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Oroville budget workshop prioritizes roads as city faces rising costs and falling grant revenue
Summary
City staff told the council the city has a $9 million reserve and has budgeted roughly $5 million for roads this year, but warned of a roughly $1.8 million revenue gap driven by a Cal Fire contract increase and the end of a multi‑year state grant. Council members asked departments to prioritize a long wish list for FY 2025–26.
Oroville city staff told the City Council at a goals-and-priorities workshop that while the city has healthy reserves and has spent heavily on road repairs this year, the next fiscal year will require tough prioritization as revenues fall and operating costs rise.
“the city has a very, very healthy reserve. $9,000,000 reserve has not been touched,” City Manager Robert Ring told the council, adding that “this past this year, over $5,000,000 is actually budgeted in road work.”
Ring and Finance Director Ruth (first name only in the meeting) urged the council to weigh departmental “needs and wants” against limited resources as they prepare the FY 2025–26 budget. “Budget requests are exceeding the available resources,” Ring said, and department wish lists would have to be prioritized and brought back to council in June.
Why it matters: Staff identified two principal, near‑term hits to the budget. First, the city will absorb a full 12 months of the expanded Cal Fire contract tied to a 66‑hour work week, which Ring estimated will add roughly $500,000 annually. Second, the city expects the winding down of a multi‑year state grant program that accounted for about $1.3 million in revenue this year. Ring summarized the combined effect as “those 2 things alone, 1.8 ish million dollars, is just it's the reality that we're in right now.”
Staff also noted that the city’s district tax receipts — referred to at the meeting as the district measure revenue — are about $7.2 million, but that collections have flattened and shown small declines. Ring said the city must “get priorities from you folks on how we allocate the resources that we do have.”
Other fiscal changes announced: Ruth said staff had completed a software conversion for payroll and timesheets and posted salary and benefit projections to the budget for the first time, and that a five‑year forecast will accompany the council’s budget review in June. Departments were asked to submit multi‑year (rather than one‑year) projections so the council can review fiscal sustainability scenarios.
Council direction and next steps: Council members spent the workshop reviewing departmental presentations. Ring said staff would return in June with a draft budget and that the council would again give direction to prioritize capital projects and staffing. “If you don't ever ask for it, you're never gonna receive it,” Ring said, urging departments to list all needs so the council can decide what to fund now and what to defer.
Ending: Staff asked the council to focus on roads, public safety and storm drains as near‑term priorities; the formal budget hearings will proceed in June.
