By admin 
Before the city of Sacramento passed its 2026-27 budget Tuesday night, Mayor Kevin McCarty and the rest of the City Council walked out of the room for a forced 10-minute recess to the tune of a protest song.
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“It’s okay to change your mind / Show us your courage / Leave this behind,” a chorus of audience members sang.
The impromptu choir, alongside dozens of others in the audience, was advocating for cuts to the Sacramento Police Department in favor of funding youth violence intervention, a community ambassador program, homelessness services and fee waivers for underserved residents.
Ultimately the council voted 7-2 to pass the budget, overcoming a $66 million deficit by eliminating around 100 vacant job positions, hiking fees and cutting homeless spending.
This is the third year that the city has faced a shortfall, the result of an ongoing structural deficit caused by expenditures growing faster than the city’s revenues. It is the first year since 2013 that the city has had to lay employees off to help balance the budget — the exact number is still undetermined, but the majority of people originally slated to receive pink slips were spared.
Vacant police positions questioned
Residents who turned out to Tuesday night’s council meeting questioned why, at the same time the city was cutting youth violence intervention grants and police oversight, the city was preserving around 150 vacant police positions, many of which have been empty for several years.
“This is a racist budget,” said Moiz Mir of the Asian American Liberation Network, going on to criticize the decision to cut positions from the Office of Public Safety and Accountability (which oversees the police department), cut fee waivers for seniors and end the community ambassador program while money was still tied up in the vacant police positions.
“I can sit here and ask, along with hundreds of people who every year come to this dais and ask for a shred, for a drop of the city budget, but so much of it is held up in those vacant police department positions that are not filled and have not been filled.”
The public comment section became an airing of grievances that advocates have with the Sacramento Police Department, including concerns about racial profiling and allegations that they have aided U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement efforts in the city.
The Sacramento Police Department has been affected by some budget cuts this fiscal year. The city is eliminating 62 full-time equivalent positions in the department, including the mounted police unit. Nine of these positions were filled by sworn officers who will be moved within the department.
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The department’s entire budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year is $253 million, a $3 million decrease from the previous year. The police budget has nearly doubled in the past ten years. It was $132 million in 2017-18.
Mai Vang, who voted against the budget, said that she wants to see a “reimagined” budget that prioritizes alternative approaches to public safety, including youth and preventative services, over maintaining funding for empty positions.
“Yes, we’re in a budget deficit, but this is really a larger conversation about the type of moral deficit that we have,” she said. “And until we are able to reimagine what an alternative budget looks like for the city of Sacramento, I can’t support the budget as is.”
Councilmember Lisa Kaplan, who also voted “no,” opposed the budget for a different reason, citing concerns over staffing reductions to the fire department which could result in rotating station closures in underserved neighborhoods or higher costs due to increased reliance on overtime, according to a staff report.
She also opposed cutting vacant police positions, saying that overtime costs would exceed the value of keeping them, and the elimination of the community ambassador program.
“It is the antithesis of what I hear from this entire council of supporting our diversity and making sure that every voice is heard and listened to,” she said. “It’s a small pittance to make sure the voices of those not served are heard.”
The budget process
Despite some (musical) uproar and some squabbling over the last round of cuts, several council members reflected on the improvement of the budget process over years before, crediting new City Manager Maraskeshia Smith for this year’s relative smooth sailing.
The work will have to continue in future to address the city’s structural deficit, especially as a potential economic downturn further threatens the city’s fiscal standing. Finance Director Peter Coletto pointed to the city’s efforts to boost economic development as one avenue for increasing revenue. Councilmember Karina Talamantes said that 75% of the reduction made in the budget are ongoing, producing cost savings that will help for following fiscal years.
“This budget required difficult decisions and trade-offs, but it reflects a thoughtful approach to addressing Sacramento’s structural deficit while continuing to invest in our community,” Smith said. “We are making meaningful progress toward long-term financial stability, and that puts the city on a stronger path forward.”
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