Okay.

Okay.

Please call the roll.

Thank you, Mayor.

We're gonna call this meeting to order at 5 07 p.m.

For the record, Councilmember Kaplan is participating remotely, and the meeting was properly noticed at her remote location.

So roll call, Councilmember Kaplan here.

Councilmember Dickinson, Vice Mayor Talamantes, Councilmember Pleckibaum, Councilmember Maple, Mayor Pro Tem Geta, Councilmember Jennings, Councilmember Vang, and Mayor McCarty.

You have a full council quorum.

Okay.

Councilmember Kaplan, we're asking you to do the land acknowledgement and the pledge.

And it may be on my sheet, so like this.

I'm just going with their program.

Thanks, Mayor.

Would you mind have somebody else uh doing that for me?

I don't I don't have it in front of me.

Okay.

Please rise if you are able.

Please rise for the opening acknowledgments and honor Sacramento's indigenous people and tribal lands to the original people of this land, the Nissanan people, the Southern Maidu, Valiant Plains Miwok, Puts 112 peoples, and the people of the Wilton Rancheria, Sacramento's only federally recognized tribe.

May we acknowledge and honor the native people who came before us and still walk beside us today on these ancestral lands by choosing to gather today in the active practice of acknowledgement and appreciation for Sacramento's indigenous peoples' histories, contributions, and lives, remain standing, salute and pledge.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands.

One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

June is immigrant heritage month.

And so if I can get everyone uh who was invited to celebrate with us to come to the podium.

Come on, Council General, opening doors, our partners to come to the podium.

Today we're gonna be recognizing two special organizations, opening doors and the Mexican consulate.

And I know that there's a lot more that do this incredible work to acknowledge and to honor our immigrant communities and their contributions to the Sacramento region.

I do have a fun fact.

And I am happy to be a part of this percentage and happy to be here in Sacramento and to you know honestly acknowledge and honor immigrants here today who built America and we've got to make sure that we honor their work.

And so I want to pass it on to Councilmember My Bang.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

Uh, thank you so much.

Uh proud to present this resolution with Mayor Pro Tem Ariguera and yourself.

Um, as you all know, so many immigrants uh leave everything behind because they're searching for a better future uh for themselves, for their children, and for generations to come.

And we know that their courage, their sacrifice, their determination has really helped build communities here in Sacramento and across our country.

We all know that immigrants makes us stronger.

They are our workers, small business owners, neighbors, educators, caregivers, and community leaders.

Um, and I'm just so proud to uh join uh Vice Mayor Talamantes and Mayor Protam Guerra to present this resolution.

And I think one of the best ways that we continue to celebrate immigrant heritage month is not just with resolution but also with action and by ensuring that we're supporting policies uh that reflects uh the lived experience of immigrant and refugee communities and workplaces and schools and neighborhoods so that they feel safe and welcome and that their families can thrive.

And so just happy immigrant heritage month to all of you and incredibly honor uh to be presenting this resolution with both my colleagues.

Great, thank you very much.

Thank you, Vice Mayor, uh and Councilmember Vang.

You know, one uh June is immigrant heritage month, and I'm proud to be an immigrant.

You know, my parents and I and my brother, we immigrated here.

Uh and uh uh and if anything, it sacramento has been a beacon of hope and an opportunity for many people who uh were looking for um not either, either not only uh a place for sanctuary, uh a place for uh hope.

Uh and uh and many of them came came here many times uh with the difficult choice of leaving their their culture and their and their families themselves.

It was built because of that rich tradition of people who were striving for more, striving for an opportunity.

And they met other immigrants here.

And so it's no surprise that we see that diaspora, that rich history of so many immigrants blending in here in Sacramento.

And you see it in from many multiple generations.

I happen to represent the Little Saigon Corridor that is not only rich to many immigrants that came here well before, but when the fall of Saigon occurred, refugees that came here from all over Mian, Hmong, Indo-Chinese, all settled here and then created that strength in our community as well.

And there's a particular quote that I really enjoy by our former president, John F.

Kennedy, that people come here penniless, penniless, penniless.

Oh, sorry, let me try that again.

Too many peas there.

People come here penniless, but not cultural.

They bring their gifts.

We can synthesize the best of our traditions with the best of theirs.

So this is truly Sacramento, how we take all of those traditions and bring them together for a stronger city as well.

So with that, thank you, Mr.

Mayor, and excited to be here to support June as Immigrant Heritage Month.

Okay.

Right.

And then we have our two speakers, so we can get the council general and Jim.

Good evening, everyone.

Thanks for the opportunity to be here.

It's great to celebrate Immigrant Heritage Month here in Sacramento.

And I think that there's no better place to do it.

As uh Councilman Eric Gera so eloquently said, this is um a beautiful place that's brought together so many immigrants, and Sacramento truly has a legacy of welcome.

I'm the external affairs director at Opening Doors, and we're an organization that's been supporting immigrant communities here since the early 90s, starting with Vietnamese refugees and uh helping every wave of immigrants that's come since.

I think part of the one uh one of the things that's so beautiful about Sacramento is that even in this moment when we're facing greater challenges than I've seen since I started in this sector in 2006.

We've seen our community rally together.

We've seen an outpouring of welcome, support, and people wanting to take action, wanting to do something to fight back against the policies we're seeing.

Even though the policies might change, one thing remains true, and that's that nothing can stop a person from seeking safety for themselves, their family, and their children.

These policies might change, but people will continue to come, and that's why this resolution is important and the work that we're doing together as a community is important, because we'll continue to welcome them as they continue to arrive.

Again, I'm just grateful to be part of this community.

I know that so many of us represent the immigrant community and uh defend them, and that we might have different approaches, different tactics, but that our whole community has the same goal, and that's to lift immigrants and lift our whole community by doing that.

Thank you.

My dear friend, may Yerkey McCarthy, friends, uh council members, uh amigas, amigos, family.

Good afternoon, everyone.

First of all, I would like to express my appreciation to the council member Karina Delamantes for her kind invitation to this meaningful event.

It is an honor to join you in the celebration of the immigrant heritage month, a time dedicated to recognize the countless contributions that immigrants make to our communities, our economies, and our shared future.

Immigrant Heritage Month is more than a commemoration.

It is an opportunity to reflect on the histories of courage, resilience, and determination that have shaped generations of families.

It is a reminder that behind every immigrant story is a person who chooses hope over uncertainty, opportunity over adversity, and who works every day to build a better future to themselves, their families, and their communities.

In doing so, immigrants not only pursue their own dreams, but also enrich their communities that they call home.

Here in Sacramento, we see the impact of immigrant communities every day.

Immigrants contribute to every sector of our economy.

They are business owners, creating jobs, health healthcare professionals, caring for families, educators, preparing future generations, agricultural workers, helping feed our communities and public servants dedicated to improving the lives of others.

And we have the example of some of them.

Beyond our economy contributions, immigrants enrich our communities through their cultures, traditions, languages and perspectives.

They bring new ideas for creativity and strengthen the social fabric that makes Sacramento such a vibrant and welcoming city.

The Mexican community has been part of California's history for centuries and continues to play a vital role in this present and future Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans can contribute enormously to the growth and prosperity of this state their work talent and dedication can be found in every corner of California's economy and society.

But today it's also a celebration of the broader immigrant experience Sacramento is home of those whose roots extends across Latin America, Asia, Africa, Europe and Pacific Island together, our communities demonstrate that diversity is not simply a characteristic of California.

It is one of these greatest strengths I extend my appreciation not only to Mexican community but to all immigrant communities who had work hard resilience and contributions help make Sacramento and California stronger every day together we enrich our neighborhoods strengthen our economy and help build a better society for our for future generations with these resolutions may continue working together to build a future that reflects the very best of our shared values our diversity and communist aspirations viva Sacramento viva California Viva Mexico y viva nuestras comunidades migrantes to our uh our vice mayor and council members and to our guests today uh I just want to say too on behalf of the city of Sacramento we're proud to recognize June as immigrant heritage month I remember 10 years ago when I was a lawmaker I got up on the floor and and talked about how important it is for me.

I'm not an immigrant but I look at my kids at home and three or four of their grandparents are immigrants to this country and Sacramento is as we know a very amazing and diverse city roughly one in four, one in five residents in this city are immigrants like you council members so we want to honor and support our diverse community and and thank you our council for representing the larger the largest immigrant community in Sacramento this afternoon and every day and thanks to opening doors for your work for all immigrant communities so thank you we're a city that welcomes immigrants and refugees we always have and we always will proud to support this rezzo tonight thank you very much Thank you.

Next item.

Mayor, we move now to a public hearing.

Item one is adoption of the fiscal year 2026-27 operating budget and 2026 to 2031 capital improvement plan.

Good evening, Mayor, Council members, members of the public.

I'm P.

Colletto, the city's finance director.

So tonight, Council is considering adoption of a final budget.

So $1.7 billion spending plan, $900 million in the general fund.

It is balanced and closes a sixty-six point two million dollar budget deficit, and incorporates the direction given by council during budget hearings.

This budget contains a lot of difficult decisions and trade-offs, but it advances council priorities and preserves core services.

And before we jump in, I just do want to take a second to thank council, the budget and audit committee, the city manager and her executive team for their leadership, the departments for their partnership, the community, both residents and civic groups for their engagement.

And finally, uh a huge thanks to Mirthala and the budget team who've worked tirelessly to put this together.

And these are the people who have all the answers.

So the final budget is a culmination of a process that began back in October when council adopted a budget policy.

As you recall, we moved everything up earlier this year.

So in March, we released a baseline budget and held a series of early budget workshops, incorporated that feedback into the proposed budget that was released in April, and then throughout May, Council has held a series of budget hearings.

This is just a little bit more detail of what happened when, but we are now at June 9th, where council is considering the final budget.

So if we want restorations, we have to pay for them.

And as you recall, council gave direction for the city manager and clerk to conduct a review of commissions and bring that back to council.

The final budget also contains some technical adjustments.

So some of them are listed here.

So it incorporates the newest costs associated with our negotiations with the firefighters union.

It create actually creates that economic development department, that standalone department, and makes some of the technical moves to move folks into that department.

We have a number of position ad deletes and then some other technical adjustments.

So up there is the five-year forecast incorporating council's direction and technical adjustments.

And one thing, while we are still in a structural deficit, this budget makes huge progress on closing that.

The biggest one right now, the one that is causing me the most concern is just the economic uncertainty and the risk of recession.

We're seeing another bout of inflation, we're seeing higher energy costs, and these things can ripple through the economy.

You know, as we've as we've been discussing throughout the budget process, inflationary environments are very hard for California cities.

Our costs go up, and some of our main revenue sources flatline or decline.

We're also keeping a close eye on the future of the HAP program.

While, you know, there was another round that was appropriated by the state.

We have not yet gotten a commitment to ongoing funding, and so we don't know what the future of the HAP program or any state funding for local homelessness needs may look like, and you know, we'll continue to advocate uh for the city.

Um, and then we have those long-term liabilities.

So again, these are our unfunded pension liabilities, our deferred maintenance needs.

Um, you know, I will note that council did pass a policy that seeks to create when we have one time savings devoted to paying down some of these long-term liabilities, but they're still out there, and especially the pension liability acts on a drain as a drain on our operating budget.

But I would be remiss if I did not point out uh a number of the highlights in this budget.

Again, this is a this was a difficult budget.

We closed a large budget gap.

Council had to make a lot of difficult decisions, but we made real progress in addressing our structural deficit.

There are no sworn separations from the city.

We're creating a standalone economic development department, which will help generate growth and hopefully help in the long term uh provide us more resources from economic growth to help balance our budget.

We're advancing a number of homelessness response initiatives, we're continuing the quick build road safety program, and we're maintaining aquatics and community center programming per council's directions.

So that concludes staff's presentations, and we are here to answer any questions and support you during your consideration of this item.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

I have 22 speakers on this item.

The first is Robin Michael, Lillian Gafari, Faye tongue.

Um, please feel free to line up in the middle aisle.

The timer will show on the screen behind you.

Is Robin here?

Robin Michael, Lillian Gafari, Faye Tung, Cow Lee, then Cow Yi Tao.

Hi everyone.

This is my first time speaking to the city council.

So thanks for your patience.

Um we had hoped that Lillian would precede me because she's much more um official at these sort of things, but I'm just gonna very briefly say that I've lived in the Tahoe Park neighborhood since 1999.

I can tell you that in my time in the neighborhood, I have been relatively engaged with my neighbors, but only for the past few years have I been involved with the neighborhood association and therefore involved with the community a lot more directly.

And I just wanted to take a moment to say that council member Gera has been in our community actively checking in with us.

You know, he's at almost every neighborhood association meeting, which I personally appreciate because he's getting up, he's putting his finger on the pulse of what we've got going on and what we're asking for.

I'm sure you've heard about our neighborhood association at least once or twice.

We are pretty active in the community.

We have a force of volunteers who just get out there, roll up our sleeves, and and do so much to help support our fellow neighbors.

Most importantly, you know, with these budget cuts that we've been facing, we've been really concerned about some of the resources our community has always had access to.

And I wanted to gratefully thank you for keeping our pools open specifically.

I think Lillian's gonna discuss a little bit more detail about that.

It's a really important thing for our kids.

It's something that we've all fought to keep open in the past.

We've gone on crusades to, you know, ask for this to be a continued resource for our kids and our and our neighbors.

But I also want to talk about retaining the park staff, the park staff who tirelessly comes out and keeps our parks clean, maintained, safe.

They're awesome, you know, friends to all of us.

I uh co-chair the community garden right next door to Tahoe School, Tahoe Elementary.

Thank you for your comments.

Your time is complete.

Our next speaker is Lillian, then Faye.

Lillian.

Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor and Council members.

My name is Lillian Gaffari, president of the Tahoe Park Neighborhood Association, and also District 6 Commissioner for the Sacramento Children's Fund.

And um, so I just want to thank you all for all the hard work that you've done on this budget, and um I'd like to sincere sincerely thank Councilmember Eric Gera for restoring the funding for the original pool hours and also for the waiting pools, which um Colonial Heights Waiting Pool is right next to Tahoe Park.

So um, you know, this just means so much at Tahoe Park, so much of Tahoe Park neighbors.

I myself have a mother of a toddler and an infant, and so I especially appreciate that I can um I'm walking distance to the Tahoe Park pool, and so um this is just um a wonderful uh resource for our families to thrive in Tahoe Park.

So thank you all.

Thank you, Councilmember Eric Gera, and that's it.

Next speaker is Faye Tung.

Good evening.

Uh, this is the first time I ever been here, so um uh the uh good evening uh uh mayor McCarthy and also uh the member of councils.

I'm my name is Faye Thangs.

I'm at the Umian community uh in GU, and I'm here to ask you to uh to oppose the proposed uh YPCE fee reductions, and this is uh very important to our uh community uh where like all these ladies that we have the group that uh the place where our seniors go and gather weekly, and uh when I retire and I have opportunity to bring my mom who's in her 90s to participate in the program, I know that she looked forward each week to uh have a chance to socialize and also meet her relatives and friends, and if uh the fee reduction uh is I mean uh not opposed, and it's gonna be totally impact our community.

Uh and also I when I first started going, I think each uh meeting session, it's like uh probably about in the number of 20.

Right now I see like a hundred, so it's actually have tremendous needs, and also community.

They don't a lot of them don't speak the language, and this is a place where they can speak their own language.

There's a lot of resources that they uh uh can access, and so we uh ask you uh to actually uh consider uh the uh proposed uh fee reduction to help our community and uh thank you.

Next speaker is Kaoli, then Kao Yi Tao.

Did you say Kaui?

Or Kuli.

Or Kuli.

Cool Lee.

Oh, that's me.

And then Kao Yi.

Okay.

Uh good evening, mayor and uh members of the city council.

My name is Kuli.

I'm the program manager at UMia Community Services, and I oversee the Healthy Village Senior Program at George Community Center.

Uh I am here tonight because I have the privilege of watching this program grow from the ground up.

Um, in 2023, during the COVID recovery period, we started gathering outdoors about 20 seniors.

We were simply just trying to create a safe place where elders could reconnect.

We're uh from experience the devastating isolation, and at that time we never imagined what the program could become.

Today, because the partnership of the and the supportive city of Sacramento and access to George Simon Community Center, we regularly serve more than 100 seniors per week.

That's a very big group.

Um staff, uh we see things that statistics alone cannot capture.

We see seniors arrive early because they are excited to see their friends.

We see people checking in on each other when someone is absent.

We see seniors who once isolate, who is once isolated, become active, engaged, and connected again.

What many people may not realize is the most common request we hear from our seniors about more services or activities.

It's about can we meet more than once a week?

And unfortunately, because of funding and staff capacity and availability with the facility, we cannot do that.

Yeah, with these uh limitations, our seniors continue to show week after week because this program is very important to their lives.

I also want to acknowledge how proud we are to always bend the um to tell our community that we're supported by the city of Sacramento, and here they are on a dime.

You know, I picked them all up to be here.

Um they're refugees, and it means something that they belong, and they're they find a place where they could be themselves.

And so the proposed Yep C fee waiver reduction concerns us because when I look around the room each week, I don't see attendance or numbers.

I see friendships, I see support systems, and I see community that has found a place to belong.

It's if you've never been there, thank you for your comments.

Your time is complete.

Our next speaker is Kao Yi Tao, then Liana.

Hello, good evening, city council and mayor and um city manager.

I am Kao Yi.

I am here in Solidarity with Hmong Innovating Politics.

Happy to stand with EMEAN Community Services to really raise the alarm and oppose Yipsey's budget proposal to reduce facility fee waivers for nonprofit CVOs.

EMN community services through their program at George Sims serves over 100 seniors weekly, and they're just not just me and seniors, they're Hmong seniors, they're seniors that come from different programs across Sacramento.

And because of this fee waiver reduction, they're going to have to shoulder over $16,000.

So for nonprofit organizations that like emian community services that are serving our most vulnerable residents, sixteen thousand dollars means a lot.

So when we say we're balancing the budget, we're actually balancing the budget on the backs of our community members.

With the summer coming up and with what's happening in our community with ICE Tear, um with cuts to healthcare, we need safe spaces for our community members.

So we really urge you to oppose any fee waiver reductions.

Um so please maintain the nonprofit fee waiver structure.

Please reject the proposed reduction in fee waivers for CBOs.

Today we hear from EMI and Community Services, but I know that in each of your districts, you have CBOs that are utilizing your community centers and serving your most vulnerable residents, and maybe they didn't get a chance to come out today.

Uh, and we did, and so really today we don't just speak on our behalf, but we speak on the behalf of many vulnerable residents that uh utilize the community centers.

And as we also think about numbers, think also about the returns.

These community uh CBOs they are bringing people to community centers.

They are stimulating the services that we're trying to protect.

So it's not just about protecting uh our seniors, but it's actually about the operation.

Thank you for your comments.

Your time is complete.

Our next speaker is Liana, then Michael Bevins, then Francis.

Hi.

Um disappointed again.

That's not news, but you know, here we are, standard in front of you guys.

Wondering why you would think it would be okay to pass a third of the budget for PD while taking away fee waivers from our most vulnerable citizens.

That's not okay, and it's not what the community wants.

The community has told you what they want, and we expect you to listen.

We expect you to listen.

That's your job.

That is your job is to listen to us, the constituents.

Now, you want to acknowledge immigrant heritage month while I watched four detainees of our community be brought into the John Moss building today.

Shame.

That is an absolute shame.

And you want to stand here and pretend that oh, we're gonna celebrate immigrants, we're gonna take our cute little pictures, we're gonna act like this is all, you know, it's okay.

We support our community.

We know that our community is built off of immigrants while they're being deported without due process.

That's not okay, and it never will be okay.

We will keep standing up and we will keep bugging the shit out of you, and we will keep making sure that you do not get re-elected every single time you do this shit.

You don't listen to us and McCarty.

I notice every single time you look at the clock to see how many seconds are left that you have to listen to someone.

You are disrespectful.

You are so disrespectful, and it fucking shames me to have you as my fucking mayor.

This is a good city, and you're a piece of fucking shit.

Bevins and Francis.

Man, I gotta follow that.

Hi, Council.

I'm a member of District 2, Michael Bevins.

Uh um, I am just uh I'm not a professional politician or bureaucrat or engineer or consultant or lawyer.

I'm just a daydreaming truck driver looking from afar.

What's going on and congratulations on passing a budget?

Um, I think we're gonna be here again next year doing the same exact thing.

And we've been here before.

I think when I started interested this, interested in this, it was like five years, it's the same thing every year.

My opinion, the sky is falling.

Sacks City School District is having their own budget crisis.

That's unrelated to this, but it's fallen there.

We've had it in the past.

Remember, City of Valleo, City of Stockton.

They've all gone through this before.

It's here, it's like a waterfall that slowly but surely freezes over.

Um, I don't know how to suggest how to fix it.

Except just in general, we as a city must pay for what we use.

Whatever that is, whatever we choose to have it to be.

And when I say use, I mean not just literally use, but also maintain the systems that we need to require it, and then also fund because the future we're gonna have to replace the whole system.

We need to have money set aside for that time.

Um, I don't know how to say any more than that, except I would think that maybe have instead of a one-year budget, we keep doing this all the time.

I know you have plans.

How about a five-year or a 10-year budget?

Kind of based it on the census.

We do a census every time.

That's a good time to do some budgeting for 10 years in advance.

Make sure we have money in the bank when things break and come due 10 years from now.

Anyway, just a day, and truck driver.

That was my suggestion.

Thanks for the two minutes.

Next speaker is Francis, then Moyes Muir.

Hi, my name is Francis.

I'm a resident of District 4 and an organizer of Decarcerate Sacramento.

Um, I'm here to oppose the proposed budget, which increases funding for the Sacramento Police Department while precribing critical services and neglecting community needs.

The city continues to increase funding for the Sacramento Police Department that harms our black and brown communities with its racist traffic stops and military equipment use that surveils residents with license plate reader cameras and illegally shares that data directly with ICE that aids ICE and immigration enforcement activities by providing escort and using crowd control tactics outside the John Moss building that harasses sites and arrests local anti-ICE protesters exercising their First Amendment rights.

You refuse to hold SACA BD accountable, and that's not surprising since most of you take the donations directly from police departments and the police union.

Ignorance is not an excuse.

You have blatantly disregarded months of advocacy to protect our neighbors and community members from ICE and SAC PD.

Your proposed community action plan lacks substance, enforceability, and accountability measures.

We have been unified in our demands that SAC PD exit the joint terrorism task force, which collaborates with ICE.

This task force has been used to target activists across the country.

Councilmember Talamontis has blocked this from being included in the community action plan under the pretense that she will not take any resources from human trafficking, and there's no evidence to support this claim.

Our proposed plan has done nothing to protect our community residents from ICE, who are the real human traffickers here.

They kidnap our community members and separate families and detain our neighbors in for-profit prisons.

As community members put themselves at risk to defend their immigrant neighbors from ICE, we are asking our city council, mayor, and city manager to stop wasting precious time and do their part.

We demand the city pass an ordinance, non-resolution to enforce to ensure enforceability and accountability.

We demand that SAC PD be held accountable and leave the joint terrorism task force.

We demand real sanctuary.

Following Moyes is White Space Jesus, Francine Matta.

Good evening, City Council.

My name is Moyes.

I am the organizing and advocacy manager for the Asian American Liberation Network.

I'm also a member of the Racial Equity Alliance.

This is a racist budget.

Let's sit with that.

This is a racist budget.

The Office of Public Safety and Accountability, the one mechanism that has some form of power for police accountability and this entire city infrastructure, other than the city manager's department, is being cut by a quarter of its staff at the same time.

At the same time as last month's release of ACLU's report on the racial bias in the Sacramento Police Department.

At the same time as there are increases to the police department as it's the same time as there are vacancies.

There are vacant positions in the police department.

And we want to cut fee waivers for seniors.

We want to cut fee waivers for community centers.

We want to cut the community ambassador program that grants language access to our diverse communities across the city of Sacramento.

That's what we want to spend our money on.

That's how we're gonna spend our money in this budget.

I implore you to challenge that.

You have that power.

I don't.

I can just sit here and ask along with the hundreds of people who every year come to this dais and ask for a shred for a drop of the city budget.

But so much of it is held up in those vacant police department positions that are not filled and have not been filled.

A drop in that bucket equals those fee waivers for those seniors.

A drop in that bucket equals community ambassador programs to ensure language access.

This is not immigrant heritage month if we can't even allow our immigrants to engage with the language that this city is speaking.

Shame on you if you vote for this budget.

Thank you.

White space Jesus and Francine Maddas and Victor Rodriguez.

Please proceed.

Good to see you.

And I'm hoping Mr.

McCarty, mayor.

You're recognizing what this city, what your city is asking.

And that eye contact you're giving me.

It's one of the reasons why my nickname is White Space Jesus.

Because you're not acknowledging anybody else.

Not a single other person.

Not a single other person.

That's grateful.

I'm glad to see everybody else speaking up for your communities.

Your voices mattered.

You behind the glass, folks like you that want to come take our fucking rights.

I went on our ice ride along against my will.

Next day, SAC PD, instead of doing what they should have done, arrested the agents.

They came and harassed the protesters.

The news said that we were just demonstrators, and I dropped my phone in this car.

That would have been anybody else.

And you know if it's black or brown, they're probably gonna die.

We've seen it.

I got to walk away, mostly.

But if that would have been anybody else, they let him fucking walk with stolen goods.

Where is that allowed?

So this big budget that needs to be increased by for SAC PD.

Here, please address the council.

You're in the room.

They're listening.

That big budget, they're getting they're not gonna be you losing any money when you don't give them fucking funding because they're getting it for ice.

They're getting paid elsewhere.

They're not losing it from you.

They like to take it from us.

They do take it from us, but they do not help our community.

Look out for the people here that come to see you that come have can actually come out to you that can.

Thank you for your comments.

Our next speaker is Francine Mata, Victor Rodriguez, then Tim Murphy.

Sorry, I have to read from this.

I want to wanna make sure I get it.

Um my name is Francine Mata.

I'm a community ambassador, um, chair and president of the Sacramento Low Rider Commission, also on the Cultural Committee for Cal Expo.

And I'm here to um ask respectfully that um you oppose the proposed cuts for the community ambassador program.

As someone who's worked in the community engagement for many, many years, I can honestly say this is one of the most effective programs that I've seen in the city of Sacramento create.

This program is built on trust, relationship, cultural understanding, and it's directly to our communities that are often overlecked, underserved, our face cultural and language barriers when trying to access resources.

And it's really imperative.

I look up at you guys, and kind of the respect is when someone's talking, you should be looking at them and showing them that respect.

You know, I just always try to say reminder, you work for us, we the people.

And so um, this community ambassador program is about sharing information, ensuring residents feel seen, heard, and representative.

Um, we're trusted individuals in our communities, and we help bridge gaps between residents and government.

You know, at a time when you continue to talk about equity, inclusion, community engagement.

Uh this um ceremony you had this morning or before this meeting, and then you're cutting these programs, it's just mind-blowing.

Um, you know, you're saying you're we need to pay attention to our underrepresented communities.

And just remember, you know, if had I known this, I would have probably um went up for election in one of your guys' districts.

Because we need more of me in your guys' positions.

There's a big diverse board up here, but you guys need to wake up.

I mean, the aura, everything is just different from a couple years ago.

Thank you for your comments.

Your time is complete.

Our next speaker is Victor Rodriguez, then Tim Murphy, then Faye Lao Tung.

Good evening.

My name is Victor Rodriguez, uh, district 2 resident, gay, bronze star veteran, Mexican immigrant with roots in Michoacan, Mexico.

The City of Sacramento must pass an ordinance, not simply a resolution that creates real enforcement, transparency, and most important, accountability.

The numbers just don't make sense.

The funding put aside for violence prevention, 1.3 million, compared to the 107,000 reserved for youth parks and community enrichments, for example, don't give me any hope for better communities, especially at my home, District 2.

Mr.

Dickinson, I welcome you at my house during your uh election.

District 2 needs you.

We've been needing someone.

We need more streetlights.

I've been paying for my own street light for the last five years due to lack response from requests for additional lighting by Smart or the City.

How about some better paved roads?

Pick up trash from the streets, maybe fines to those properties where trash is dumped.

Will that help policing by my own neighbors?

We all know very well about the collaboration of local law enforcement and ICE.

The proposed budget and funding to SAC PD will not only help more attacks against our communities.

As a veteran, I'm very familiar with the phrase should now ask questions later.

I do.

At least a few.

Abolish Ice.

And that work starts here in Sacramento, the capital of California, the fourth largest economy in the world, and the city with the home state with nearly 11 million immigrants.

A proposed budget increase that expands policing, surveillance, and enforcement resources send direct message to our immigrant in Brown communities that this system will continue to prioritize over safety, prioritize their arrest over any safety.

No one is truly safe when fear when fear profiling and unchecked power has become normalized.

An ordinary creates obligation.

Thank you for your comments.

Your time is complete.

Our next speaker is Tim Murphy, Faye Lao Tung, then AJ Albano.

Mayor and Council members, good evening.

My name is Tim Murphy, and I'm here on behalf of the Alliance for Better Sacramento, represented by the organizations back there.

The Alliance is a coalition of business organizations and districts that believe Sacramento's best days can still be ahead, but only if the city focuses on the fundamentals.

We met last week with Councilman Dickinson, several of your staff members, and you should all have received a copy of our press release, a link to our website, www.better-sacramento.org, and our call to action document, the Alliance Roadmap.

This is a practical roadmap for a stronger Sacramento.

It does not ask the city to be everything to everyone, but we do believe it will lead to a thriving community.

Our roadmap is built on three priorities.

First, economic development.

Sacramento needs to move faster on catalytic projects that create jobs, expand the tax base, and generate the revenue needed to overcome persistent deficits.

Second, public safety.

Safe streets, clean corridors, and welcoming public spaces are not optional.

They are the foundation for a thriving city, and they require consistent enforcement and clear priorities.

And third, efficiency and accountability.

Sacramento needs to live within its means, focus on core services, and modernize how City Hall operates so taxpayers can see real results.

Our alliance is not here to criticize.

Rather, we are here to partner to offer practical ideas and urge the city to focus on the matters that matter most: safety, economic development, clean neighborhoods, and fiscal discipline.

We look forward to working with you, Ms.

Smith, and your departments in re-establishing Sacramento as a city that works for all.

Thank you.

I just don't see movement.

AJ Albano.

Police union lobbying as a way of making city officials do really absurd things.

Your community has for many years called for more police accountability and stronger powers to civilian oversight.

Police union lobbying causes you to propose cuts to the Office of Public Safety Accountability.

Cut it from the budget while community members have come to you for months asking you for limits over the overpolicing and targeting of protesters outside of the John Moss federal building, while community members discuss and inform you about racist police stops and pretextual policing.

These unions will make you search every possible excuse to oppose withdrawing from joint terrorism task forces that allow SAC PD to share information with federal agencies, including ICE.

