Oakland City Council Passes Budget Amid Concerns Over Pending Coliseum Sale

After last-minute spending changes and two long days of public hearings and deliberation, Oakland City Council passed a budget on Tuesday for the fiscal year that started this week. The council approved an amended version of Mayor Sheng Thao’s proposal that hopes to largely maintain public safety services despite a massive deficit.

The process has been complicated by the city’s plan to use funds from the pending sale of its half of the Oakland Coliseum site, raising concerns about Oakland’s future financial stability and its ability to maintain police and fire services.

During Tuesday’s meeting, the council voted 5–3 to approve a version of the budget originally introduced by Thao’s office on May 24, with a contingency plan should the Coliseum sale not go through by September. Councilmembers Janani Ramachandran, Treva Reid and Noel Gallo voted against the budget, though the council unanimously voted in favor of an amendment that reallocates $900,000 to maintain three community safety ambassador programs in East Oakland.

Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas said during the meeting that she believes the budget passed by the council best prioritizes public safety.

“The reason that my budget team has put forward this motion is because we take our responsibility to the people of Oakland seriously … We believe this is the best option to maintain the same level of service” for public safety programs, she said.

The newly passed budget will utilize $63 million of expected revenue from the Coliseum sale to help close the city’s deficit without laying off city employees or cutting public safety services. Additionally, it includes a contingency plan with significant cuts should the Coliseum revenue not begin to become available by the fall.

The biggest cuts under the contingency would be to public safety departments, including brownouts, or rotating shutdowns, of five fire engine companies, reducing the number of sworn police officers from 709 to about 600 through attrition, and freezing or eliminating violence prevention positions.

“It is going to have a major impact on my ability to cover patrol shifts and provide basic response services to the citizens of Oakland,” Police Chief Floyd Mitchell told council members of the contingency plan on Friday.

It would also trigger a citywide halt of hiring, contracting and travel and could cause a multi-year delay or cancellation of $200 million in planned bond-funded infrastructure, affordable housing and other projects slated for the coming fiscal year.

However, these cuts will not be implemented should the funds from the Coliseum sale begin to be available by September. On Friday, Bas said she was confident that negotiations on the sale were on track.