Sacramento Council continues efforts to close $66M budget gap. Here’s what to know
The Sacramento City Council spent the week making painful tradeoffs as it works to close a $66 million budget deficit. Council members hiked hundreds of fees, restored some youth and pool funding, and debated the future of a key homeless shelter.
Key takeaways
- The council approved hundreds of fee hikes Tuesday covering fire prevention, animal licensing, theater rentals and parking violations, with the changes taking effect July 1.
- Sacramento’s general fund could grow by $7.4 million under the new fee structure, though City Manager Maraskeshia Smith vowed not to raise parking meter rates.
- A unanimous vote restored $1.3 million for a gang prevention and intervention taskforce grant, plus $100,000 for four wading pools and $500,000 to keep 10 neighborhood pools open five days a week.
- To pay for the restorations, the council cut vacant parking enforcement officer positions and reallocated homelessness funds originally planned for 2028, though a separate $800,000 grant for critical incident response remained unfunded.
- Councilmember Karina Talamantes proposed cutting $10 million from the Department of Community Response and capping homelessness spending from the general fund at $30 million.
- The 2026 Point-in-Time Count found unhoused numbers rose 13% across Sacramento County but dropped about 20% within the city of Sacramento.
Nathaniel Levine
The Sacramento Bee