Oakland City Council approves new budget
After delays, debates and a lot of controversy, Oakland approved a new budget on Tuesday.
In a divided vote, the city council passed Mayor Sheng Thao's version of a budget that largely depends on the sale of the city's portion of the Oakland Coliseum to close a $177 million budget gap.
It's a plan not all city councilmembers agree on.
"Coliseum funds, in my very firm opinion, should have never been incorporated into the budget proposal and it is unequivocally the fault of this mayor and city administration to have proposed this at the last minute and change the timeline for the entire process," Councilmember Janani Ramachandran said.
If the Coliseum deal goes through, the city would largely avoid major cuts to public safety.
But if the deal falls apart, a series of brutal contingency cuts would kick in. Those include reducing the number of sworn police officers to 600, temporarily closing five fire stations and eliminating vacant positions across several city departments.
Thao said she is confident that won't be necessary.
"The $63 million from the Coliseum sale, we know through negotiations how close we are in regards to this sale," she said. "In order to continue with our services, whether it is public safety or clean streets or economic development, we must move forward in this way where it is fiscally responsible."
Some city workers are happy with the mayor's plan.
"Seems like it always comes back to the workers," city worker Michale Patterson said. "Well, we can't figure this out, we don't have enough money so let's lay off workers. That does nothing for the residents of the city of Oakland and that is why we are advocating for the sale of the Coliseum."
The Oakland Police Officers Association (OPOA) believes all of the current budget proposals put public safety at risk by reducing the police force in some form. The association is now demanding the city hire an outside budget expert moving forward.
"Both are impactful to the police department and it would cause more calls for services on a daily basis for our cops that are out there serving the citizens," OPOA Vice President Tim Dolan said. "All it's going to do is push up crime numbers, unfortunately."
While there is ongoing disagreement about whether the approved budget is the best option, Thao said she believes it's the safest.
"This is the version that I believe is best equipped for the city of Oakland to move forward and keep resident safe," she said.
