What's at stake?
Budget season has begun in the City of Fresno, as Mayor Jerry Dyer presented his plan for the next fiscal year to local media on Wednesday.
In spite of a projected deficit of over $30 million, Dyer’s administration touted a budget plan that he says will see no layoffs or reductions to core services. The plan will be formally presented in greater detail before the Fresno City Council on Thursday.
Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer presented his balanced budget plan for the next fiscal year to the media on Wednesday morning, hyping a spending proposal that he says will prevent layoffs and avoid reductions to core residential services.
Coming in at a record-breaking $2.55 billion, Dyer’s plan would also close a projected deficit of about $35 million.
“The budget this year, although challenging, was built with a lot of creativity and thoughtfulness,” Dyer said.
The deficit was initially thought to be closer to $23 million following a-mid-year presentation earlier this year. But Dyer said on Wednesday that the city’s financial hole ballooned to $34.5 million following internal discussion with city staff.
He cited the increase to, among other things, the end of American Rescue Plan Act funding, the city not winning grants they expected to receive — as an example, Dyer said the Fresno City Attorney’s Office was unsuccessful in winning a grant that would have added eight positions to its wage theft unit — and internal decisions to fund additional city services like power washing and trash removal in the city’s Tower and Downtown districts.
The mayor doesn’t have a choice in presenting a balanced city budget. The city’s charter requires it.
“Unlike the federal government,” Dyer joked.
Considered a formality, the negotiating process begins once the budget is balanced and presented before the city council.
But the mayor does exude control on how the initial budget gets balanced.
Dyer said his administration leaned on attrition and a reduction in department expenditures to keep the budget balanced this year, two fiscal tools the city has leaned on in the past.
Dyer said his budget plan “assume(s) an attrition rate, or vacancy rate,” of about 6.18% – a rate he said was “natural.” He said the rate was city-wide, with the lone exception being to the fire department’s non administrative positions.
“If we held those positions vacant for any reason, we would have to utilize overtime to pay for them, so we’re not going to achieve any savings,” Dyer explained.
Most councilmembers were comfortable with the attrition rate when the mayor presented the budget last year, though councilmember Miguel Arias questioned whether it was a hiring freeze in an early example of just how quickly budget negotiations can become contentious.
Dyer added on Wednesday that, for the third year in a row, his administration also made the “extremely difficult” decision to reduce department expenditures. The reduction will be 5%.
Still, the tone Wednesday was largely positive.
Dyer’s administration was able to reap the benefits of increasing revenues in property taxes, sales taxes, business license revenue and room tax revenues — all of which help cover about 80% of the city’s general fund.
He also championed the inclusion of funding for “some of the most visible” local projects and programs that his plan includes.
The city included $1.5 million to the Eviction Protection Program, its most notable tenant assistance service that has been on the chopping block in the past.. The proposed budget also includes funding the Advance Peace program – which focuses on gun violence reduction – with $300,000.
Dyer’s plan also includes more than $140 million in road and sidewalk improvements in the city through a mix of local and state funding.
It’s “more money than we have spent in decades, and perhaps in our history, to improve our roads and sidewalks,” Dyer said.
Dyer also said his plan will see the remaining of the 66 firefighters hired using federal SAFER grant funding be absorbed into the city’s general fund.
“As you can see, we’re doing a lot with a little,” Dyer said.
Tough economic forecasts nationwide have introduced an uncertain fiscal future for all levels of government.
Close to home, the City of Clovis introduced and approved a sales tax, known as Measure Y, to help fund local public safety initiatives. The measure was approved by voters in 2024.
Still, Dyer added that he won’t be reaching out to his constituents to help cover any funding shortfalls anytime soon.
“I do not anticipate, quite frankly, in my time as a mayor, doing any type of sales tax enhancement at all,” Dyer said, highlighting a position his administration has held since he first took office.
“I think, although our budget is tight, and we have very thin margins, we’re going to live within our means,” Dyer said. “Because that’s what good cities do.”
Still, Dyer announced that the city can expect to see plans for increased rates on water and sewer to come “at some point” after the budget process.
Dyer said that following news that the City of Clovis raised rates by 60% earlier this, year, in a move he said “sent some shockwaves” among their constituents, the mayor said his staff would engage in a “methodical” and “thoughtful” approach that would include steps like engaging in community meetings “to make sure they understand the reason why.”
Dyer will present a more detailed budget publicly before the Fresno City Council Thursday morning. Residents can watch from home or attend in-person at the Fresno City Hall when the meeting starts at 9 a.m.
