Stockton council accepts FY2025–26 budget status, orders corrections after questions about fund moves and OPDA

Stockton’s City Council on March 3 accepted the status report on the fiscal year 2025–26 budget but instructed staff to amend and return a corrected document after multiple council members raised concerns about internal reorganizations and undisclosed allocations.

City CFO Gilbert Garcia told the council the citywide budget totals roughly $982 million, with a general fund of about $328 million and roughly three-quarters of the general fund going to police and fire. Garcia and other staff walked through adjustments made after the June adoption, including salary allocation changes that move portions of personnel costs from the general fund to other funds.

Vice Mayor Lee pressed staff on one set of changes that moved positions and funding out of the Office of Performance & Data Analytics (OPDA) into the City Manager’s administration budget and to other funds. "If optic is not in the budget that we're being presented tonight, then how were the positions then paid for?" Lee asked. Tax and budget tracking should be transparent to the council, Lee said, and she asked staff to return with an amended document showing line-item allocations and the spending to date.

Garcia acknowledged the transfers and said some reallocations were not previously presented to council. He said the funding for the OPDA positions was placed in the administration budget and that council could direct staff to break those changes out more distinctly in the budget document.

Several council members said they were surprised to find OPDA positions and funding rolled into an administrative account without a narrative in the published budget book. Councilmember Padilla and others asked that the role, current expenditures, and planned staffing for the office now labeled OPTIC be spelled out and returned for council review. "When you know better, you do better," Vice Mayor Lee said, urging an amended budget that shows how the office is being funded and what has been spent so far.

Council members and staff also discussed other budget items, including the relocation of some community engagement funds to department discretionary accounts and the reclassification of a DEI position to Human Resources—changes staff said had been documented and in a few cases previously approved.

After discussion, the council adopted a resolution accepting the status report and directed staff to prepare and return an amended FY2025–26 budget document that includes the corrections and more explicit line items for the reorganized offices.

The council vote to accept the report and request amendments was unanimous.