What's at stake:
The Fresno City Council had until Thursday 30 days to commit to making its budget committee open to the public. Time’s run out and the city could face legal action over its budget process.
The Fresno City Council refuses to open its budget committee to the public, a month after government watchdog groups threatened legal action.
A Sept. 5 letter, sent by the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, the First Amendment Coalition and Fresnoland, called for a public commitment to make its budget committee public within 30 days, or face potential legal action.
That deadline came and went Thursday.
“We’re disappointed that Fresno is choosing to keep the budget committee secret and exposing itself to liability,” said Angélica Salceda, an attorney with ACLU of Northern California.
While the city did not open Fresno’s budget committee to the public, City Attorney Andrew Janz responded to the demand letter on Sept. 18, maintaining that there is no legal basis for the city council to take any action on its budget committee.
“Every budget-related hearing included public comment,” Janz wrote in his September response. “Thus, there is no basis for your claims that the City lacked transparency in adopting the City budget.”
‘Not how our democratic principles work’
The budget committee, composed of three current councilmembers, is tasked with negotiating the city budget with the mayor’s office and then producing a final recommendation for city council approval. This year, the budget committee was composed of Council President Tyler Maxwell, Vice President Annalisa Perea and Councilmember Mike Karbassi.
Janz added that since Fresno’s City Charter puts the responsibility of preparing the city budget on the mayor’s office, “the Fresno City Council does not have subject matter jurisdiction over the preparation of the City budget.”
However, Mayor Jerry Dyer confirmed to Fresnoland the city’s budget process includes city councilmembers, noting how it was an inherited system from the previous city administration.
Salceda said Janz’s response to the demand letter was tone deaf in acknowledging how the public should have access to public decisions made by elected officials, and the discussions that influence them.
“When it comes to transparency and public participation, those are not just ideals — they are requirements that Fresno should be following and practicing,” Salceda said. “It’s disappointing when they double down on their actions to keep very important decisions about how they’re spending taxpayer money in these secret meetings.”
In August, a Fresnoland investigation questioned whether Fresno’s budget committee may be in violation of California’s Brown Act. Every year for at least the last five years, the council’s budget committee has negotiated the city budget to produce a final budget recommendation for council approval in meetings closed to the public.
The investigation also revealed that the city does not have proof that the budget committee was dissolved and reformed every year, a key claim Janz and city officials have stuck by, while maintaining the annual budget committee is a temporary, or “ad-hoc,” body.
Fresnoland spoke with four legal experts who said the continuing subject matter jurisdiction of the budget committee over the period of five years effectively makes it a standing committee subject to California’s Brown Act, regardless of the city’s claims of it being a temporary body.
Additionally, a Fresnoland review of California’s 10 biggest cities by population found that only Fresno claims a Brown Act exemption for its budget committee. Even other San Joaquin Valley cities including Stockton and Bakersfield keep their budget committees open to the public.
Since August, two city councilmembers — Garry Bredefeld and Miguel Arias — have called for the budget committee to be opened up to the public.
The day the budget was passed this year, Dyer notably remarked about his work with the budget committee to local media at a June 22 news conference: “There was a lot of sausage being made in the back room over the last week.”
“We know the mayor was quoted saying that a lot of sausage was made in the back room — that’s not how our democratic principles work,” Salceda said. “The public needs to be able to see into that process and have an opportunity to engage and weigh in.”
