Why does city council keep punting Oakland’s budget discussion?

Also: Schaaf backs Thao recall, Oakland's prevailing lead crisis, Keller Fire in the Oakland Hills

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Story of the week

Oakland City Council meeting earlier this year

For the second time this month, a city council meeting — where they were to discuss the Coliseum deal, its impact on the budget, and whether a detrimental contingency budget has been triggered — was canceled.

• Both meetings were requested by Councilmembers Treva Reid, Janani Ramachandran, and Noel Gallo.

Rewind: The city council bloc of Reid, Ramachandran, and Gallo have tried to get a special meeting on the books for weeks. The first attempt on October 1 was canceled after failing to achieve a quorum with several other members absent.

Why it matters: The contingency budget has always been a point of contention — a worse-case scenario in the event Mayor Thao’s plan to sell the Coliseum fell through.

• While the Coliseum deal is still alive, the payment schedule has been pushed out significantly, where Oakland won’t receive the vast majority of funds until the deal closes.

• The city administrator already acknowledged the contingency budget was in effect, the lack of information leaves Oaklanders wondering where specific cuts, if any, have been made.

• Previously, the contingency plan would reduce Oakland police from 684 officers down to 600, as well as close a number of fire stations, a consequential move amidst wildfire season.

Delay tactics: It appears Mayor Thao and her allies on city council are intent on pushing out any discussion of serious budget cuts until after her recall election.

• Thao says the regularly scheduled financial reports are not yet ready to be shared, but this doesn’t preclude them from discussing the Coliseum deal or contingency budget which is reportedly already in effect.

• Councilmember Kevin Jenkins, who is chair of the finance committee and responsible for last week’s cancelation, said city council won’t discuss any cuts until a meeting on November 19. Ramachandran said “November 19 is way too late” with payroll and basic city services on the line.

• The city administrator is supposed to present at a finance committee meeting on October 22. [Note: We originally said this was a closed-door meeting, which was not correct.]

Delusions of grandeur: Thao said in a recent interview that she’s not to blame for Oakland’s budget problems, which were inherited from previous administrations.

• While it’s true Oakland has a history of multi-hundred-million deficits in recent years, Thao incredulously said she doesn’t know if cuts need to be made.

• With Oakland’s own city administrator already projecting at least $100M/year deficits going forward, it’s abundantly clear that cuts do need to be made.

• What Oakland needs is a group of leaders who are willing to make unpopular budget decisions, even if it means near-term pain, to get the city’s fiscal situation back on track.

Bonus reading: Oakland Report recently published a series of pragmatic actions that could save Oakland hundreds of millions per year.

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In other news…

• With just weeks to the election, Mayor Thao sent a well-timed letter to the U.S. Attorney’s office demanding that they confirm she isn’t the target of an ongoing FBI investigation. Thao claims the FBI told her attorney that she isn’t the FBI’s primary target, but the FBI hasn’t commented on Thao's involvement since the raid on her house 4 months ago. (ABC7)

• Former Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf threw her support behind the recall of Mayor Thao. Schaaf said, “I have come to believe, just based on this last year, that [Thao] is not capable of growing into the job… Oakland can’t afford another two years of continued damage to our fiscal solvency and our public safety.” (KQED)

• Millions of dollars in lead abatement and settlement funds have remained unspent for years, while Oakland residents continue to live with serious risks of lead poisoning. A city report shows that ~80K rental units, predominantly in lower income parts of Oakland, may contain lead. The same report shows some neighborhoods are in the top 5% of lead risk state-wide and even have more lead-poisoned kids than Flint, Michigan. (El Tímpano)

  • OUSD also faces serious lead contamination issues, with tests earlier this year finding at least 30 schools with lead in drinking water. KQED’s Alexis Madrigal recently dug into how the district has handled the crisis and what needs to be done to fix it. (KQED)

• With the role of nonprofits in city government being a hotly debated issue, a new report shows that San Francisco has funneled billions of dollars to 230+ nonprofits via 9 city agencies in recent years. (SF Standard)

  • In Oakland, nonprofits have been top of mind with Measure NN on the ballot, a tax to fund community violence prevention. The measure would generate $47M in total, with about $19M allocated to the Department of Violence Prevention. But of that $19M, the measure stipulates that 75% of their funds would go straight to nonprofits. Read Empower Oakland's full write-up on NN to learn more.

• On Friday, a fire prompted hundreds of Oaklanders to evacuate and temporarily closed a section of I-580 near the Oakland Hills. More than 200 firefighters worked to contain the fire. As of Saturday morning, evacuation orders were still in place for parts of Sequoyah Heights, Caballo Hills, and Ridgemont. Oakland’s Fire Chief hoped families would be able to return to their homes this weekend, but that fire risk was still high with warmer temperatures and high winds. 

  • As a reminder, Measure MM on the upcoming ballot would help fund much-needed wildfire prevention. Read Empower Oakland’s analysis of MM.

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