Like clockwork, it’s time to review Mayor Malik's Operating Budget for 2026. Council just received the proposed $784.8M budget last Monday, which is a decrease of $13.8M from 2025, and we begin budget hearings starting Tuesday 3/17. I sit on the the Budget and Finance committee and have been studying the proposal that will cut about 35 full time positions, mostly through attrition, saving $3.5M annually. Every City Department will present their individual budgets requests before the committee and by Charter, Council need to approve a budget by March 30th.
The Budget covers a broad range of expenses, and this year's proposal includes labor costs ( wages, medical, pensions etc.) for all 2,000 city employees, which is over 1/3 of the total budget, There's also equipment purchases, strategic community investments in economic development, homelessness services, early childhood learning, and youth development programs. It contains job training, service contracts, rentals & leases, insurance utilities for city facilities, professional services, and insurance costs for liability, property and all city vehicles. It also covers the annual payments on debt service for the City's bonds, notes , loans and leases.
Other notes of interest; staffing studies are underway for both Police and Fire to identify savings on overtime and alignment with deployment models with national best practices. The Police Executive Research Forum( PERF) is approving its Use of Force Policy Review ( approved by Council in 2025) and there's an additional $500,000 for implementation of their recommendations. The Administration is looking at bringing back school-zone speed cameras that is expected to generate $600,000 in revenue, and reviewing city-owned parking facilities, potentially selling some of our parking garages.(currently a $2M expense).
There's a lot to go over, and Council always has priorities that we we'd like to see addressed, which will happen over the course of March. Ultimately, we'll agree on a final budget, but we take this very seriously. Budget hearings are public, held at City Council Chambers , this Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, starting 3/17 at 3:00pm. You can also watch online from the City Council live feed. Link to the Mayor’s summary of 2026 Operating Budget is below: