The City of Sacramento has released its proposed budget for fiscal year 2022/23, which represents the City’s financial plan for the upcoming year starting July 1.
The budget totals $1.4 billion for operations and capital improvement projects. It supports 4,993 full-time positions and is balanced.
City Manager Howard Chan described it as a “status quo budget,” one that maintains the City’s current services and efforts with limited augmentations.
“As Sacramento continues to recover from the financial challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, we are cautiously optimistic that the worst of the pandemic’s fiscal impacts are behind us,” Chan said in his transmittal letter to the Mayor and City Council. “This proposed plan reflects prudent investments in staffing and programs to adapt to community needs and support City Council priority initiatives.”
The proposed budget, for example, provides ongoing funding for the City’s Department of Community Response to continue its work to address homelessness. It also expands Recycling and Solid Waste’s services, supports the Fire Department’s diversity outreach and recruitment efforts and includes adjustments to realize efficiencies.
With the increase in services offered over the past years — including the City’s response to the homelessness crisis – the City projects that expenses could surpass available funding in fiscal year 2023/24. As the City looks to address future deficits, the City Council will be asked to further prioritize funding for programs and services.
Similar to last year’s approved budget, and as directed by Council, the proposed FY22/23 budget realigns General Fund/Measure U expenditures to better reflect the spending priorities and provide additional transparency.
The proposed budget is scheduled to go to the Budget and Audit Committee May 6 and then to the City Council May 10, followed by a month of hearings and an anticipated June 14 adoption.
Here is the full schedule of budget hearings:
