Did Fresno officials find money for eviction protection?

So far this year, the most tense conversation among city officials inside council chambers happened two weeks ago — and it was over whether Fresno’s Eviction Protection Program could stay afloat until the summer. 

City Attorney Andrew Janz made a plea to city officials: his office needed half a million dollars to keep the program operating for the rest of the fiscal year, which ends June 30. 

Two weeks later, city officials appear to have plugged the program’s funding needs. 

“With carryover funds, we funded the program sufficiently for the end of the fiscal year,” Councilmember Miguel Arias told Fresnoland. 

At the Feb. 13 City Council meeting, councilmembers called on city staff to come back with specific funding options at the next council meeting. However, the subject wasn’t discussed publicly at Thursday’s council meeting. 

City Manager Georgeanne White told Fresnoland that she has a meeting next week about the program’s funding needs. 

Arias also said that the City Attorney’s Office paused intaking new cases under the Eviction Protection Program some time in late January. However, on Feb. 13, the office resumed intake on new cases. 

City officials keeping the program afloat is a key demonstration of their priorities — if eviction protection ran out of funding in the middle of a fiscal year, the chance of it getting more funding in a subsequent year would be less likely. 

Fresno’s Eviction Protection Program is also the last city program still in place that provides aid or protection for renters. Several other programs that directly helped renters weren’t kept around by Dyer and the City Council — although most were funded by temporary federal funds in the early years of the pandemic. 

Those former programs included the city’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program and Voucher Incentive Program. 

Additionally, when Dyer ran for reelection last year, he said it was under his administration that the city even began an Eviction Protection Program in the first place.

Key raises for executive city staff

On Thursday, councilmembers approved a $30,000 raise for City Attorney Andrew Janz, bringing his salary up to $285,000. His prior salary was $255,000, according to his 2024 contract. 

The Fresno City Attorney represents the City of Fresno in all legal matters. Unlike most other executive city roles, Fresno’s City Attorney is appointed by the Fresno City Council — so Janz’s bosses are Fresno’s councilmembers, not Mayor Jerry Dyer or City Manager Georgeanne White. 

The City Council first appointed Janz as Fresno’s City Attorney in November 2022. Back then, his annual salary was $240,000. He received his first raise, of $15,000, just about a year ago. 

Janz was not the only city official to get a raise in recent months, although most others did not receive raises of 11%. These increased salaries for executives were approved at a time when Fresno City Hall anticipates financial straits ahead, with a looming deficit projection of $20 million. City staff predict that figure to increase in the coming months. 

However, Councilmember Arias said there’s a good reason for Janz’s salary increase. 

“When we hired Janz, he had zero city attorney experience,” Arias said. “So we brought him in at the lower end of the pay for a city attorney.”

Arias added that over the last few years, deputy city attorneys working under Janz caught up to his annual pay with merit-based raises. Therefore, it was time for Janz to get a raise, Arias said. 

“It does seem significant, but it’s because we started him off at a much lower pay than any city attorney in the state,” Arias said. “Now with us adjusting him, there’s now room for him to adjust attorneys underneath him, to retain them.”

City officials move forward with west Fresno annexation

City officials also moved forward with annexing about 20 acres of county land in west Fresno, according to a staff report. The land is in the city’s west growth area.

The annexation comes after a multi-year pause of the city’s regularly-expanding city limits due to a stalemate between the city and county over how to share tax revenues from new development. A new agreement was recently inked in late December.

The land, located along Ashlan Avenue west of North Polk Avenue, is pre-zoned for single-family residential housing. The developer was represented by civil engineers at Harbour & Associates, based in Clovis.

“I just want to thank staff for your work on this,” said Councilmember Annalisa Perea at the Thursday meeting. “This is a pretty straightforward annexation project to bring much needed residential units into our city limits.”

Fresno police approved to purchase ammunition

Councilmembers approved an exception to formal bidding procedures to ink a $282,400 police ammunition purchase from Dooley Enterprises, an arms distributor based in Anaheim, California. 

According to a staff report, the Fresno Police Department has used a specific kind of ammunition — Winchester Law Enforcement ammunition — for more than 30 years, and it can only be supplied by Dooley Enterprises. 

“Dealers for Law Enforcement grade ammunition in other areas are not allowed to sell to Fresno because it is in a territory served by Dooley Enterprise,” according to the staff report.