What are your ideas for how the City can make our budget and financial condition sustainable and healthy?

Over the past few years, the City of El Cerrito has faced significant financial challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic has placed further challenges on the City's budget. The City has taken action to respond to these challenges resulting in approximately $4 million in budget cuts since 2020, and has been carefully monitoring the budget to adjust to the uncertain economic climate as a result of the pandemic. The goal is to balance the City's budget while increasing the City's General Fund Reserve (which is the City's version of a savings account) to ensure that the City is financially sustainable and healthy, so that the City is able to continue to fund and provide the services that our residents and businesses desire. 

The City Council reviews updates on the City's budget each month, and has hosted town hall and other public meetings to discuss the budget since 2020. The City Council will be meeting to continue the discussion on a Fiscal Recovery and Sustainability Plan on August 31 at 4:00 p.m. 

A Community Workshop on the budget was held in May 2021, generating many ideas from those in attendance. These ideas are depicted in the pictures below. Community Members considered various issues, including:

• What does a fiscally responsible budget look like?
• What services are necessary for the City to provide?
• What services could the City stop doing?
• How could the City provide services differently or more efficiently?

Community members are invited to share more ideas on how the City can make our budget financially sustainable and healthy. Click on "Your Statement" to add your ideas. These ideas will be shared with the City Council as they consider budget options moving forward.