Bakersfield council receives midyear budget update citing hiring‑freeze savings and $60M in reserves

City Manager Christian Kle delivered a midyear update to the Bakersfield City Council on March 25, outlining personnel, reserve and forecasting figures that the city says have improved since the hiring freeze began.

Kle told the council that the city had initiated a hiring freeze last June and initially estimated $8.7 million in savings; the updated projection now shows the city “on target to surpass that savings mark,” with preliminary forecasts approaching $11–11.7 million in savings. He said the city has 293 vacant positions across enterprise and special revenue funds; staff have filled enterprise fund vacancies where necessary and have held roughly 140 positions frozen, with 70 positions proposed for elimination in next year’s budget.

Why it matters: Kle said personnel costs are 70–80% of ongoing operating expenses, so changes to hiring and position eliminations materially affect the four‑year forecast. The presentation also showed the city’s contingency reserve at $60 million (a $65 million target), a facility reserve of $5 million (target $10 million) and a pension stabilization (Section 115) trust that has grown to about $8.2 million since Measure N. Kle said those reserves are not recommended for midyear balancing.

Council members used the presentation to press staff for details. Council member Gonzalez thanked staff for providing the reserve slide and noted the pension stabilization fund is a Section 115 trust; Council member Smith asked for clarification about when the city might draw on the stabilization fund, and Kle said the intent is to preserve it for the expected Kalpers cost spike around 2030–2031.

The council had several technical questions about interest income and the accounting for enterprise funds; Kle said interest earnings on reserve categories have been in “the millions of dollars” and that some ARPA interest income was roughly $2 million in a similar configuration of unspent funds. Kle also said prepaying pension obligations has produced “close to a million or a little over a million dollars every year” in savings that have been routed into the pension stabilization fund.

After questions, the council voted to receive and file the second‑quarter/midyear budget update. The motion was approved (the record noted Council member Aas absent during the vote). The council was told budget workshops are planned ahead of the May hearings and that staff will deliver more finalized numbers in early April for public safety service items.

What’s next: Staff said the preliminary budget will be finalized in coming weeks and that the council will receive copies electronically and in print ahead of budget workshops; staffing and position recommendations will be incorporated into next year’s budget process.