Recreation & Parks faces hiring freeze and $2.4 million in planned cuts as city struggles with $26 million deficit
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Summary
City recreation officials told commissioners that staffing vacancies are on hold and the department must absorb roughly $1.2 million in reductions immediately and about $1.2 million more next year as the city addresses a $26 million budget deficit.
City recreation officials told the Recreation & Parks Commission that the city is working through a multi-year budget gap and that the department must take immediate and next-year cuts that will reduce services and hold vacancies.
Mr. Posada, recreation and parks director, said the city is facing a roughly $26 million budget deficit and that the department received target reductions it must implement. "For this year, we're looking at about a $1,200,000 reduction, effective virtually immediately," he said. He added that for fiscal 2026–27 the department expects another $1.2 million in reductions, bringing the departmenttotal to about $2.4 million.
Staff told commissioners many vacancies are on hold and hiring is scaled back. The business manager, Mr. Smeta, earlier presented a snapshot of three department funds (general fund, Measure U and special district funding) and cautioned that the organization's new financial system is still being reconciled: "these numbers are very likely not 100% accurate in terms of how much we've actually spent and our percentage used," he said.
Commissioners and staff discussed operational approaches to meet the reductions, including prioritizing programs with strong community support, reassigning existing employees, and postponing some recruitments. The director said he plans to convene the recreation budget committee to review numbers in detail and present options for maintaining core services.
Staff also noted recent summer hiring trends: the department hired 39 limited-service seasonal employees for the summer and added eight non-summer hires in recent months but lost two to transfers. Employee recognition programs will continue despite staffing constraints, staff said.
Ending: Staff said reductions will affect programs and service levels and that the recreation budget committee will meet to provide more detailed options to commissioners ahead of council budget decisions.