And when community members call for meaningful limits on police collaboration with federal law enforcement, it ultimately leads you to dilute, dilate, delay, and undermine community-led sanctuary city policy until it becomes nothing more than meaningless substance-free performance.

These unions pervert your responsibilities, they pervert your morals, they wedge themselves between you and your most engaged socially conscious constituents who care so deeply about this city.

You make these choices because you believe you're aligning yourselves with power.

You believe that there's greater political risk to disappointing the police unit than failing the people that you represent, but you are wrong.

Our community for your comments.

Your time is complete.

Our next speaker is Taylor, then Keon Bliss, then Annabel Gonzalez.

And limit the harm caused by your decision.

Your speaker time is complete.

Please take your seat.

Thank you, time's out.

AJ Albano.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Taylor is the next speaker, then Keon Bliss, then Annabelle Gonzalez.

I want to remember remind members of the audience, please do not disrupt the ore of conduct of the proceedings by continuing to speak out from the audience.

You are in violation of chapter five of the city council rules of procedure.

If you continue, we'd be ordered to leave the meeting.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Taylor, please proceed.

Today, the city of Sacramento is being proposed a budget to help clear the deficit in the resources Sacramento provides to its citizens.

We're being proposed a conservative estimate to our police budget of 255 million dollars.

This would be an increase compared to last year, in which the police funding accounted for over a third of the entire sum.

It is important to note that this has a potential high of 273 million dollars going to the police, according to you.

The increase comes at a time when attacks on our rights to free speech are at an all-time high and political repression is becoming an all-too common tool being weaponized against activists, particularly in relation to immigration and customs enforcement.

I find it interesting that the funding for programs that provide oversight to free speech violations like OPSA and immigrant rights programs like fuel are left on the cutting room floor.

This doesn't seem like a coincidence to me.

The federal government funds agencies like DHS and ICE to a degree which it deems to be effective, yet our police department volunteers to collaborate with these agencies officially under the JTTF or Federal Joint Terrorism Task Force.

Membership to this task force means that our police department is obligated to provide agencies like ICE and DHS free access to their databases.

This aspect of the relationship doesn't even cover the recorded and not recorded accounts of on-the-ground collusion SAC PD has engaged in, such as crowd control for DHS vehicles exhibiting things like missing license plates, illegally tented windows, and bogus citations to activists, even within the designated free speech zone.

This is outside the John Moss Federal Building.

And furthermore, if we look at things like violent crime, we can see that in 2025 there is an increase in homicides by one compared to ten years ago in 2016.

The number of employed officers is also less compared to them.

And when we account for the difference in population between those two times, we can clearly see less officers equals less crime.

So, if we're cutting oversight in immigrant rights programs to cover the cost of our city's deficit, it begs the question.

Why are we not only keeping but increasing the already doubled police budget from the last decade, despite violent crime remaining virtually unchanged?

The math is simple.

Our city's budget is going to an agency that has historically operated.

Thank you for your comments.

Your time is complete.

Our next speaker is Keon Bliss, then Annabelle Gonzalez, then Antonia Lopez.

Your time is complete.

Please take your seat.

Our next speaker is Keon.

Keon Bliss, Annabelle Gonzalez, Antonia Lopez, Zion Tadis, then Josh.

Eyes up,000.

That's how much the Sacramento Police Officers Association is paying this council to lay off 45 Yipsey workers and gut civilian police oversight of OPSA in order to protect 34 million dollars in vacancy savings that PD uses to bloat their overtime budget.

39,000 of that went to Kevin McCarty, sitting right there ignoring us and pretending like this doesn't matter.

231,000 dollars.

That's how much of the Sacramento Area Firefighters Local 522 is paying this council to maintain 25 non-budgeted fire recruit positions that have been empty since July 1st, 2021.

54,000 of which has gone to Kevin McCarty.

1,370,000 that members of this so-called Alliance for a Better Sacramento, including members of the Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber, California Association of Realtors, and California Department Association is paying you to save 4.1 million dollars in one-time savings on the backs of 1.8 million homeless service cuts.

615,000 of which has gone to you, Mayor McCarty, for your vote tonight.

This is just a taste of more than $2 million that the wealthiest business owners, labor unions, and police and public safety associations are paying for this council's imminent approval of this cruel and inhumane budget.

These budget cuts are not only fiscally unnecessary based on the budget options shared with the public by city staff, but they're also nakedly unethical and cruel.

In fact, just from the documents alone, I can find you 9.2 million dollars using 106 unfilled positions and seven unused budget reduction strategies that do not involve any homeless service cuts, no layoffs, and without eliminating any fresh vacancies that are less than a year old.

And you will actually have more savings to the economic uncertainty reserve than tonight's proposed savings.

Thank you for your comments.

Annabelle Gonzalez, then Antonia Lopez, then Zalion Tadis.

Mr.

Bliss, you've exceeded your speaking time.

Please take your seat.

Our next speaker is Annabelle Gonzalez.

Annabelle Gonzalez.

Good evening, Mayor and Council members.

I remember sitting at the top of the Ferris Wheel on a summer night, looking out across Sacramento, city lights stretched in every direction, the Golden Tower Bridge against the night sky, the white glowing capital crisp in the distance.

For a quiet, for a few quiet minutes, I saw Sacramento as one city.

Nothing hidden, nothing out of sight.

That's what transparency feels like, and that's what we are asking for today.

From up there, I felt the weight of everything the city was built on.

The people who came before us, the families who planted roots here, the workers, the dreamers, the residents who showed up every single day.

Today this council passes a budget, and most residents will never know what's in it.

Can you see what I what we see from up here?

We see a $66 million deficit.

We see a $1.2 billion deficit, bond deficit.

And according to the April 2026 HUD Homeless Management Information System Report, $282 active homeless service providers in this system.

No one can tell us which ones are working.

And still, this budget moved forward with tiny homes at 3511 Arena Boulevard.

40 units, no council vote, no community input.

Oakland did this.

A journalist named Natalie Ornstein documented every dollar.

Wood Street, 400,000 per month, collapsed when the city stopped paying.

Staffed walked out, no food.

Residents back on the street, third in Peralta, nearly half returned to homelessness.

Mandala has 43 million.

Residents facing eviction after one year.

Oakland never answered.

The shelters closed anyway.

That Ferris will is gone now.

The schoolhouse built in 1976, is gone too.

And no one asked the people of Sacramento, but our foundation is still here.

The ancestors are still here.

North Natomas, Del Paso Heights, Oak Park, we are still here.

And when the people of Sacramento rise up and demand the view from the top, there's nothing we cannot see.

There is nothing we cannot change.

The will may be gone, but we are still here.

Thank you.

Next speaker, as Antonia Lopez.

Next speaker is Antonia Lopez, and then Zion Tadis, then Josh, then Alicia Yafi.

My name is Antonia Lopez.

I'm the vice president of Manitos, a senior citizens club that that's housed at the House at the Heart Center.

On behalf, this is a different story here.

On behalf of Manitos, a group of 137 members, and all of the participants of the Heart Center, who have been receiving an incredible array of services.

We thank you for just for continuing to support the heart staff and operations.

Sacramento has 47,000 residents age 65, with nearly 30% who are 80 years or older.

That's 14,000 citizens of Sacramento who are 80 years and older.

Heart Center is serving a couple hundred.

You've had 65,000 individual contacts over the course of the year, which I think if you look at your documentation indicates that there is an incredibly huge number of seniors that are not being served, and that there are facilities across the city that I hope in this next year you will work with us, the volunteers of heart and other community centers to see how we can reach them and how serving them will actually save the money for the city.

We know that in three years, 25% of Sacramento's population will be seniors.

Thank you for your comments.

Our next speaker is Zion Taddis, then Josh, Metalysia.

Hi, my name is Zion Tadissa, the owner of Queen Shiva restaurant.

Thank you for having me again.

So, you know, I'm not I'm not against police or fire and anything else.

I've been in my restaurant for the past 18 years, actually been uh donating every year for police fire and sheriff.

But what I have a problem is really instead of investing in our youth, the underserved youth, the undeserved businesses, and the seniors, which I actually lost my best friend for, could be prevent preventable our youth from uh killing each other and instead of investing in entrepreneurship and investing in uh their education and trading and everything.

You guys are investing all the money in facts putting in the police, uh, hoping that the, you know, I don't even know the prevention.

What is the prevention uh uh for you know investment in the youth?

So I don't, you know, 85% of it going to the police in the fire instead of the community.

Uh is just mind uh bothering to me because it's the community who needs that fund.

Our youth needs the fund, so they don't have to have too many police officers harassing them.

Our businesses need investment, especially underserved businesses like me.

I know so many of us are shutting down every day from lack of uh uh investment, and our seniors are suffering from the put the uh uh hospitals or the healthcare uh not being accountable.

I mean, why don't we invest in the people?

The taxpayers money was supposed to go to the people who are underserved, underrepresented, but instead is going to the fire and the police, expecting and actually creating a pipeline to jail and prison and shutting down the small businesses.

So we need some solution for our community.

Thank you for your comments.

Our next speaker is Josh, then Alicia, then Therese Kauchon.

Hey, I'm Josh.

I live in District 5.

Um, my rent goes up every year, 10%.

I'm in a house, houses aren't restricted by any of your rent controls.

If I can't continue to pay that, I'll be one of the homeless folks that you guys aren't intending to help.

That's not what you're designed to do.

So I gotta keep up, and I understand that you guys have a difficult group to negotiate with that shows up here armed, and you have to give them more money every year, and they give you more money every year, and that's complicated.

And they have hundreds of positions that are unfilled.

Like, are these people real in the room, or are these the ghost cops that are that we're just paying checks to?

It's it's really sketchy that they have hundreds of positions that are unfilled.

That they that's just their piggy bank, that's their their overtime account.

How about instead of canceling public services, canceling ambassadors, public safety and accountability offices, community outreach offices.

How about we pull what they did in the wire in Baltimore?

No overtime for cops until we square our budget.

That's that's all.

Next speaker is Alicia, then Therese Kachon, then MEP.

Hi everyone, uh, my name's Alicia Yaffe.

Um, nice to see you all.

I am a resident of District 4.

Um, I am an associate energy specialist with the state of California, and I'm an elected member of CAPS UAW local 1115.

I'm on our joint council.

Um, and I believe that our budget is a reflection of our values.

I live across the street from St.

Paul's church in midtown.

Um, and I watched one rainy night as a midtown or a downtown security guard, as well as two police officers spent three hours of illegally evicting a homeless man from the doors of the church to St.

Paul's.

That's private property, that's a church, that's protected.

And I watched as the police officers did that, and I went down and I talked to them and I told them that it was illegal, and they didn't listen to me.

Next time I see that, I'm reporting it.

I know people that can put in lawsuits.

Can't you think of better ways for that funding?

It could have put them up in a hotel for a night or more than one night, probably a week, right?

Um, spend that money on youth services, spend that money on fuel network, right?

Funding for a community action plan that doesn't exist apparently in this budget, but we've been talking about.

We need an ordinance that's going to protect our workers who are immigrants and our immigrants who are workers, right?

I know that there are caps members down at that ice building protesting all the time.

Their rights need to be protected, right?

They're protesters, and they need to not be subject to pretextual stops and illegal stops with ice or ice and the PD collaborating.

This is not okay.

It's not hypothetical, it's happening.

We know that we have data that's being shared with the county, and we know the county is sharing data with the federal government, right?

This is not hypothetical, it's happening.

Please consider your community.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Therese Cachon.

Therese.

Thank you, MEP.

I have eight more speakers.

MEP, Sarah C, Eliza Horowitz, William Taylor.

Hi.

We have 700 officers in SAC BD.

We have 11 staff at the Office of Public Safety Accountability, which is an agency that handles complaints about police misconduct.

11.

That's 700 officers to 11 staff.

Of the 11 staff, the plan is to cut four?

That's just over a third, so now it's gonna be seven people.

Just seven people are going to be handling all the complaints that come in for 700 officers.

They could only handle around half of the nearly 700 complaints in 2024.

Now it's going to be even less.

It's been brought up before in this room that there's a dire need for police accountability, specifically with respect to arbitrary enforcement of laws to target those who dissent from ICE, taking people from our streets and engaging in domestic terror against our immigrant communities.

We also spoke about ending police collusion with ICE.

How will we do this by cutting the staff at OPSA, the Office of Public Safety Accountability?

ICE's budget is about 10 times bigger than it was in 2024.

How is cutting the staff at OPSA going to do anything but green light collusion?

We need an ordinance to hold cops criminally accountable for aiding ISIS terror project, and we need OPSA to make sure our community is heard.

By the way, it's curious that not a single officer out of 700 was cut for the budget.

Really curious.

Very weird.

Next speaker is Sarah.

Then Elisa.

My name is Sarah.

I'm a member of Sacramento DSA and an employee of Sacramento City Unified School District, a member of SCIU Local 1021.

Given the urgent budgetary shortfalls across our community in education and other essential city services, it is unacceptable that the city's proposed budget increases funding for SAC PD, despite the fact that they have provided escort and use crowd control tactics to enable ISIS exit and entrance from the John Moss federal building for immigration enforcement activities and have pretextually enforced low-level municipal infractions against protesters exercising their First Amendment rights at the camp for justice outside the John Moss Federal Building.

As well as SAC PD's participation in the federal joint terrorism task force, which has been used to target activists and anti-ICE protesters across the country.

This is all done while the city completely fails to provide funding for the community action plan to protest to prevent our city residents, protect them from ICE, and committing to no additional funding for legal services or support programs for our city's immigrant communities.

This demonstrates how critically important it is to pass an ordinance, not just a resolution, to ensure that restrictions on city collaboration with ICE are enforceable with oversight, transparency, and real consequences for city staff and departments that violate sanctuary city protections.

Thank you.

Hello, my name's uh Aliza Horwitz.

I'm a resident of Sacramento District 4, and I'm here to oppose the proposed budget's funding increases for the police while cutting police oversight, youth programs in parks.

SAC PD collaborates with ICE through the joint terrorism task force, charging activists, anti-ICE protesters, and nonprofits with domestic terrorism, has been harassing citing and arresting anti-ICE protesters to limit their first amendment rights.

With infractions that are no longer even legal, like jaywalking as a pretextual reasoning to stop them.

If you want to actually stop ICE from being yet another version of Trump's very own uh brown charts, you would also make sure you aren't employing in partnering with them.

You would pass an ordinance restricting ICE collaboration, creating and investing in oversight, transparency, and real accountability with consequences.

Why am I able to read a book about 1930s Poland and directly see the parallels in how Jews were treated there and see how my friends and neighbors are treated here?

Now do better.

I'm done.

Is William Taylor?

I have five more speakers.

William Taylor, Anita Razzo, Leah Schenck.

Hello, City Council.

My name is William Taylor.

I love North Islands.

I'm here to speak on the opposing budget.

Increase for Sacramento PD, specifically for the local surveillance.

Um I think it's not moral, it's not effective, it's just a violation of uh Sacramento uh citizens of Sacramento's rights.

I don't think it helps me.

I don't think it helps Sacramentoans.

Who doesn't help really?

Does this help the police?

I don't think it does.

Some federal uh some federal technocrats.

I I really don't get it.

It doesn't even help the city police.

That's the weird part to me.

I mean, regardless of my thoughts on um police accountability and stuff here.

This is really benefit.

I think, and I think it's to support um to go against um putting the city budget at least to that specifically local surveillance.

I think that's popular.

I think it makes sense to listen to us on this.

Um I think we can lead the charge on showing that we that there's no point in supporting this this local surveillance, especially this collaboration with ICE and other parts of the federal government.

California's a leader, um, and I think we can show that here.

This could be an opportunity to show um there's no need for local police to support the federal government and their their frankly fascist efforts to um to rain down on our wonderful immigrant neighbors.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Anita.

Calling Anita is Leah Schenk, then Christina Alvarez.

Anita Razo.

Anita, then Leah, then Christina.

Thank you, Council members.

My name is Anita Rosal.

I am the founder of the DJ Gio Foundation and mother of DJ Geo.

I'm a volunteer with mom's demand action and a volunteer with survivors speak.

I'm a board member of the San Joaquin County Victims of Violent Crimes, a board member of the Luis G.

Alvarez Rewards for Justice, a volunteer community advocate supporting impacted families, a volunteer.

First responder homicide with Don't Shoot Our Future Down.

My son Giovanni Pisano paid the ultimate price in the cycle of gun violence.

He was ambushed, robbed, and murdered in North Natomas in April of 22, an affluent area where these crimes should not happen.

I'm here today with other impacted mothers to stop to help to ask your help in stopping gun violence.

I donate time, I volunteer time, I put in hard effort, I use my own money and other resources to prevent gun violence.

The DJ Geo Foundation currently provides DJ training to youth in hopes that it will keep them off the streets and away from gun violence, as it did for my son Gio.

As an impacted mother, I was pushed into taking action by the loss of my son, and in spite of the heart-wrenching pain I go through every single day, I am driven to stop gun violence.

I urge you to help win this fight by funding crime prevention initiatives and programs like Advocate Peace, Advanced Peace, and providing the funding to violence prevention efforts.

We are losing too many of our youth and young adults in this city.

Almost every day, youth falls victim to gun violence.

Budget took it needs to fall into putting more money into programs that are doing the work on violence prevention measures for youth.

I hope that you come to realize that it's only a matter of time that this violence coming comes into your neighborhoods or takes one of your children or loved ones.

On that day, you will wish that you would have taken preventative action.

And this is today.

Then Christina.

Good evening, good evening.

It's Leia.

Leah Schenk with Impact.

I am here to oppose the budget.

No surprise.

I know I've been up here several times talking about the same things.

Seems very redundant, but you know, just two hours ago, we just had two more people shot, Meadowview.

Just a block away from my elementary school.

I don't have to keep reminding you guys how real gun violence is.

This budget is not indicative of what the results are of that.

So you give all this money to certain entities, OVP is one of them, and there is no preventative measures that are being used.

OVP does not even collaborate with the organizers and the community leaders that are doing the work to prevent the violence.

So as much as we come up here and say this, as much as we meet with you all individually, um at the end of the day, you're gonna do what you want to do, and our community suffers for that.

And that's just the end of it, okay?

Two weeks ago we had folks come up here.

We had uh a mom talk about her 16-year-old daughter that took her life, 16 that took her life, gun violence.

You had a four-year-old get up here that was shot in Oak Park, gun violence.

You had uh another mother get up here and talk about how her daughter was shot and killed in her doorway, gun violence.

Twenty-two people spoke that night about what how OVP has not helped them, have the services of the city of Sacramento or the PD have not helped them in their time of need when violence occurred.

And no matter what, it falls on deafs' ears, and who is left to help these families?

Not a single person from the city of Sacramento helps these families when tragedy happens.

So again, I ask you, what happens when prevention doesn't work.

We have violence.

That's what we have.

It's violence.

And who's going to help these families when violence occurs?

Nobody.

But we're giving all these money to these folks, these miraculous folks that do all this work, as you claim, but it's not being shown out here in the community, and it's not meeting the families, nor is it meeting our city.

Thank you.

Christina Alvarez, then Amira E.

Good afternoon, council members.

My name is Christina Alvarez.

I'm a labor and community organizer with Sembrando Semillas Day Labor Workers Center here off Del Paso Boulevard.

Your consistent constituents are hurting hungry, some unhoused, many lacking access to basic needs, health care.

We are in a deficit, yet funding is massively increased for police department, and of course, inevitably ice.

Food, housing, health care, workforce.

These are the areas of resources where literal material needs and funding should be allocated and increased.

Rather than collaborating with agencies that are hurting our communities.

Everyone in this room has pledged to live Sacramento.

If that's the case in Sacramento, should prioritize its funding to its residents, to its workers, to its families, and yes, it's immigrants.

Sacramento must prioritize funding to legal and preventative services for our community because that will create a better foundation for our future.

Thank you.

Mira is our final speaker on this item.

Good evening.

Racist and discriminatory policing against black and brown communities, as you all know, is not new.

And the reason it has continued is because of the failure of elected representatives to hold them accountable in budgeting as well as in tangible oversight mechanisms.

ICE was created after 9-11 by relying on racist tropes labeling Arab and Muslim communities of which I'm a part as terrorists.

And we're seeing the same racist tactics used now to justify ICE's reign of terror with racist stereotypes labeling immigrants as criminals and human rights activists as terrorists.

And I know that you all know that.

The real criminals are law enforcement that collaborate with ICE in this reign of terror.

I work in education, and we know too well that students aren't there statistics out there that there's been 20% decreases in school attendance, uh, that students are not coming to school out of fear, uh, and failure to take action to implement real sanctuary here in Sacramento is failing these students and their families.

So continuing to allow PD to collude with ICE to harass and intimidate protesters, and to continue in the joint terrorism task force is enabling these crimes against the community that you all are elected to serve.

Increasing funding for police while cutting funding for police oversight, youth programs, and parks is a failure of accountability and a failure of your roles to serve the community, and I know that you can do better.

Thank you.

The mayor, that concludes public comment.

Okay, thank you.

Council members, back to the budget.

It's so okay to change your mind.

Show us murder it.

It is okay to change your mind and you can join us.

So is it any time?

It is so okay to change your mind.

It is so okay to change your mind and you can join us.

It's so great to change your mind, Members of the audience, please do not disrupt the orderly conduct of these meetings by proceeding to speak from the audience.

I asked the members of the audience to take your seats.

Members of the audience, please do not disrupt the orderly conduct of these proceedings by continuing to speak from the audience.

You're in violation of chapter five of the City Council rules of procedure.

If you will continue and be ordered to leave the meeting, do you understand this war?

So members of the public have continued to engage in conduct.

It disturbs the orderly conduct.

These meetings are in violation of City Council rules of procedure, chapter five.

Therefore, we'll take a brief recess so decorum in the chambers can be established.

Staff, please put ten seconds on the clock and restart our videos.

So my first hi everyone.

Welcome back.

Yes, thank you.

Uh just thank you to everyone who who came out today to to speak this evening.

Um at the last council meeting when we discussed the budget.

I voted no on the motion and the budget proposal that was on the table.

Um and yes, while we did say some programs, um, I really still do believe that the public shouldn't be thinking us for saving some core city programs that are essential to the work that we do.

Um, and yes, we have restored some programs like our summer city hall, our polls, uh, we also restore some of the youth funding, youth violence prevention funding as well.

Uh, but there hasn't been much change since the last proposal and the last conversation.

Um everything from a limiting the stipends of of our community ambassador programs to what you heard today, a decrease in waiver fees that are critical for our communities, and I know that Yepsi had to put forth uh reduction proposals or elimination as every department um has to do that.

And um I just can't support the budget in totality.

I think you even heard from uh community members that came today that spoke about the ways in which uh the increased fees will hurt community uh serving residents in our community center.

Uh, we heard from our E Man seniors today who attend programming at George Sims, and these programs are life-saving for so many of our seniors and our families.

Um every year, again, we always have the opportunity to reimagine what our budget can look like, and every year we end up balancing the budget on our youth, our parks, and our working families.

Um, and the reality is that the dollars are all tied up in the largest department, which is our police department.

And I will continue to remind um my colleagues and the public that the city of Sacramento passed a resolution in 2020, a resolution that redefined public safety to move beyond traditional services.

Um, and again, I wasn't here at the time that the resolution was voted on.

Uh, but it redefines public safety as more than just fire and police.

Yes, it includes fire and police, but it also includes youth services, preventative services offered by both the city and partnerships with community-based organization.

And since I've been in office, the police budget has increased over a hundred million dollars.

And there is this counter narrative that we've heard uh from the audience as well, right?

That there's this movement to defund the police, and that's just simply not true, because the police budget has grown over a hundred million since I've been a councilwoman.

And the fact is that the mayor and council, previous mayor and council have continued to increase the police budget.

And so we've never seen a decrease in the police budget since I've been on the city council.

I know that all of us want to create a city uh for our neighborhoods and our working family that's safe, that's healthy, uh, but we all know that data tells us, research tells us that when we support bold investment and preventative measures, and that we when we address root causes to crime and poverty, uh, this is how we address public safety.

I think it was Roger Councilmember Roger Dickinson that mentioned that for every dollar we invest in prevention, we get seven dollars in return.

And again, I know that we're gonna be back here again debating one to two percent of the budget, um, nitpicking how are we gonna save this programs, and if we don't have the courage to reimagine our budget, we're gonna be back here again, which we are.

And I really do believe that we need to have the courage to absorb PD vacancies in the police department.

If we're not bold enough to do that, I can't support this budget.

As I said last year, yes, we're in a budget deficit, but this is really a larger conversation about the type of moral deficit that we have.

And until we are able to reimagine what an alternative budget looks like for the city of Sacramento, I can't support the budget as is.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember Dickinson.

Thank thank you, Mayor.

Uh budgets are never an easy undertaking.

Even when times are relatively flush, there are always choices that are required in order to to have expenses meet revenues.

There are especially hard decisions to make when we're in the circumstance where we find ourselves today, which is our expenses, especially the things that we would like to do, reach beyond where our revenues will take us.

And so this uh is not an unusual or surprising set of circumstances where we find people who are frustrated, uh angry, upset, that what they find to be a more important priority may not may not find favor with a majority of the public or of the decision makers.

Nonetheless, I think there are some important things to remember about the budget that we are considering this evening, one was underscored by Pete in his presentation that we're making a significant advance in reducing our structural deficit with the budget proposal that's in front of us, and ultimately uh as we work to increase our resources, we have to recognize that as well, like anybody else's has often said we have to to live within our means and reducing the structural deficit is a critical element to reaching that equation.

Personally, I think that that in the years ahead we'll need to examine the vacancies we carry to a greater degree.

But that and other steps and questions will arise as we continue to try to work at reducing that structural deficit even further.

I don't want to lose uh in the context of what we're doing here.

Some of the things that I I think are uh important.

Number one, when we began our conversation about about this budget, we I think fairly remarkably, and I give enormous credit to the city manager and to the city finance staff and to actually all the city staff who in one way or another participate in how we get to here tonight.

I want to give great credit for presenting us with it with a budget that we didn't begin to tear apart from the foundation up, that we large we largely embraced, because we believe that it reflects the priorities that we set as a council of public safety of economic development of addressing homelessness, and I think that within this budget there's clear priority given to those elements, but some of the things that we talked about and restored in our conversations are also the essence of what creates community.

I can't help but think of this last Saturday when I hosted a festival in North Sacramento at the Robertson Center and Park, and the waiting pool was open, and to watch the kids in the faces and the joy that was pure and unadulterated confirmed that that was a smart decision.

That was a wise decision.

That's the kind of return on investment that we can't measure in dollars, but is so important in so many other ways to our community well-being.

So in this coming year, we actually will have with the five million dollar grant that's coming into the city over three years, we will have more money dedicated to youth violence prevention than we had last year.

That's that's a real step in the right direction.

Some would argue that it's not enough, it's insufficient, and in many respects they're right, but it is moving in the right direction from my point of view, and that matters when you're gauging whether you accept something or don't as a budget.

The last thing that that I wanted to just underscore was I think, as we have talked about on a number of occasions, we will not cut our way to being a great city.

We have to grow our way into being a great city, and that fundamentally means that we have to be a place that people view as and is actually safe, that is and is viewed as clean, that is viewed as and is receptive to those who want to build their lives, their jobs, their careers, their businesses here in our community, that we have to be a place that is welcoming and is seen that way.

There's a lot of work to do in that regard.

We um really have just begun in many respects, but I am I am confident about our ability to do that because I see the focus of the council, and I see the focus of the city staff, and I see the focus of the broader community for that purpose.

So, mayor, while this budget is certainly not one that I think anyone will vote for with great enthusiasm, it is one, at least in my case, I will vote for because I think it is the best budget to meet the circumstances in which we find ourselves, and with that, I would move the adoption of the 26-27 operating and capital improvement budgets for the city of Sacramento.

Okay.

We have a motion.

And the second.

Next up, we have remotely, Councilmember Kaplan.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, I uh I want to thank the city manager and uh the budget team.

I think they did um an outstanding job this year, and this is the most transparent budget I have seen since being elected.

However, this is my fourth year in a row that I've been asking council to voluntarily adopt a two-year balance budget.

The year-by-year cuts as we face a structural deficit, um, doesn't do anything for our community, and it leaves many of our employees wondering if this is the year they get laid off, or um, will my department get cut, will my position be moved, and and I know that's just not what we should do as a city, and it's not what we want our employees to face.

Uh, I agree with uh our my colleague and budget chair uh that we are moving in the right direction, but for me, we're not there yet.

And for me, in listening to my constituents where discussing public safety and safe neighborhoods and truly addressing homelessness with accountability and how we're using our funds in the right way, uh, as well as being uh economically driven uh and looking at how we fully address housing and the costs and getting people more into housing.

This this budget isn't quite there for me yet.

I have been fairly vocal in my concerns and where I think we could cut more and still save positions, implementing uh our council priorities of really public safety and addressing homelessness in a in a more um salient manner.

One thing I just want to make sure is on the record is something that I had asked in March this year.

I had asked for what was the impact of the cuts to fire and police for our city uh with a budget and in the BCP, specifically a of changes with uh our our Sacramento Fire Department and the reduction and elimination of 20 firefighting positions.

It basically says this reduction will require rotating company closures and increased reliance on overtime to maintain minimum staffing levels, specifically the greatest impact, and this is from the fire department, will fall on Sacramento's under-served neighborhoods, including Oak Park, Del Paso Heights, North Sacramento, Meadow View, and South Sacramento, where higher medical vulnerability, limited access to health care, and socioeconomic barriers amplify emergency risk.

When we talk about how can we create equity and help the most underserved neighborhoods, eliminating 20 firefighting positions in this budget is not something I can support.

And in what you read that our uh chief put in, it's not even necessarily impacting my district, but it's impacting the city of Sacramento and areas that absolutely cannot afford to have these rotating blackouts where uh fire response time is going to significantly increase.

And when we also talk about public safety, we really have to discuss in the police department and the proposed elimination of certain positions and certain units.

Um, the budget uh BCP basically says that by eliminating these positions, that if they get filled in the staffing of overtime, it's actually gonna cost the city seven hundred and thirteen thousand dollars more.

So it'll be interesting to see how we manage that as a city while we say we are cutting these positions and eliminating them.

It actually may end up costing the city more in overtime.

Now I know we are correcting this with uh re-reputting in a city attorney position so that we can hire in-house.

Why are we eliminating more of our officer positions, knowing that through overtime, because our community demands public safety and demands these services, it's actually gonna cost the city of Sacramento more money instead of keeping some of these positions and some of these units.

Well, I will echo what council member Vang said on I am very happy that we were able to put back in the keeping and especially through District One with uh the new parks that we are adding, and my saying that we should not hire out and we can have in-house our parks maintenance workers make sure that they are the ones uh supervising and cleaning and maintaining our parks, especially our new ones in district one, that is important.

Summer at City Hall, the investment in our youth, all amazing, our seniors, our waiting pools.

These are the things that we absolutely must do when budget cuts are hitting those that can least deserve that can least absorb these impacts.

But one of the things I just don't quite understand, because there is over $9 million sitting in DCR's capital improvements.

Nobody's gonna lose their job.

No additional unhoused are gonna lose their spaces.

But the elimination of community ambassador stipends, it is the antithesis of what I hear from this entire council of supporting our diversity and making sure that every voice is heard and listened to.

That's a little over a small pittance to make sure that the voices of those not served are heard.

And I can't support something that says it's an oxymoron when we talk about we support diversity and equity and inclusion, yet we're eliminating the community ambassador stipends from the areas that we need to hear most from.

So I won't repeat what I have already said before, but I did want to say that we're not there yet.

We're closer, but it as the budget as presented, because it does not prioritize public safety and actually hurts our most vulnerable areas, especially in fire protection, when we could have just frozen those positions and not eliminated them and tried to really address and not seeing brownouts and pushing our existing firefighters on more mandatory overtime where they we already have a significant rate out on work injury.

We can do better, I know we can, we're close, but this is not it.

So I cannot be supporting the budget this year.

Thank you so much.

That's where we go.

All right, thank you, Mayor.

Um, I want to start um by thanking the city manager and our finance team.

Um, so much work goes into this hours and hours and hours of fielding requests from us, doing um SBIs, answering all of our questions and answering them again.

Um, and I also especially want to thank the city manager for making this process, though it was longer.

I think that's a great thing.

Uh, it created a lot of opportunities not only for the community to engage, but all of us to really dive in deeply.

Uh, we had more meetings, we had more time.

Uh, I felt that we had a lot more opportunity to engage throughout this entire process.

And um, as a result, I think we were able to get some things done that would have been challenging if we had tried to cram it all at the end.

And so I just want to appreciate the process.

Um, and I say, like my my colleague, Councilmember Dickinson is none of us are happy about the situation that we're in.

I don't think you'll find anyone up on this day that is happy to see that we are in a structural deficit like many other cities in California and the state.

I don't think that anyone's happy about any cuts to any of the programming that we have because they're there in the first place because we wanted them there.

Um, however, we do have a mandate, and that mandate is required by law.

We must balance our budget.

We cannot write a check.

We can't say, oh, we're gonna carry a balance like the federal government can.

We must find the way.

Um, and so when we see a decrease in revenues and we see increase in costs, like many um of us do in our own budgets with the cost of gas, the cost of insurance, that also impacts the city of Sacramento.

And we're seeing that across the board on everything from, you know, our insurance liability to, you know, um pensions and employment costs and the cost to literally drive our fleet and you name it.

And so that eats into everything else, and we have to make hard choices.

So it would obviously be my preference.

Now I have spent an entire term on this council having a difficult one difficult budget after another.

But I will say that what I'm really happy about is that we were able to fight for the things that mattered to us individually and together as council.

For me, first and foremost, that was protecting our city employees and their jobs.

Um, you know, I think about the parks maintenance workers that we're able to protect in this budget that matters, like those are our community members, those are our neighbors, uh, and that's something that I'm always gonna fight for to the extent that I can is to make sure that people can stay employed and care for their families and do the important work that people rely upon in this city.

When you call 911, someone shows up.

When so when you go to your park, the grass is mowed, the trash is picked up.

Those are the things that really matter to the community, to the communities I represent and the people that we hear from every day, and so we want to make sure that we fight for that.

The other thing that was really important to me was our community-facing assets, our community centers, our pools, our senior centers.

Uh those are lifelines for a lot of the neighborhoods that I represent and that we live in, and uh I know that was a challenge, and those are things that we needed to figure out how we're gonna fund, and we did that.

Um there are a lot of other things in this budget that were hard fought, and we figured out ways to do it, and I'm just proud of this council for the work that's been done over many many meetings to negotiate with one another to work with our staff to find resources.

Um that led us here.

Today's the day, and that means that we must make that hard choice.

Um, I've done that every year, and I'm gonna do that again this year.

Am I happy with everything?

No.

Uh, but part of my job is to balance all of that and the needs from the community and our requirements by law, and so I just want to say that I'm grateful for the dean.

I hope that you take some time off after this.

It's been many, many months, um, and I'll be supporting the budget today.

Thank you.

Thank you, Vice Mayor Talamantes.

Thank you so much.

And Councilmember Maple, well said, definitely well said.

I also will be voting yes on this budget.

Um, it's our responsibility, as Councilmember Maple just said, to adopt a balanced budget created by the city council and guided by the majority of the Sacramento City Council.

Public safety, homelessness, housing, and economic development are the council's priority.

We voted at this at our council retreat, and this budget reflects that.

And I honestly have hopes for the future.

I think that we will have better budget years.

I'm looking forward to the city manager conducting a forensic audit to determine whether departments are staying within their budget allocations.

She'll be working closely with Forisha, our amazing city auditor, and my hope is that this work is completed by early next year, so that we have clear numbers and data to guide future budget decisions.

Vacancies remain a concern, and I know councilmember Dickinson has made this point repeatedly here on the diets.

We need to continue improving our systems with human resources to understand why positions remain vacant for so long, and if the depositions are included in the department budgets year after year, year after year, we should evaluate whether these positions accurately reflect the workforce that we need today and figure out why they were vacant in the first place.

As we continue to budget to address our budget deficit, I would like to go line item by line item to see where we're spending our dollars on outside contracts.

Looking ahead just for this year, I know the last time I mentioned the numbers from 2025 on how much we spent on outside contracts.

Um, Pete, our finance director uh sent me the numbers for this year, and from January to March of this year in 2026, we have already spent 20 million dollars in outside contracts, and so I want to evaluate and go line item by line and see what we can pull back and bring it in-house.

I do want to give kudos to the city attorney's office uh for saying, hey, we need a city attorney so that you guys stop going outside for for services.

Uh, keeping things in-house is so important to me.

In the past years, we've relied on 15% reductions across departments year after year, and every single year, the departments have to come up with their list of 15%.

We've had this list, and I'm sure that some of them remain the same year after year.

And I think it's time to revisit that approach.

A department of five having a 15% budget reduction is different than a department of over 500.

Entirely different.

And I think that we need to consider a more tailored strategy to reflect those differences within departments.

Finally, the three-year contracts we're currently negotiating with our lever union partners.

We have some contracts that have passed.

But it allows us for greater predictability in our budget planning, and it helps us make more informed decisions with the decisions that we have ahead financially.

It allows us to know how much exactly we're gonna be spending, and I'm really looking forward to that.

And I do want to acknowledge that 75% of the solutions presented in this budget are ongoing cuts.

That is huge.

Like Mayor McCarty said when he first started, in the past years we did the easy peasy, like you know, the apples that already fell off the tree.

But this year we went deep and we did 75% budget reductions, and these are dollars and cost savings that are gonna help us for the following year.

That's significant progress.

And even though this budget is not perfect, it can't be lost on us that we made a significant progress.

75% is huge.

Um I do think that with this approach that next year it will allow us to allow us to go into a 0% uh budget forecast for the following year.

So I'm looking forward to that.

Um, and also the 15% changing our strategy on 15% reductions will help us with retention in the workflows in the workforce.

You know, if police or fire, someone's getting hired at the city of Sacramento, um, they're gonna be worried about their employment if we're doing 15% budget reductions.

They're gonna think, well, why apply to that job instead I'll go to Roseville, Worsac, Elk Folsom or Elk Grove, if we're doing 15% budget reductions across the board.

So I do think we need to change our strategy on that, and I think it'll help us with retention and retention.

I used to work in HR.

Retention is always cheaper than recruitment.

Um lastly, uh, like Councilmember Dickinson said, our expenditures outpace our revenues.

We are government, we do not print money here at the Hat City Hall.

We have to figure out what we can do with the dollars that we have.

And growing the pie is so important.

Economic development, like I said, was our key priority at our retreat, attracting businesses to come to Sacramento, and equally important, retaining the businesses that we have here in Sacramento to be able to grow our general fund.

With that being said, we also need to make sure that we attract businesses that pay living wages, where one person can work one job and make enough money to pay the bills, to pay rent, to spend time with their kids so they could the kids stay out of trouble and so the kids have love at home, and to be able to eat and shop at a local restaurant or a local business.

That will help us with our sales tax revenues, and it also will help make Sacramento a place to be able to live, live, work, and play, and also make it more affordable.

So I'm looking forward to focusing on economic, you know, development, working with our city manager, um, making our city safer and uh the following budget years.

Thank you to city staff for all the work that you did.

Thank you.

Well said, Councilmember Jennings.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, much has been said, and uh I'm not gonna talk long, but I do wanna I want to let everyone know that I will be supporting this budget.

Um, and I want to thank the city manager and the finance team for all the hard work that they did in putting uh this budget together.

Um, am I a hundred percent behind this budget as far as everything that's on here?

I think each one of us has said the answer to that is no, but that doesn't mean we can't make some adjustments even after we go forward in order to get it to where it is that we want to get it to.

And that's what a good team does.

They make adjustments at halftime, they make adjustments during timeouts.

They make adjustments in order to be able to make sure that they've heard what the people have said, and they make adjustments in order to satisfy the people and satisfy this great city that we live in.

So when you heard the the the strategy that the pools will remain open, I'm confident most of you, if not all of you, thought that was a great idea because you live in Sacramento and it's hot in the summertime.

Sometimes it's even hot in the winter time.

Retaining the park staff, incredible idea.

You look how beautiful our parks are.

So again, I'm talking to anybody that's not gonna be.

So anyway, uh I'm gonna I'm gonna support this budget under the understanding that we're going to be able to make some adjustments that's gonna make it better.

And we're gonna have coming years, we're gonna have a program and a process in place that we won't have to have these kind of tough conversations like we're having now.

So whether it's a two-year budget, as as member Kaplan says, or whether it's something else, but whatever it is, I'd like to figure out what it is and I'd like for us to figure out what it is together because that's how we work up here.

We work together in order to make this the great city that it is.

So I'll be supporting this budget this year.

Thank you, Councilmember Gera.

Uh thank you very much, uh Mayor and uh all of our city team for you know starting this process early because it really did allow us to engage with our neighbors, and I want to thank my all of our neighbors who came and met with me who sat down and talked about you know their concerns with the budget and how we can build a budget together.

