What's at stake:
For the first time in five years, Fresno's budget negotiation process is different, following a Fresnoland investigation that triggered a lawsuit against the City of Fresno.
The city budget negotiation process in Fresno is different this year.
Mayor Jerry Dyer will meet with individual councilmembers before putting forth a new budget proposal for council consideration on June 20.
The change in the budget process — a decision made by Council President Annalisa Perea — marks a shift away from the council’s longtime annual practice of private budget negotiations following June budget hearings.
Last August, a Fresnoland investigation questioned whether Fresno’s budget process may have violated California’s Brown Act — a state law that requires transparency from local governments and public agencies.
Three months after the investigation, the ACLU of Northern California and the First Amendment Coalition sued the City of Fresno over its “secret budget committee,” alleging its private meetings violated state law and should have been open to the public.
Fresnoland also found that among California’s 10 largest cities, Fresno was the only one that claimed its private budget committee was exempt from state transparency law. Instead of making the council’s budget committee public, like most other large cities in California, Perea opted to do away with the committee altogether.
“It’s troubling to the extent that it removes part of the process from public view and is less transparent than is done elsewhere,” said David Loy, an attorney with the First Amendment Coalition. He added that the changes to the process may be “an attempt to do an end run around the Brown Act.”
Perea did not answer questions about the benefits of the modified budget process and why she opted against opening the City Council’s budget committee to the public. Perea also has not announced the changes to the budget process during budget hearings or in a news release.
“Transparency builds trust. Lack of transparency builds distrust,” Loy said. “That’s not a new idea. That’s true for budget, it’s true for land use, it’s true for policing, it’s true for water or sewer — for everything in government.”
Why this week could be a ‘circus’
On June 20, the Fresno City Council will have a new budget proposal to consider. If councilmembers do not approve the budget by a majority vote that day, they’ll have another opportunity to pass a modified proposal from Dyer on June 27.
Last month, councilmembers told Dyer that his proposed budget did not contain their district’s priorities. As of June 12, the City Council made about 109 budget motions, a little less than the total number of motions made last year.
For months, Dyer has talked about a city deficit in 2025, but he still presented a balanced budget proposal in May.
Councilmember Miguel Arias told Fresnoland that every year, the city administration’s projections are more financially conservative than the City Council’s projections. He added that the council’s responsibility is to get as many items funded as possible.
“For example, the budget that they (the mayor’s administration) proposed assumes a vacancy rate in the police department of 3 percent,” Arias said. “We think they’re going to have a vacancy of 5 percent, and that’s a huge difference in how much money they need right now.”
In terms of the new budget process, Arias said he doesn’t know if it will lead to more conversation on the dais about the city budget, but he said it depends on the adjustments Dyer’s administration makes after reviewing the council’s budget motions.
In February, the Fresno City Council approved a new policy to allow councilmembers to form “informal working groups,” free from any documentation or record keeping. Perea confirmed to Fresnoland an informal working group will not be formed for the purpose of negotiating the budget.
Council Vice President Mike Karbassi told Fresnoland the new budget process is different and more transparent than last year. However, he said the old practice of private budget negotiations was more efficient.
“It wasn’t like anything was being hidden from anybody,” Karbassi said. “Everything decided was out there for the public. But in the end, we’re going down a different path, which is fine — more transparency is never a bad thing.”
Karbassi said that the negotiations being conducted in private allowed for tough conversations to take place, especially when it came down to deciding priorities and choosing to fund one item over another.
He said prioritizing one matter over another does not mean city officials care less about items that do not get funded, especially when it comes down to critical needs in Fresno.
“If I have to vote for eviction protection over trees, I’m voting for eviction protection,” Karbassi said, sharing a hypothetical scenario. “And it may seem heartless, but it’s not. That’s a critical issue but you get jammed up, right?”
Karbassi added that some of his council colleagues may use the vote to showboat instead of making thoughtful budget decisions.
“If you see a circus out there,” Karbassi said, “don’t be surprised.”
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