The City of Sacramento wants your input on how it should handle another projected budget deficit next year.
An online survey asks the public to select service priorities and rank their support for cuts across city departments.
The city’s latest estimated shortfall for the 2025-26 fiscal year is $77 million, but that doesn’t include grants from the state’s Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) program. City staff are waiting on state guidance for how much of that funding will be received. They expect the projected deficit to decrease when they give an update this winter, said Pete Coletto, the city’s finance director.
Coletto encouraged the public to fill out the survey, to participate in future budget meetings, give public comments online and contact their City Council member and mayor.
“We’re gonna have another challenging budget year and really, all the feedback we get from the public is really valuable and very helpful,” he added.
The council in June closed a $66 million deficit by increasing fees and cutting services, including ending free electric vehicle charging in city garages, and raising community center rental costs. Budget cuts included a mix of one-time and ongoing changes.
Last year the city produced a similar budget survey and received about 1,600 responses in about a month, Coletto said. As of Monday, roughly 360 people had filled out the current survey, which launched last month and closes Nov. 24, he noted.
Marbella Sala, the vice chair of the Measure U Community Advisory Commission, said the city should have consulted citizen commissions about the survey. She added that it appears to include leading questions.
“The survey’s designed for us to respond in a way that they’re already thinking this is the direction they want to go and they want the survey to justify it,” Sala said. “Instead of really being an earnest discussion with the community.”
Coletto disagreed with that argument and said he wants to hear from commissioners and the public about feedback through the survey. He added that people can give open-ended comments through other means, including talking with their council member. The survey also mixes up the order of departments and programs in the survey, such as by putting public safety near the top or bottom of different questions, he said.
“We’re not trying to lead anyone anywhere,” Coletto responded. “We’re just trying to get a pulse.”
He added the survey serves two purposes: To get direct feedback from the public on their priorities and also to help residents understand the city will go through another round of spending cuts.
The finance department plans to present the survey results to the council’s budget and audit committee and post them on the city’s website, Coletto said.
The city survey is available here.
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