Backlash Continues Against The Oakland City Council For Approving $100 Million In Budget Cuts

Facing a $129 million deficit next year, the Oakland City Council approved a number of large cuts to multiple city services this week, with $100 million being slashed from police, fire, and arts budgets.

For years, the city of Oakland has been constantly stuck in a deficit. In 2020, the city had to climb out of a $62 million deficit. Last year they were staring at a two-year $360 million shortfall. Just last month the deficit was estimated to be at $93 million for the next year. While Oakland had always made cuts, new spending and massive areas of lost revenue, such as losing all three professional sports teams in the city and companies flat out leaving the city, have continued the spiral.

The current political situation has also not helped in recent years. The recall of Mayor Sheng Thao last month has led to an incredibly unstable situation in Oakland, with multiple interim Mayors expected to serve until the special April Mayoral election. Now with a projected $129 million deficit this coming year, the Oakland City Council moved to make drastic budget cuts for the upcoming year in hopes of stabilizing the city budget for 2025 and beyond. That led to the Oakland City Council approving $100 million in budget cuts this week.

According to the plan, some cuts are to be made immediately, while some will begin next year. Overall, many departments will have staffing cuts, amounting to 90 positions being lost. Other departments are more specific. The Oakland Police will need to cut $25 million in overtime. Oakland Fire will have a total of six fire stations browned out, about a third of all stations in the OFD, meaning that while they won’t close, they will see major shift reductions. The majority of public arts programs will also be removed as a result.

While the Council voted 5-1 in favor of the cuts, Councilmembers noted that doing so was not an easy decision.

“I want to remind ourselves that as a City Council and as a city, we prioritize community safety as well as housing security and the essential services that keep our city healthy and clean, as well as collecting every dollar that is owed to us,” said City Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas. “And today, given our financial situation, we’re discussing a back-to-basics approach to both our budget and city services. There are no easy answers here, and most of what’s before us is really hard to swallow.”

Oakland in debt

The affected departments reacted negatively this week, with many Department leaders still speaking out about the cuts on Friday.

“I don’t understand the fiscal decision to close a third of the fire department and the idea that that will be a sustainable city,” explained IAFF Local vice president Captain Seth Olyer earlier this week. “We’re talking about people’s lives. We’re talking about members’ lives. We’re talking about everyone out here who’s talked about how important services are to them.”

“The City’s newly released report on budget cuts is unacceptable and devastating to public safety,” Oakland Police Officers Association President Huy Nguyen said. “All we know right now is a cut of more than $32 million to an already struggling police force is going to have dire impacts on police officers, Oakland residents and neighborhoods.”

While concerns have been raised about a likely rise in crime and public safety being sacrificed to erase the deficit, others have noted that Oakland has had little choice on where to cut.

“These cuts are like asking which limb you want cut off,” said Alameda County pollster Nathan Martin to the Globe on Friday. “All it is going to take is a bad fire or two, or a major crime that would have been stopped by police overtime and we’ll see funding go back in. Especially since most of the Council is on the outs, and we’ll see a new City Council come in next month. And then we’re right back at looking at what to cut.

“The deficit is here for multiple reasons, but the thread through it all has been Oakland not reacting to crime in a fast manner and the city not doing enough to save businesses and jobs. These $100 million in cuts, they’re just the latest chapter in Oakland continuing to do everything wrong and refusing to admit that they have become a smaller, and less important, city.”

Incoming Council members have yet to say if they will support or reverse the cuts passed this week once in office.