FY 2026-27 Proposed Midcycle Budget

  Reductions Supports a citywide public facilities maintenance assessment through a $500,000 investment to evaluate the condition of City facilities, identify needed repairs, estimate maintenance and capital costs, and prioritize future maintenance needs.  The assessment improves planning for deferred maintenance needs and helps extend the useful life of City facilities.  Equity Consideration: Improved understanding of facility conditions may help the City identify disparities in infrastructure needs and support continued access to public facilities relied upon by Oakland residents, employees and community organizations.   11. Freezes 3.28 FTE Park Attendant, PT. These positions are part of the gardening staff responsible for maintaining city-wide landscaping and performing grounds maintenance duties (parks, medians, and other facilities).  Equity Consideration: The proposed staffing reductions may disproportionately impact underserved neighborhoods who rely on landscape maintenance and litter abatement services.  1. Transportation Restorations   Reductions  Provides convenient and accessible payment options for visitors, residents, and businesses throughout the city by allocating $1.25 million to pay third-party contractors of parking meter mobile payment application services.  Equity Consideration: Mobile parking applications promote equitable access by offering flexible payment options beyond traditional parking meter kiosks. Mobile app payments also offer greater convenience for customers with mobility challenges and support economic activity and transportation throughout the city. 1. Restores inspection response and the capacity to protect the quality of City infrastructure by funding 2.0 FTE Construction Inspectors for half the year. Inspections of utility and real estate development projects help generate economic activity for Oakland.   Equity Consideration: When resources are scarce, retail (i.e., resident) requests tend to suffer. With a restored roster of Construction Inspectors (CI), the City will not have to prioritize which inspection requests will or will not be honored. CI restoration benefits residents, including those in highest priority communities, and small businesses (e.g., restaurants) as well.  2. Restores the capacity to respond to Underground Service Alert's tickets to mark City-owned underground utilities before a contractor, utility company, or private citizen excavates pavement with 1.0 FTE Electrician Helper. This change will provide the much-needed increase in technical support for the Electrician staff. We are required to comply with a State of California decree to respond to USA tickets. Currently, the work is being covered by an understaffed team of Electricians who are overqualified for this work.  Equity Consideration: The Electrician Helper will avail the existing Electrician staff to meet the increasing demand to replace stolen copper wire and repair vandalism which occur disproportionately in equity neighborhoods.  3. Restores outreach and community engagement capacity for capital projects, which is currently underfunded compared to the number of active capital projects, with 2.0 FTE Public Information Officer. Equity Consideration: Increases near-term ability to provide thorough and equitable public engagement for capital projects.   4. Progresses the City's Sidewalk Notice to Repair Program, which will repair and replace sidewalks throughout the City and then charge back the expenses to property owners to better maintain sidewalks and maintain ADA compliance, by including over $2 million in O&M. Also, swaps a 1.0 FTE Concrete Finisher for a 1.0 FTE Accountant I to meet the administrative needs of the program.   Equity Consideration: These resources will help to enforce and increase access to ADA compliant pedestrian Rights-of-Way throughout the City through City- administered sidewalk repair. In addition to improving accessibility to pedestrian rights-of-way, which will enhance quality of life for all residents and visitors of Oakland, the program will have cost waivers for low-income individuals to ensure that this does not create further cost burdens for them.  5. Restores the ability to clean streets by allocating $1.6 million for street sweeping.  Equity Consideration: Parking Enforcement related to street sweeping is vital for environmental compliance and public health by keeping trash off the streets and from entering our waterways as well as making neighborhoods look better. Low-income, majority People of Color neighborhoods including Chinatown, West Oakland, and San Antonio and Fruitvale are subject to more frequent street sweeping schedules due to Chinatown being a downtown business district and West Oakland and Eastlake being closer to bay (to prevent waste going into the waterways).  6. Increases OakDOT’s overtime budget by $100,000 for parking enforcement to cover weekend and overnight enforcement. Equity Consideration: Consistent enforcement requires resources to respond to diverse needs including weekends, holidays and after hours, supporting safe streets and vibrant neighborhoods. Flatland neighborhoods often have greater enforcement needs and stand to benefit from consistent enforcement.  7. Reduces $447,000 for repair & maintenance contract, mainly used to fix parking meters and purchase parts and replacement meters.  Maintenance and repair costs are growing due to increased vandalism. Reducing funding for this account will result in meters not being repaired and replaced, and therefore not being in service and collecting revenue.   Equity Consideration: Delays in repairing meters and purchasing necessary parts may negatively impact equitable access to parking, particularly in commercial areas and underserved communities that rely on parking accessibility and turnover.  1. Reduces appropriations to pay credit card fee expenditures by $300,000. The City is contractually obligated to pay these fees in order to receive revenue from c