sales tax at 2.8%. The reserve is at 9.2% of expenditures (policy 10%). Attrition target 6.18% for most departments.
- General Services (Brian Barr) – Presented $78 million budget for facility management, fleet, purchasing, and trolley service. Key items: 134 vehicle replacements, $462,000 for sewer lift station rehab, $200,000 for EV charger engineering, and $80,000 for City Hall building assessment.
- Information Services (Brian Horn) – Presented $46 million budget. Highlighted PeopleSoft HRMS upgrade ($2.6 million this year), public safety radio upgrade ($490,000 annual lease), data center cooling improvements. Discussion on AI controls – currently approved AI platforms are Microsoft Copilot and Madison AI; an administrative order is in draft.
- Finance (Santino) – Presented $19.4 million budget. Initiatives: data sharing with CA Franchise Tax Board (estimated $236,000 additional revenue), virtual card for vendor payments ($200,000 rebate), e-billing campaign, bond issuance for Pave More Now. No new positions, two conversions.
- Parks (Aaron Gary) – Presented $143.2 million budget ($18.3 million general fund, rest Measure P/grants). 217 positions, no new positions. Notables: senior meal program served 17,000 meals, capital projects include senior center construction start, El Dorado Park master plan, Manchester Park splash pad/skate park (no funding yet). Extensive discussion on Granite Park potential takeover – $847,900 estimated annual operating cost, plus $200,000 one-time startup. Councilmember Arias questioned the use of Measure P funds and the impact on neighborhood parks.
- Special Meeting – Commission on Family Affordability and Childcare Access – Vice President Maxwell proposed resolution to create a 9-member commission. Council passed the resolution (7-0) and appointed Council President Esparza and Councilmember Perea to the commission. A subsequent motion to appropriate $3.5 million as a grant to First Five of California for child care was made and seconded; discussion included oversight and funding source (suggested general fund, not Measure P). The motion will be voted on June 16.
- Council Motions for FY2027 Budget – Several councilmembers made motions for park funding and other items (e.g., $1.6 million for Manchester splash pad, $650,000 for skate park, $200,000 for Riverside Golf Course First Tee program, $750,000 for Boys & Girls Club gymnasium, etc.). These motions will be considered on June 16.
Key Outcomes
- Agenda approved (7-0) for the special meeting.
- Resolution 2026-128 establishing Commission on Family Affordability and Childcare Access adopted (7-0). Council President Esparza and Councilmember Perea appointed to the commission.
- Motion for $3.5 million grant to First Five of California – Made and seconded; will be voted on June 16. Funding source to be determined, with direction to avoid Measure P.
- Budget hearings continued – Department presentations concluded; council will meet June 16 for further discussions and votes on budget motions and adoption.
- Council directed staff to provide memos on: AI platforms and spending, elevator maintenance options, trolley charter fees, police fleet details, and Granite Park appraisal and safety improvements.
Meeting Transcript
Welcome to the uh budget process for the fiscal year 27. Feels weird to say that fiscal year 27, 2026, 2027. Uh I'm gonna open up the uh the meeting, the budget hearings. Uh clerk, would you please call the roll? Thank you, good morning. Councilmember Perea, present. Councilmember Carbasi. Councilmember Arias. Vice President Maxwell. Councilmember Vang. Present. Councilmember Richardson. Here on time. Council President Esparza. Present. Five members being present. We have a quorum. All right, fantastic. Next, I'll ask everyone if you can to please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Councilmember Perea, would you please lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance? City Clerk, uh do we have to approve the agenda up front? All right, fantastic. I'll entertain a motion for approval of today's agenda. Second. All right. Uh we have a well, I'll make the motion and councilman Richardson. Second. Uh is there any opposition to approving the agenda? Seeing none, that passes six to zero. All right. All right. So here's what we're going to do. Uh we have uh the general fund overview, the the mayor's kind of uh broad overview of the the budget to begin with, and then we have uh four departments scheduled for today general services, ISD at the information services, uh finance department, and uh parks. So uh here's the the structure for today as we'll go ahead and take the the mayor's presentation up front. Uh it's kind of the getting the broad strokes of the budget and the general funds. Uh thereafter we'll do three minutes uh public comment for folks who would like to to comments in the public uh generally about the budget and then what we're gonna do this budget cycle is I will provide um in addition to the the required three minutes I will do one minute per person for each uh individual department as well if folks have thoughts that'll follow the budget presentations by by each department. So uh folks will get an opportunity to speak generally to the budget uh here, uh three minutes each day, uh, but also um a minute to chime in on individual departments as well. Uh so uh with that mayor, it's uh I'm gonna hand it on to you and you can kick it off with uh the general fund overview of the general overview of the budget. Welcome. Thank you, uh Council President, members of the council. I'll uh keep my comments brief this morning. I will have Ed Shinevere come up here shortly and he'll uh get into many of the details. I've already made a presentation uh to you a few weeks ago, and uh nothing has really changed since then. Uh we continue to um be strong in terms of revenue with our our property tax and uh sales tax to a lesser degree as well as our room tax and um we did come into the budget process with about a 34.5 million dollar shortfall. Uh we have taken a number of steps um as I mentioned previously, how to bring this uh budget back into balance, and that has been presented to each and every one of you. We have a uh 2.5 uh billion dollar overall budget with uh the vast majority of that coming from our enterprise accounts at about 1.1 billion, and uh the general fund um revenue portion is at five uh 155 uh million dollars, which is the uh the fund that we generally um are concerned with, and so we we have taken a number of steps. I think I told you before this year was a little bit more challenging putting forth this budget because we did not have the American rescue funds to rely on, uh which made it much more difficult. We continue to uh uh rely on a attrition rate of six point one eight percent for um all of our departments with the exception of the fire department, which is not able to attain that level of attrition, as well as council, and there are five departments that are gonna come in uh projected to come in above the six point one eight percent uh area. The overall appropriations by category you'll see presented to you of the five uh $141.8 million dollars, and uh employee services is the lion's share of that at 51. Uh 7%.
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