1 of 1 Photo: Emma McIntyre / Getty Images Entertainment / Getty Images
New Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones is off to a rocky start.
She hasn’t fully come on board with Project Marvel, and she inherited a budget deficit of $173M.
On Thursday, city officials got a look at the new proposed budget, which hit $4B for the first time ever.
Some, though, are asking if the $4 billion proposal is enough as revenues are growing, but perhaps not quickly enough to keep up with rising costs. Given this dynamic, the City now faces a projected General Fund deficit of $21 million in Fiscal Year 2026 and $152 million in Fiscal Year 2027.
The city is not budgeting for any civilian raises for fiscal year 2027, unless the city’s revenue collection dramatically improves.
And despite crime issues, officials proposed slowing a costly police hiring plan that the city started in fiscal year 2024. That plan calls for hiring 360 patrol officers over a five-year period to meet the city’s goal of having these officers spend 60% of their time on “proactive” police work intended to prevent crime and the remainder responding to calls for service.
The council will adopt the final budget on Sept. 18.