The Menlo Park City Council is pushing for more cuts to the city’s budget after staff suggested only $700,000 in service reductions.
At its June 9 meeting, the City Council largely supported city staff’s recommendations and backed cutting pool hours to save an additional $400,000. However, those reductions would only shrink the anticipated budget deficit down to $1.8 million out of the city’s $90.5 million budget for fiscal year 2026-27, which starts on July 1.
The council asked staff to consider reducing or eliminating Menlo Children’s Center, the city’s child care program, and identifying other ways to cut expenses without firing personnel. While city staff does not have enough time to consider extensive reductions before its June 23 meeting, the council said it wants further discussions on measures to reduce deficits to take place throughout the year.
“A $700,000 reduction is less than a 1% cut across the board. If we are supposed to be making hard choices, that would be a 5% or 10% reduction,” Councilmember Jeff Schmidt said at the June 9 meeting.
The state’s new budget proposal may offer Menlo Park a potential reprieve from more serious cutbacks. California’s proposal includes almost $77 million for San Mateo County cities and the county government for in-lieu vehicle licence fee (VLF) payments following vigorous lobbying by local officials. However, that represents only 40% of the $119 million the cities and county say they are owed.
The city would not say how much of that $77 million it might receive from the state, but spokesperson Kendra Calvert said the sum would be available 72 hours before the council’s June 23 meeting, when it’s required under state law to release its staff report.
At the June 9 meeting, the City Council supported reductions that mainly affect the library and community services department and public works.
To save $270,000, the City Council supported reducing contracts and temporary employee hours, which would reduce the frequency of events and programs like the “Library Adventure” scavenger hunt, according to Library and Community Services Director Nick Szegda.
The City Council also supported eliminating a $105,000 contract that supported communications related to the Safe Routes to School program.
The City Council directed staff to eliminate or reduce several contracts that support weeding and maintenance on city streets and medians. To save a combined $211,000, the city is set to reduce contracts that support weeding and landscaping by 20% in city-owned medians.
The City Council also supported eliminating a $43,000 contract that maintains decorative string lights on trees downtown. Without the contract, when the lights burn out they will not be repaired.
The only item where the City Council differed from city staff’s recommendation was eliminating a contract that put up lights on Menlo Park’s holiday tree in Fremont Park and at the Belle Haven Community Campus. While city staff initially suggested holding an event in place of the longstanding “tree-lighting celebration,” the City Council said it would prefer to keep the trees lit and instead end the annual holiday tree-lighting celebration since the largest expense associated with the event is city staff time. Szegda told the council that for the Fremont Park event downtown, city staffers spend around 250 hours planning it and 87 hours on the day of the event. The Belle Haven celebration is less involved and requires 40 to 50 hours of planning and 60 hours on the day of the event.
The City Council directed staff to do more research on the actual cost of the event to determine whether eliminating or reducing it could fund lighting the holiday trees in Fremont Park and at the Belle Haven Community Campus.
The City Council also directed staff to review eliminating a $400,000 subsidy to the city’s pool operator, Team Sheeper, that keeps both the Burgess and Belle Haven pools open for more hours.
The City Council is set to vote on the city’s budget on June 23.
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‘(E)liminating a $400,000 subsidy to the city’s pool operator, Team Sheeper, that keeps both the Burgess and Belle Haven pools open for more hours.’ More hours? More than what? I’m happy for the city to stop throwing money at the opaque black hole that is the pool operator, but it needs to come up with an alternative way to keep the pools open.
Oh, the games bureaucrats play—“cut expenses without firing personnel.” Brilliant. That’s all I need to hear to know reality is still optional.
How about we start with a 10% headcount reduction and keep cutting—because nothing boosts morale like layoffs—until the budget miraculously balances?