Yuba City council reviews proposed FY2025–26 budget, directs staff to advance plan using one-time funds and targeted cuts

Yuba City held a special budget workshop in which Interim City Manager Robert Bindorf presented the proposed fiscal 2025–26 operating budget and capital improvement program and described a multiyear approach to address a multi‑million dollar structural deficit.

Bindorf told the council that the city “has a structural deficit,” and walked members through recent actions (including midyear reductions adopted in February) and the set of revenue and expenditure assumptions that produced the proposed 2025–26 budget. He and staff proposed using a mix of one‑time funds and modest ongoing reductions to stabilize operations while developing longer‑term solutions.

The presentation said the city used about $2.4 million in reserves in fiscal 2023–24 and faced roughly a $5.5 million structural deficit in 2024–25. Council action in February produced roughly $2.34 million in cost savings or cost avoidance, and departments were instructed to present additional options. Bindorf said the net effect of actions taken to date and updated cost assumptions reduced the initial 2025–26 projection by about $700,000 compared with earlier estimates, but added that significant…