City Approves $1.5 Billion Budget And Resolves Deficit, For Now

By Robert J. Hansen | OBSERVER Staff Writer The City of Sacramento approved its $1.5 billion budget for the upcoming fiscal year at Tuesday night’s council meeting while resolving its $66 million deficit. To balance the budget, the city had to eliminate roughly 44 vacant full-time positions but did not eliminate any filled positions. Peter Coletto, the city’s director of finance, said finding ways to make up for the deficit was challenging but was done with as little impact on the community as possible. Councilmembers Mai Vang and Katie Valenzuela voted to not approve the budget because they claimed it does not address the public demand to improve public safety. In a joint statement, Vang and Valenzuela said they have seen the City Council increase the police department’s budget by almost $100 million& and yet Sacramentans still do not feel safe.& “Simply giving more funding to the police does not lead to safer or healthier outcomes in our neighborhoods,” the statement read. “We are proud that this balanced budget avoided layoffs and saved some critical programs, but we continue to be disappointed with the status quo budget process. Unless we transform how we allocate our resources to achieve our collective...