Vallejo City Council votes to cut 10 employees in first 2026-27 budget talks

VALLEJO – The Vallejo City Council voted Tuesday to identify 10 full-time employee positions to cut by the middle of the year and cut funding for 44 vacant positions to balance the city’s budget.

During this week’s City Council meeting, city staff presented a draft proposal for the 2026-27 budget and three scenarios to make cuts to close a $10.7 million general fund deficit. 

The council voted 4-3, with Mayor Andrea Sorce and Councilmembers Diosdado Matulac and Helen-Marie Gordon opposed, to approve one of those scenarios, with modifications. 

The city of Vallejo’s budget, explained

Where the city gets its money, where it goes, and why we’re in a deficit.

The Vallejo SunGretchen Smail

Much of Tuesday’s discussion focused on the use of funds from Measure P, a sales tax hike approved by voters in 2022 intended for road repairs, public safety and other specific projects. The scenario the council approved, which interim City Manager Harry Black recommended, relies heavily on Measure P funding.

Councilmember Alexander Matias asked city staff to make adjustments, including how to account for $1.7 million in savings on an $11 million  contract with the Solano County Sheriff’s Office to provide policing services. The money had been allocated from Measure P revenue, but city staff sought to return it to the general fund. Matias said it should be returned to the Measure P fund and the city should cut 10 jobs instead. He also asked to spend an additional $250,000 on the Vallejo Marina for dredging costs. 

Sorce said this draft budget grew out of the council’s efforts to address decades of growing fiscal issues, noting the city lacks a finance director.

“I want the community to feel good about the decisions we’ve all made to get us to this point, even if there might be some painful moments and difficult decisions," she said.

Black acknowledged the necessity to address the current fiscal gap by reducing the city’s workforce. “We know we need to do reductions, but the key is to do it in the smartest way possible,” he said.

Assistant City Manager Nalungo Conley said in her report to the council Tuesday that 80% of the city’s funds are spent on salaries and benefits, a higher percentage than many cities of Vallejo’s size. 

Conley said under the budget as proposed, there could be a deficit of $4.9 million within the next year if the current trajectory is followed. This is due to a number of factors, including declining revenue from various taxes. 

Some revenue sources are trending up. Sales tax revenue is expected to increase marginally by 1% in comparison to the 2025-2026 year. Property tax was forecasted to increase by 2% when compared to last year. Utility users tax may grow by 4% while franchise tax could grow 11%, and police revenue from fines and fees may grow 4%.

However, transient occupancy tax revenue – charged at hotels and other tourism-related businesses – is projected to decrease by 9%, and cannabis tax revenue is likely to remain flat. Public works permit fee revenue is forecasted to decrease by about 2%, reflecting an ongoing slowdown in construction-related activity.

The largest general fund expenditures under the proposal would be 45%, or $63 million, on the Vallejo Police Department, followed by Vallejo Fire Department at 29% or $41 million.

Staff say they have balanced the budget with this proposal, following several months of bringing requests to the Measure P Oversight Committee to use some of the measure’s $19 million in annual revenue to offset costs for the next year.

However, some councilmembers criticized aspects of the proposed budget. 

Councilmember Tonia Lediju said the scenarios presented did not contain all of the data needed to know how much would be reduced or how the city can cut staffing in different departments, saying “those numbers don’t balance.” She said that staff were behind on presenting estimates to make cuts which were requested last year. “We asked for certain solutions within the year that didn’t get done,” she said.

“We are in the same position many cities are in, and we have not done the work to get us to being more structurally sound,” Lediju said.

Matulac said the proposed budget may look balanced, but in reality has become “a voodoo math game” to look good rather than mathematically work out.

"We’ve used Measure P funds to fill a lot of gaps that they weren't necessarily intended to fill,” he said. 

Matias said, as “someone who worked hard to pass Measure P”, that the council needs to be careful about the language used around it. He said at least 50% of that fund has been put into improving roads every year, even if it has been delayed.

“I think what has been happening is that… staff and elected officials have been suggesting the use of Measure P dollars anytime there have been ad hoc requests being made,” Matias said. “But, it has been going back to the areas which the voters approved.”

In public comment, Shea Grove asked the council to reject spending $332,000 in Measure P funds for Flock Safety, which provides automated license plate readers for the city, noting the growing cancellation of support for the company at many other cities including in Mountain View and El Cerrito. The Measure P Oversight Committee in May recommended use of the funds for renewing the contract with Flock.

Matias and Councilmember Peter Bregenzer agreed that the council will hear from the Surveillance Advisory Board and the Police Oversight and Accountability Commission before committing Measure P funds to the current Flock contract.

A revised plan will be presented June 23. The city must have an approved budget for the next fiscal year by July 1.