19 Jun Pittsburg Adopts Budget, Continues to Decrease Deficit

(Screenshot captured by Samantha Kennedy / The CC Pulse)

By Samantha Kennedy

The Pittsburg City Council on Monday adopted a $260.47 million budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year that continues to see a decline in the city’s General Fund deficit since 2022. 

The general fund, which is unrestricted money the city uses mostly for personnel, is about 25% of the budget, made up of $62.95 million in revenues and $62.8 million in expenditures. That makes the deficit $622,818 for the 2025-26 fiscal year. 

Assistant City Manager Maria Aliotti said at Monday’s meeting that the deficit can be corrected throughout the year using cost savings or attrition. 

“The city strives for a balanced budget, but it’s been our practice that if we are 1% within our operating budget, then we can usually cover (the deficit) through attrition and savings because we don’t really spend every dollar,” said Aliotti. 

The deficit is the lowest the city has had since its last surplus of $2.4 million in the 2021-22 fiscal year. At the 2024-25 mid-year, the deficit was said to be $66,000 more than it currently is. 

Despite the deficit, revenues have increased by $1.26 million, city staff said. Over half of the General Fund revenue comes from sales tax and transfers in. Franchise fees, intergovernmental revenues, service fees and permits and license fees also contribute to the General Fund balance. 

But expenses are increasing even more, with more than $2 million more going to personnel-related costs than the previous year. 

Of those is a 14% increase in police department personnel costs from the mid-year 2024-25 budget, accounting for $32 million in costs for the 2025-26 fiscal year. Personnel costs in the engineering, attorney and code enforcement departments also increased by over 20% each. 

Aliotti said much of the increase in personnel costs is due to a 2% cost-of-living adjustment being factored in. 

Many of those departments were also tasked with staying within the 2025-26 fiscal year budget when considering operating expenses for their respective departments.“And they’ve knocked it out of the park,” Aliotti said. 

Half of the 16 departments within the General Fund either had the same operating costs at the mid-year budget or greatly reduced expenses. The Public Works department, for example, decreased expenses by 46% compared to the mid-year budget. 

The other eight departments increased operating expenses between 2% and 24%. The code enforcement department had the greatest share of increase in expenses at 24%. 

The budget is also set to have a shortfall of $675,391 in its Budget Stabilization Fund by the end of 2026. Aliotti said the Finance Management Subcommittee is planning to discuss recommendations on how to fix the shortfall, including reviewing reserves or moving funding around. 

Council would consider any recommendations made by the subcommittee at a future meeting. 

The adoption includes transfers to various funds within the budget that were projected to have a deficit. More than $2.5 million combined will be transferred across funds for water operations, marina, lighting and landscaping, solid waste and information/communications systems.