How keeping positions vacant will help Fresno stay afloat next year

After identifying a projected $20.6 million deficit in February, Mayor Jerry Dyer and city budget staffers have been trying to identify cost-cutting measures. 

While layoffs and furloughs are not a part of the picture, every city department will be expected to keep a 6% vacancy rate next year, with the exception of city council offices and the fire department. 

That alone is projected to save the city about $25 million. 

At a Wednesday news conference, Dyer unveiled a record-breaking $2.36 billion budget for the 2026 fiscal year, which begins in July and ends next year in June. He shared cost-cutting strategies, budget priorities, along with a few bond-funded projects. 

On top of counting on salary savings from vacancies next year, each city department director was asked to reduce their budgets by 5%. Dyer said not every department was able to do that, and Fresno residents will not feel service reductions. 

“I don’t think that the City of Fresno, the community in and of itself, is going to see reduced services,” Dyer said Wednesday. “But I will tell you the department directors brought forth what they felt to be 5% budget cuts in their department that were non-personnel.”

Dyer also said his team identified 88 vehicles, most of which belong to the police department, that could be sold to bring in additional revenue. 

Additionally, the city’s free trolley service, the Hop, will not be running Thursdays anymore, with the exception of ArtHop nights on the first Thursday of every month.

Eviction protection and infill program included in the budget

Dyer’s proposed budget includes $1.5 million for the city’s eviction protection program. That marks the first time the mayor included funding for the program instead of councilmembers having to advocate for the program during budget hearings.

The mayor’s proposal also includes $1 million for the city’s residential infill program, which reimburses developers for impact fees if they construct housing at specific inner-city sites in Fresno, instead of on the city’s fringes. 

Dyer also announced that $286,000 will be used to provide additional office space to the City Attorney’s Office. Just yesterday, City Attorney Andrew Janz announced two new hires, along with creating a new Criminal and Special Assignments Unit. 

“The unit is designed to focus on Fresno Municipal Code Prosecution and special assignments such as Wage Theft Prosecution,” according to a press release. 

In the last several years, the Fresno City Council has greatly expanded the power of the City Attorney’s Office, enabling Janz to prosecute unhoused people, wage theft cases, scrap metal thieves and graffiti crimes. 

Dyer also said his budget includes raises for city workers, but said he couldn’t get into specifics. 

“As we do every year, we put forth a sum of money in the budget, but we don’t tell anybody what that sum of money is because it weakens our bargaining hand,” Dyer said. “I got some of our folks in here from the unions watching me real close right now.”

Several contracts with unions are set to expire later this year, months after the budget’s expected approval in June.

At the Wednesday news conference, Dyer brought up his new “pave more now, pay later” program. He said he’s seeking a $100 million bond to repair Fresno roads over the next two to three years. 

Roads are rated using the Pavement Condition Index (PCI) on a scale of 1 to 100. Dyer said some Fresno roads have a PCI rating of under 25. He said he will consult councilmembers to identify roads in need of repair, which this program would seek to address. 

“The longer we wait, the more expensive it is to repave the street because of road degradation, plus the inflationary cost as well,” Dyer said at the news conference. 

The city is already seeking to bond for a new 911 communication center and Fire Station 12 in northwest Fresno.

Downtown revitalization funds aren’t coming next year

Gov. Gavin Newsom also released a big budget document on Wednesday — his May Revise — which made no mention of the deferred $200 million in state funds for revitalizing Fresno’s downtown and Chinatown. 

Dyer wrote to Fresnoland via text that he anticipated the funds wouldn’t be made available next year. 

“I am disappointed but not discouraged,” Dyer wrote. “We will not be deterred by a lack of funding to rebuild our downtown. We will explore other funding alternatives in the short term, until the State is able to fulfill its commitment to Fresno for the remaining $200 million.”

Back in April, Dyer said he was hopeful at least half of the remaining funds would be included in the governor’s May budget update. He has repeatedly brought up the importance of downtown revitalization funds in different settings, including in his State of Downtown speech, and his State of the City address.

Up next in the budget process

On Thursday, Dyer will spend more time going into the nitty gritty of his budget proposal in front of the Fresno City Council. 

In June, the council will hold a series of budget hearings — giving the public and also the council an opportunity to ask questions about the budget. Those hearings are also when councilmembers file formal budget motions, seeking funding for specific programs and initiatives that are not included in the mayor’s proposal. 

The first budget hearing is at 9 a.m. on Monday, June 2.

After the hearings, the mayor and his team typically negotiate the budget with members of the Fresno City Council. From 2018 to 2023, those negotiations have occurred behind closed doors. 

A Fresnoland investigation in August 2023 questioned whether that practice may have violated California’s Brown Act. 

Three months later, the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California and First Amendment Coalition sued the City of Fresno, alleging its budget committee violated state law by convening annual budget negotiations in private.

That lawsuit is still ongoing. While the city maintained the practice was legal, the city council still disbanded its budget committee, along with 10 other committees that met privately. 

Instead of opting to negotiate the budget in public, Dyer negotiated the budget individually with each councilmember last year.