Um it also pleased me that tonight, you know, we had neighbors from the beginning of the meeting who talked about how important it was to also protect our park employees or city employees.

They are our neighbors too.

I mean, they live in our community, uh, not just an abstract number.

I mean, the fact that this proposal focuses on addressing the things that we need the most, our community assets is important, not only maintaining the the the cleanliness of our parks, the safety of our parks, making sure that our pools and our waiting pools, you know, for those who have little kids, you know, this is those waiting pools are critical, you know, for them to also have a place as well.

You know, the the summer at City Hall program, building our next generation of leaders, making sure that they are helping us move forward, also critical.

And a special thank you to all of the seniors who came out.

Muchas gracias.

It wasn't just about one program.

We had a community that came out here and said all of our senior programs need to be maintained.

And bottom line, every neighborhood deserves to have a safe neighborhood.

Focusing that this budget ensures on safety and neighborhoods is important.

And to our chair, our budget chairs can uh uh point, we have to focus on economic development, and this budget protects the North Sacramento Economic Development Fund because North Sacramento needs that same level of economic prosperity as downtown as any other part of the city.

And I want to thank my colleagues who voted uh to make sure that we could actually move these proposals forward to tonight and supported those uh those efforts.

We have more work to do.

We're gonna have a mid-year budget, but this budget here focuses on our young kids, our seniors, our neighborhood safety, our employees as well, who are our neighbors, and most importantly, thinks about what the future of our city should look like.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Thank you.

I don't know much more to add.

I'll I'll just wrap it up.

This was a process that we have to do, not a super fun process, but we knew it was going to be tough because we did pick the low-hanging fruit the past few years, and you did.

I think of the council members who this is your fourth year, you know, you've had tough budgets every year, and we swept up the reserves, swept up vacancies, and so this was obviously the most difficult one.

Um there are ongoing reductions, which will make our job um less difficult next year.

And while we pat ourselves on the back, we nonetheless have a lot of programs that are cut and have an impact across the city.

So it's nothing to say mission accomplished and we're done.

But you know, as you said, council member maple, we have a job to do.

We can't just say here we wish we could, and this, this, and that, and we have to adopt a budget and pay people's paychecks on the first of July when the fiscal year starts, so we don't have the luxury to just pontificate.

We have to take make tough decisions and uh focusing on the best of the city of Sacramento as far as our employees, our community services, our core city services, and I know this just does just that.

And yeah, I'd rather focus on um growing our economy.

I know we have a lot of exciting projects throughout the city.

We have a reboot of our economic development department through our city manager, and we want to be able to restore some of these things in the coming years because that's one of the things that I know council member Jennings and Garrett were part of is growing the uh city budget and putting more programs for communities out there.

So that's certainly the task for uh tomorrow, but today we had to um step it up, and I just want to thank not only the city staff but our council members.

You had ideas you didn't want to do something, you um gave us suggestions.

Um we learned from you next year.

We'll make a Google Share Drive and have a midnight cutoff no matter what, and uh, but nonetheless, we appreciate everybody uh putting suggestions there, and we did.

We did, you know, four and a half million dollars in restorations creatively, looking at other ways how to how to make that um a reality, and those efforts on that list that um that Pete put earlier have a profound impact in our communities.

Waiting pools, youth programs, violence reduction programs, those all matter to the city of Sacramento.

So uh thank the council members for working collaboratively.

We are a team, of course, and with that um this concludes this 20 26 27 uh budget.

We have a motion and a second.

Um, please call the roll.

Thank you.

So we have a motion by council member Dickinson and a second by Mayor Pro Temgata.

Councilmember Kaplan.

No, Councilmember Dickinson, Councilmember Talamantes, Councilmember Plecky Baum.

Councilmember Maple, Mayor Pro Temgeta, Councilmember Jennings, yes, Councilmember Vang.

No, and Mayor McCarty, a motion passes.

Thank you.

Next item.

Do we now move to council member comments, ideas, questions, and AB123 reports?

Yes, I'll start with an AB 123 report.

Um, a week ago, council member.

Did Plucky Bomb go to us Arizona?

Yeah, yes, yes.

Sorry, sorry.

Councilmember Plucky Baum and City Manager and I uh went to Phoenix, Arizona, downtown to visit their ASU campus, which is amazing.

12,000 students in the heart of uh downtown Phoenix through a satellite campus, and we're certainly trying to emulate that in some capacity here in Sacramento with the Sack State downtown campus and look forward to uh bringing some ideas for how to make that a reality.

Thank you.

So that was the mice for yours.

Councilmember Vang.

Thanks.

Just uh two items to want to announce that our Medavie Farmers Market is in full swing every Sunday at the Medavie Light Rail Station from nine to one o'clock.

So just wanted to invite folks to that.

And then also just wanted to invite um the community to join us and the aquatics division uh for our annual free swim at two district eight pools.

Uh we'll be sponsoring pool mission for young folks under age 18 at the pool at the Sam and Bonnie Pennell pool on June 13th, and then also uh at Corilla Pool from one to five.

Um, and so just wanted to let folks know that summer is around the corner, it's here, and um want to make sure that folks utilize our community centers and pools.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Seeing no more council members signed up to speak.

Um, I do have six speakers for matters not on the agenda.

First is Billy Baker, Michael Bevins, Omar Ghetto, Lambert, Deborah Grimes, Julius Um Thibodeau, is Billy here.

Michael Bevins.

I don't see Michael, Omar Guillermo.

How many other?

Do I get a time limit?

Please proceed.

Yes.

Okay.

Thank you.

Um, first I wanted to start off by saying these words of affirmation to my fellow community members who have mostly left the room.

Um, but we are no longer the minority in this country, and no one is illegal or a criminal or an invader on stolen land.

And in my native language, aquí estamos, y no nos vamos.

El pueblo unido jamás será vencido.

I recently moved to Sacramento in June of 2025.

And I'm grateful to have been received with open arms, both in South Sacramento and now in South Oak Park.

I'm lucky enough to be a U.S.

citizen, but my parents took the brave and bold leap to move here from Jalisco Mexico and Metrocán, Mexico in the 1980s.

My family and I have the privilege of being U.S.

citizens, and yet I carry this passport in my back pocket every time I go to work, every time I go to school, every time I'm in public, as a flimsy paper shield against the blatantly fascist and violent actions that ICE and immigration reform enforcement are doing on our community every day.

If I, a U.S.

citizen, is living every day in fear that ICE might murder me, my loved ones, or kidnap me and my loved ones because of the color of my skin and my perceived legal status.

I ask you to think about what my undocumented neighbors, brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, and children are feeling every single day that they step out into these streets.

Alex Petty, Renee Good, Keith Porter, Carlos Ivan, and Losa.

Those are just the few names that have been unjustly murdered, harmed, or kidnapped by ICE and or other rogue federal agents.

Donald Trump and his administration speak about an enemy within, and it pains me to say that they're right.

We have enemies within the United States that wear masks and wear uniforms, and it is up to you all to provide sanctuary to our community members regardless of their legal status.

Will you all actually do that or continue to provide not good sanctuary city laws?

Thank you.

Next speakers Lambert, then Deborah, then Julius.

I came tonight really on to uh pay respects to my parents.

My parents moved here in 1946.

That's 80 years this year, 80 in Sacramento.

80 years.

And when they came here, they bought property.

So that means they've been paying property tax in this city for 80 years, and our family still has property paying taxes.

Now, as I watched most, if not all of the staff leave, I'm on record as saying that a lot of those staff members are the reason why you're in this deficit.

Why would you be in a deficit if you have sound fiscal management?

Do you know I've heard the word economic development and innovation all night?

And nobody at this city that we can document has contacted to the Bay and Back Cheesecakes, which has never been in a scandal.

We're getting ready to carve a major niche in Southern California.

How can we do it?

We have a manufacturer.

That's how we can do it.

And we also have distribution and demand.

And we're not in a deficit, and a computer cannot make a cheesecake.

I don't care what IT tells me.

It cannot replace a crew.

You must have a crew.

Next speaker is Deborah Grimes.

Thank you.

All right, good evening.

In recognition of National Gun Violence Awareness Month, we have provided you with uh we're orange gun violence wristbands for each of you.

Okay, they're the orange ones.

Okay, Najee Grimes.

In three weeks on the 4th of July, my family will host a tailgate and huddle around my son's park bench acknowledging his murder four years ago.

For us, there would be no celebration on the 4th of July.

Many in our circle experience the same kind of piercing pain, remembering their beloveds who were taken.

Our coalition is committed to changing the trajectory of gang and gun violence through a new twist on violence intervention ecosystems, credible messengers, wraparound services, hospitals, and law enforcement, those are the pillars.

Right now, we're reaching out to each of you individually to discuss this challenge.

Our mayor and city manager have already received their uh meeting request from me and Julius Tibetal Hassan.

This was by invitation.

We are waiting still for your response.

We know you're busy, but we are definitely waiting.

We also have requested that the city clerk put us on the agenda.

Still waiting.

Okay.

We're going to save lives.

The narrative is changing.

Will you answer the call?

Thank you.

And Julius is our final speaker this evening.

Good evening.

Good evening, good evening, everyone.

I just want to say that uh again to the new counselors.

Uh you all haven't seen when Sacramento was more successful when we had an ecosystem.

Uh there's a trend of asking which group is doing the work, which group is actually.

There is no one group that can provide public safety to an entire city.

Uh you have a lot of people professing to do things.

Uh I can't provide just like I said here.

I can stand here in front of my colleagues and my peers and say I don't do continuum services.

But guess what?

They don't go and stop, they don't have the LTO to go and stop a shooting from happening.

No one's gonna call them when the heavy lifting is involved.

But I also can say that to my cons to my uh peers and my colleagues who do great prevention work that I would be overwhelmed in intervention work if they weren't working with the young people who are nine, ten, eleven years old.

It's just that when there's scarcity, it's almost like when you see a person ride by a a community that's impoverished and they just throw a a wad of ones out, and you see them all clamoring to get that money.

At the end of the day, if we're working together and you have an ecosystem where you are properly providing funding to all those necessary components, you'll see greater results than what you're seeing right now.

And that's all we're trying to encourage y'all to do is to come out and do a site, some site visits.

How can you really rely on that?

Come do some site visits and see.

Mayor, this concludes our public comment this evening.

You don't have any more business before the committee.

Mayor, do you want to?

Mary, you may adjourn the meeting.

Thank you.

Thank you that with that, we'll adjourn.

Yeah.