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Antioch Council narrows options to close FY26-27 gap, keeps public safety hires prioritized
Summary
City staff presented a draft FY26-27 budget showing a remaining net deficit after stabilization funds; council directed selective freezes for some civilian positions while preserving most public‑safety staffing, and asked staff for realistic police‑hiring projections for the next meeting.
Antioch’s City Council spent much of a special May 13 study session focused on ways to narrow a projected multiyear deficit and on which vacant positions to freeze.
Acting City Manager Cortez and Finance Director Don Merchant presented the draft FY26-27 operating budget, describing a net deficit after a $5 million budget stabilization transfer and noting longer-term projections that show larger deficits in subsequent years if staffing and full funding assumptions hold. “The net deficit after transfer of approximately $6.5 million,” Merchant said, summarizing the current draft and the risk of higher personnel costs in future years.
Council members pressed staff for realistic hiring projections, particularly for the police department, which is budgeting to add 12 trainees in the next budget while already showing several sworn vacancies. Police Captain Bittner told the council the department currently has about 85 sworn officers and that academy and field‑training attrition is high: “Historically it ranges anywhere from 40 to 50%,” he said, adding the best‑case staffing projection would put the department in the low‑to‑mid 90s by year’s end.
Given that attrition and uncertainty in academy slots and lateral hires, council directed staff to return with a more conservative, realistic staffing plan for the next session. Councilmembers also agreed on a process by which newly vacant positions would remain frozen unless council affirmatively reauthorizes them, to allow real‑time fiscal control over personnel expenditures.
The council approved selective, time‑limited freezes on several non‑public safety roles (including one administrative analyst and portions of economic development marketing) while keeping public‑safety positions — such as community service officers and dispatch — largely intact after council members said they are reluctant to reduce frontline public‑safety capacity. Cortez said staff has already built some vacancy savings into the draft budget and will model the additional savings requested by council.
The session closed with staff commitments to return on May 26 with tightened police staffing assumptions, detailed vacancy savings numbers, and follow‑up information on contract expirations, overtime trends and other revenue and cost adjustments the council requested.
Next steps: staff will present a revised draft at the May 26 study session with updated police‑hire assumptions, the proposed measure W split, and the quantified savings from the freezes council directed.
