Sacramento City Council Adopts FY 2026/27 Budget on June 9, 2026
Sacramento City Council Adopts FY 2026/27 Budget on June 9, 2026
The Sacramento City Council held a regular meeting on June 9, 2026, at 5:07 PM at City Hall (despite the agenda listing a location in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico, the meeting was conducted in Sacramento). The meeting was a joint session of the City Council, Financing Authority, Housing Authority, Public Financing Authority, and Redevelopment Agency Successor Agency. All nine council members were present, with Councilmember Kaplan participating remotely. The agenda included a special presentation for Immigrant Heritage Month and a public hearing on the adoption of the Fiscal Year 2026/27 Operating Budget and 2026-2031 Capital Improvement Plan.
Special Presentation: Celebrating Immigrant Heritage Month
- Presented by Vice Mayor Talamantes, Mayor Pro Tem Guerra, and Councilmember Vang. The council recognized Opening Doors and the Mexican Consulate for their work supporting immigrant communities. Multiple speakers affirmed the contributions of immigrants and the importance of welcoming policies. Mayor McCarty noted that roughly one in five Sacramento residents are immigrants.
Public Hearing: Adoption of FY 2026/27 Operating Budget and 2026-2031 Capital Improvement Plan
- Finance Director Pete Coletto presented the final budget: a $1.7 billion spending plan with a $900 million general fund, balanced by closing a $66.2 million deficit. The budget includes ongoing reductions, restorations for pools, youth programs, and park staff, and creation of a standalone Economic Development Department. Coletto highlighted economic uncertainty and unfunded pension liabilities as ongoing risks.
- Twenty-two members of the public testified. Many speakers opposed the budget, citing increased police funding, cuts to the Office of Public Safety Accountability (OPSA), fee waiver reductions for community-based organizations (e.g., Hmong seniors at George Sims Center), and SAC PD’s collaboration with ICE. Several speakers called for a sanctuary ordinance and opposed the police budget increase. A few speakers supported the budget, including representatives from the Alliance for a Better Sacramento, who emphasized economic development and fiscal discipline.
Council Discussion
- Councilmember Vang voted no, arguing the budget reflects a moral deficit and that police funding has grown by over $100 million since she took office. She called for absorbing police vacancies to fund community programs.
- Councilmember Dickinson moved adoption, praising the reduction of the structural deficit, restorations for pools and youth programs, and the focus on economic development. He acknowledged that the city must grow its way out of deficits.
- Councilmember Kaplan (remote) voted no, opposing cuts to 20 firefighter positions and the elimination of community ambassador stipends. She raised concerns about fire response times in underserved neighborhoods and the cost of overtime when positions are eliminated.
- Councilmember Maple supported the budget, emphasizing the protection of city employee jobs and community-facing assets like pools and community centers. She noted the difficult balancing act required by law.
- Vice Mayor Talamantes supported the budget, noting that 75% of solutions are ongoing, which will ease future budgets. She called for a forensic audit, a review of outside contracts, and a tailored approach to departmental reductions.
- Councilmember Jennings supported the budget, stating he expects adjustments during the year and that the council works collaboratively.
- Mayor Pro Tem Guerra supported, thanking neighbors who engaged in the process and highlighting the preservation of senior programs, pools, and the North Sacramento Economic Development Fund.
- Mayor McCarty supported, acknowledging the difficulty of the budget and the $4.5 million in restorations achieved through council collaboration. He noted the need to grow the economy to restore services.
Key Outcomes
- Motion: Councilmember Dickinson moved adoption; Mayor Pro Tem Guerra seconded.
- Vote: 7 in favor (Dickinson, Guerra, Jennings, Maple, Pluckebaum, Talamantes, McCarty); 2 opposed (Kaplan, Vang).
- Resolution No. 2026-0159 adopted, approving the FY 2026/27 Operating Budget and 2026-2031 Capital Improvement Program.
- The council took a brief recess from 6:30 PM to 6:44 PM.
- AB 123 Report: Mayor McCarty reported a trip to Phoenix, Arizona with Councilmember Pluckebaum and City Manager Smith to tour the ASU downtown campus, as part of efforts to emulate a satellite campus model in Sacramento.
- Public Comments (Matters Not on the Agenda): Several speakers addressed gun violence prevention, requesting meetings and site visits; a speaker urged stronger sanctuary policies.
Meeting Transcript
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.
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