Elk Grove City Council approves $491M budget for next fiscal year. What it funds
The Elk Grove City Council approved a $491 million budget Wednesday that expands spending on police staffing, homelessness programs and traffic safety projects while maintaining what city leaders described as a “balanced” financial outlook for the year ahead.
The budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year starting July 1 closes without a deficit and includes “fully funded reserves,” the city’s budget manager Nathan Bagwill said at the meeting.
“The budget continues to invest in the services residents rely on every day, including public safety, homelessness response, traffic improvements and economic development,” Bagwill said. “Just as importantly, it’s a financially sustainable plan balanced not only in the coming fiscal year but all five years of the forecast.”
“What that allows us to do is continue to invest into things that are most important for our community — public safety, addressing homelessness, traffic,” City Manager Jason Behrmann said at a May 27 City Council meeting discussing the proposed budget.
Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen compared Elk Grove’s budget to deficits faced by other cities and organizations in the area.
“This is not something all cities and counties can do right now, so I feel very blessed that we are in the position that we are,” Singh-Allen said.
The city’s total budget is $491 million, an $80 million increase from the previous fiscal year, according to a city staff presentation. A majority of that increase is due to major projects such as affordable housing, land acquisitions, homelessness programs and developer-led infrastructure projects, according to Bagwill.
According to the budget, major contributors to the budget increase were $4.1 million in compensation increases; $3.6 million due to internal service costs increasing, including renovations to City Hall and facility operations; $834,000 due to one-time public safety and operational equipment purchases; and $1.4 million due to increases of operational expenses, including election costs, budget software and the expansion of red-light camera enforcement.
The recommended general fund budget is $107.5 million, a $10.1 million increase from the previous fiscal year. The major cost drivers were employee compensation and capital projects, including a planned City Hall remodel, Bagwill said.
Approximately $72 million from the general fund is spent on compensation, according to Behrmann’s May 27 presentation. Last fiscal year, the city spent approximately $67.9 million from the general fund on compensation, according to the 2025-2026 budget.
The city has 515 authorized positions, 461 of which are currently filled, according to city spokesperson Kristyn Nelson.
Total revenue for the 2026-27 fiscal year is projected at $351 million, including $40.3 million in sales tax revenue, $36 million in Measure E funds — the voter-approved 1-cent sales tax for community priority projects — and $43.8 million in property taxes, according to Bagwill.
Of that Measure E revenue, the city allocates 20%, or $7.2 million, to a future priority projects reserve and 30%, or $10.8 million, to the Cosumnes Community Services District, according to Bagwill. The remaining 50%, or $18 million, is allocated to priority projects, including crime reduction, homelessness services, traffic maintenance and arts and culture.
An estimated $3.9 million from Measure E funds has been earmarked for a planned permanent homeless shelter next fiscal year, bringing the total Measure E allocation for the project to $7 million, Bagwill said.
The homeless shelter is planned to be located at the intersection of Survey Road and East Stockton Boulevard and is expected to open in the fall of 2028. It is expected to cost between $12 million and $14.5 million, according to previous Bee reporting, including $750,000 to purchase the site, $1.7 million to $2 million in site development, $7.2 million to $8.5 million in “hard” construction costs and $2 million to $3 million in “soft” costs, such as fees, permits and insurance.
Another priority recommendation in the budget calls for additional traffic enforcement staff and red-light cameras at five intersections because of rising pedestrian fatalities and traffic accidents. The red-light cameras will cost approximately $200,000, Bagwill said.
“Accident rates and fatalities are lower where we do see those cameras,” Behrmann said at the May 27 meeting. “I know they can be controversial and not everybody likes them. We have shown that they do improve public safety.”
Other traffic investments include roadway rehabilitation, pavement maintenance and trail enhancements.
‘“Because we have the resources to be able to do that and we’re disciplined in how we spend money, it allows us to really focus our investments in the right places,” Behrmann said at the May 27 meeting.
The Police Department’s operations are expected to cost the city $72 million next fiscal year, according to Behrmann’s May 27 presentation. Approximately $68.7 million of that comes from the city’s general fund and accounts for 64% of the general fund’s expenditures.
Comparatively, in the 2021-22 budget, Elk Grove spent 68% of its $78.7 million general fund on policing, an approximate total of $53.5 million from the general fund.
City staff recommended adding seven new positions to the department, including a forensic investigator, traffic detective, motor officer, parking enforcement technician, real-time information center supervisor and two real-time information center operators.
The city also recommended adding a project manager, traffic signal technician and street sweeper operator in the public works department, as well as a senior management analyst in the finance department, bringing the total number of new positions to 11.
This story was originally published June 11, 2026 at 10:38 AM.
