Mayor's FY2026 budget aims to hold property tax steady, prioritizes public safety and core services

Greg Cleary, the city budget director, presented the administration’s FY2026 recommended budget on May 13, describing a conservative approach in the face of economic uncertainty. Key points:

- Total citywide expenditures: approximately $1.86 billion, down about $121 million primarily because of lower capital spending (notably at the airport and in public utilities).

- Fund balance and property tax: the recommended budget uses about $28 million of fund balance (lower than recent years) and does not propose a property-tax increase for FY2026 (staff noted a possible need in FY2027).

- Public-safety investments: the budget includes continued funding for the public-safety plan, with line items such as homeless services ($850,000), additional alternative‑response funding, enhanced overnight park security and a Clean City team (5 FTEs) and some targeted lighting and right-of-way investment.

- Utilities and fees: staff presented proposed increases to public-utility customer costs (an illustrative $120 annual estimate for typical public‑utilities customers) and a proposed ~10% refuse rate increase (about $41 annually for a typical account) to align cost recovery.

- Organizational changes: several transfers of FTEs between departments were noted (engineering, Arts Council, graffiti response, etc.) to better align service delivery with planned work.

Cleary told council that revenue assumptions were conservative given macro uncertainty and stressed the role of policy choices (e.g., meter-hour changes, fee CPI adjustments) in balancing the budget. Council members asked for detail on specific line items and departmental adjustments; staff said department‑level presentations will follow in the coming weeks.

Next steps: the council will review departmental presentations and consider formal budget actions in the coming weeks.