Stockton City Council Budget Study Session - June 4, 2025
Stockton City Council Budget Study Session - June 4, 2025
The Stockton City Council held a special budget study session on June 4, 2025, from 2:00 PM to 8:49 PM (with a recess from 4:12 PM to 5:03 PM) to review the proposed Fiscal Year 2025-26 Annual Budget, Fee Schedule, and the 2025-2030 Capital Improvement Plan. The meeting began with a call to order and roll call, with Councilmembers Blower, Villapudua, Fugazi, Ponce, and Enríquez present; Padilla and Vice Mayor Lee arrived at 2:01 PM. No public comments were made. The session featured presentations from multiple departments, a discussion of a $15 million general fund shortfall, and five recommended strategies to achieve a structurally balanced budget.
Consent Calendar
- No items were presented as a consent calendar; all items were discussed individually.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public comments were made.
Discussion Items
- Budget Overview: Brandon Sepulveda, Budget Analyst II, presented the city manager’s proposed FY 2025-26 budget totaling $996 million in citywide expenditures, a 4.2% increase from the previous year. The general fund budget is $341.6 million, with police (54%) and fire (21%) accounting for over 75% of general fund spending. Revenues are projected at $326.6 million, a 0.6% increase, leaving a $15 million gap. The long-range financial plan shows expenditures growing faster than revenues, with projected budget gaps in 2033-34 and a recession expected in 2026-27.
- Department Presentations: Presentations were given by IT (Jamil Niazi), Human Resources and Administrative Services (Rosemary Rivas), Economic Development (Tina McCarty), Community Development (Stephanie Ocasio), Community Services (Kris Farro), Non-Departmental/Charter Offices (Will Crew), City Manager’s Office (interim city manager), Public Works (Eric Alvarez), Municipal Utilities (Dr. Mel Lytle), Fire Department (Chief Richard Edwards), and Police Department (Chief Stanley McFadden). Key themes included rising costs for salaries, benefits, and operations; recruitment and retention challenges; deferred maintenance; and reliance on grants.
- Budget Gap and Balancing Strategies: The city manager announced a $15 million general fund shortfall and proposed five strategies to close it: (1) deny all non-safety new budget requests ($4.5 million); (2) reduce the contingency budget from $2 million to $1.4 million ($600,000); (3) align the general fund contribution to the Capital Improvement Plan with the long-range financial plan, reducing it from $3.35 million to $1.3 million ($2.05 million); (4) redirect $1.7 million from the ERP project balance; and (5) increase the vacancy savings assumption from 5% to 7%, adding $6.09 million. These strategies total $15 million.
- Request for Additional Information: Council members, particularly Vice Mayor Lee and Councilmember Enríquez, requested detailed lists of denied requests and the Office of Violence Prevention (OVP) presentation, which was not included in the city manager’s slide. The interim city manager agreed to provide the documentation and have OVP present at the continuation meeting on June 5.
Key Outcomes
- The council directed staff to provide a detailed list of all non-safety new budget requests that were denied, as well as a list of all department requests and positions.
- The OVP will present its budget and operations at the next special meeting on June 5, 2025.
- The council will continue deliberations on June 5 at 2:00 PM (closed session for council at 2:00 PM, public at 2:15 PM) to finalize budget decisions.
- The proposed budget is scheduled for final adoption at the June 24, 2025 City Council meeting, which includes a public hearing.
- No votes were taken during this study session; it was a discussion-only meeting.
Meeting Transcript
Good afternoon and welcome to this special city council meeting. It's a study session regarding our budget on June 4th, 2025. City Clerk, please take roll. Councilmember Enriquez. Here. Councilmember Ponce. Present. Councilmember Via Padua. President. Council Member Blauer. Present. Mayor Fugazi. Present. And we are absent, Councilmember Padilla and Vice Mayor Lee. We have a quorum. Okay. Uh so at this time we set aside for uh members of the public to speak. Do we have any cards? We do not. Okay, so I don't need to go over the spiel other than council. We all know how to behave on the dais. Um the rules apply to us just as much as they do to uh the public. Okay, so uh items for discussion then item 3.1 budget study session and staff is going to be presenting. Are you starting us off? Oh, Brandon, yes. All right. Good afternoon, Mayor and Council members. My name is Brandon Sepulveda, Infim Budget Officer, and I'm here today to present city manager's proposed annual budget for fiscal year 25-26. Developing an annual budget is one of the most demanding tasks any local government finance team faces. Before we dive into the details, I want to take a moment to recognize the outstanding work of our budget team. These dedicated professionals put in countless late hours under extraordinarily challenging circumstances. They made personal sacrifices while staying committed to delivering a comprehensive budget document for both the council and our community. I'd like to extend special thanks to Vanessa Martinez, Naima Ilias, Daisy Rodriguez, Jose Deanda, Daisy Yang, and Sabrina Brewer. I also want to thank all of our department heads and their respected fiscal staff. This budget truly represents a collaborative effort across our entire city organization, and we simply couldn't accomplish this work without everyone's contributions. So here's what we have planned for this afternoon. We're scheduled to review the proposed annual budget for fiscal year 25-26. First, I'll provide an overview of the full city budget. Then we'll focus specifically on the city's general fund, where I'll cover expenses, revenues, and our long-range financial plan. After that, each city department will present their specific budget information. In addition to the main budget book, one of the smaller documents you've been provided is our city's fee schedule. This consolidates all city fees into one comprehensive document. The first few pages highlight existing fees that are changing, new proposed fees, and any fees we're deactivating. As departments present today, they'll discuss any specific fee changes that need your attention. I wanted to point this out because it is an important component of our overall budget. The third document we're reviewing is our five-year capital improvement plan or CIP. This will be up for adoption as well on June 24th. The CIP outlines the city's capital project needs and includes over a billion dollars worth of projects across the five-year time frame. We'll have detailed slides about this later on in our presentation. And finally, I want to remind everyone that we have a public hearing scheduled for the June 24th City Council meeting where we'll consider final adoption of the proposed budget.
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