Antioch council approves budget as city grapples with deficit

ANTIOCH — Facing a deficit, the Antioch City Council unanimously approved the city’s 2025-26 fiscal year budget as officials acknowledged the challenges ahead and the need to address shortfalls.

With a projected revenue of around $95 million, the city plans to spend about $107.7 million in the next fiscal year.

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City Manager Bessie Scott said the council and city staff have carefully examined the budget since March, which showed an initial deficit of about $24.3 million. Scott said staff was able “to shave off” about $8.6 million, bringing the deficit down to $15.7 million.

After further scrutiny and a series of adjustments, including an injection of $5 million from the Budget Stabilization Fund, the general fund budget was reduced to a net deficit of $7,737,331.

“We want to acknowledge that there are budgetary challenges in this first fiscal year coming up,” said Scott. “They include slower revenue growth, rising costs, deferred maintenance, and state and federal funding uncertainty.”

In her budget report, Scott attributed the slow growth in key revenue sources – such as cannabis, sales, and transient occupancy taxes – to be moderate due to “continued economic uncertainty and shifts in consumer behavior.”

Deferred maintenance for several critical infrastructure and capital improvement projects will also require “significant investment” in the near term, said the report.

Scott noted that many of the city’s grant-supported programs face uncertainties due to possible changes in federal appropriations, “which may limit our ability to maintain service levels.”

Scott acknowledged that staff would continue working to reduce the $7.7 million deficit and explore ways to further reduce the projected $15.7 million deficit for fiscal year 2027 with minimal or no use of reserves or Budget Stabilization funds.

Finance Director Dawn Merchant said that despite achieving a “balanced” budget through the utilization of the general fund reserve, more work needs to be done to achieve a healthy budget.

Merchant said if nothing is done, the city will have to use almost $22 million from its Budget Stabilization Fund for the 2027-28 fiscal year.

“And then in 2029, we’re completely out of money. It’s urgent that we continue to chip away at this budget over the next fiscal year,” said Merchant. “Hopefully, we can get that $7 million down to nothing, or if anything, at least within a couple of million dollars over what measures we take.”

A staff report noted that in fiscal year 2028-29, the city could face a deficit of about $25.4 million.

Merchant emphasized it was imperative to address structural needs and the city’s spending priorities moving forward, given the economic volatility and external federal funding sources received.

The approved 2025-26 budget will see 406 funded positions in the city, a drop from 423 funded positions. This includes a reduction in police department staffing from 115 in 2025 to 105 next year.

Staff noted that the City Council has directed that the sworn staffing level be increased to 117 positions by fiscal year 2027.

The police department will also receive a large chunk of money from Measure W, a 1% sales tax approved by voters in 2018. The projected sales tax for fiscal year 2026 is almost $20 million, of which the police department will receive 70%, or about $14 million.

The remaining Measure W funds will be equally allocated to quality-of-life initiatives, such as code enforcement, public safety, and community resources departments, as well as youth networks and recreation services.

Merchant clarified that despite the public’s claims and concerns, there would be no cuts to youth network services. She explained that the funding for the services, including those presented during the various budget study sessions, remained.

Merchant said the City Council also approved a $1.7 million award from California Volunteers Youth Services Corp, which was anticipated and built into the budget.

However, Councilmember Tamisha Torres-Walker clarified that the public was concerned because the last budget study session discussed allocating 20% from Measure W for youth network services instead of the 15% that was finalized.

Merchant assured that the budget for youth network services will remain the same. The only change is the percentage allocated from Measure W versus the general fund.

“I’m just clarifying, I don’t want to have us saying the public is lying or miscommunicated to because that’s actively what they saw happen,” said Torres-Walker. “They saw the numbers being moved around from Measure W, and the concern is, this is going to be detrimental to the critical services that’s being provided to them in the community.”