Fresno City Council adopts massive $2.56 billion budget

The Fresno City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a balanced budget of about $2.56 billion for the next fiscal year.

The budget plan, another record-breaking amount for Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer and his administration, comes on the heels of the last 18 months worth of federal policies putting strains on local governments and organizations across the country. 

This year’s budget cycle was the first where the city was no longer afforded much, if any, of the federal funding grants jurisdictions across the country were able to play with following the pandemic. 

Dyer said on Tuesday that this new status quo was made apparent to him during this year’s budget crafting cycle. As a result, he said, many local nonprofit organizations have looked toward the city for additional funding.

“As a city, I think we collectively agree, and want to do our part to support them,” Dyer said. “However, we cannot do it all. The burden to fill these funding gaps should not fall solely on the City of Fresno.”

He later added, “I believe we as city officials and nonprofits collectively must challenge the County of Fresno and our philanthropic partners to step up and do their part to fund these agencies in need.”

That challenge may go unaddressed.

The County of Fresno begins their budget process in September, after approving a preliminary budget for the next fiscal year earlier this month. This year will be the county’s first budget cycle affected by President Donald Trump’s budget plan, which leaves the county with dealing with potential impacts to social services like Medi-Cal and CalFresh.

“We end up hopefully with a document that we can all live with,” City Manager Georgeanne White said. “It doesn’t have what everybody wanted in it, because we just don’t have the resources.”

Still, Tuesday’s mood was mostly jovial.

Fresno City Councilmember Annalisa Perea said the plan for the next fiscal year was, “the most family-friendly budget our city has ever seen.” 

Council President Nelson Esparza, who terms out at the end of the year, echoed those sentiments, saying that he felt the budget was a “kind of culmination of my time on the council.” 

“It’s balanced, invests in our roads and our neighborhoods, protects essential city services without too many reductions, and I think generally accomplishes our goal of improving the quality of life throughout the city,” Esparza said. 

Breaking down the numbers

The city found the funding for Advance Peace Fresno, a premier local gun violence prevention program, gathering about $1.3 million through a mix of budget motions and funding carried over from other sources. City leaders said that funding should stretch about two years. 

The program has also been touted for its potential to save the city millions of dollars in homicide-related expenses.

Budget season kicked off with Fresno City Council Vice President Tyler Maxwell holding a news conference about an hour before the mayor’s budget presentation to unveil a proposal to introduce a new, one-year pilot childcare program, in partnership with the local First 5 of California branch. 

The plan was approved in the final budget plan, though it’ll only receive $2 of the requested $3.5 million initially requested when Maxwell introduced the plan. 

The Eviction Protection Program will also get $1.8 million in funding for the next fiscal year, the most annual funding the city has ever given it. The program was started by Maxwell during the COVID-19 lockdowns, and was largely funded through federal pandemic grants. It is the only pandemic-era tenant protection program that the city still operates. 

The city will also continue to contribute $50,000 in funding to look into a partnership with the county to try and build a library in the city’s Tower District. The road is far from over to get a library in the district, but it’s a hugely positive shift in momentum toward delivering a long-requested community amenity to the Tower District. 

All budget motions can be seen here.