UPDATE: You can find information about the budget that was passed here.

2013 is a budget year for Oakland. (The budget will be for 2013-2015.) There is a lot going on including cool civic engagement. Add stuff here. 

  • See Budget Town Hall Meetings Page for a list of meetings that everyone can attend.
  • Check out Open Budget Oakland- a very cool open data project to make the budget accessible to everyone.
  • This is the City of Oakland official budget page.
  • This is the budget presented by Mayor Jean Quan and City Administrator Deanna Santana to City Council in April, 2013.
  • This is a document prepared by the city in response to questions raised in a City Council meeting earlier in April.
  • This is what Mayor Quan said in her May 22, 2013 newsletter:

    The Oakland economy and city revenues are growing in most areas --property, business, sales, and hotel taxes.  My proposal uses the new revenues from this year to invest in the city in 4 areas:

    • Public Safety:  It funds 2 police academies per year, plus 37 civilian support staff to free up police officers to spend more time in the neighborhoods.  We have also increased funding for court-ordered police monitoring and technology. 
    • Economic Growth:  It funds economic development and housing staff critical to growing Oakland's economy, expanding the "pie."
    • Investing in our youth:  In addition to an increased after school Kids First funds (4% or $11M). No major changes in Park and Rec Centers. We restored about a third of the Headstart slots (34) cut by the federal sequester, and recommend that the the remaining 70 slots be a first priority add back for the Council.
    • Restoring Employee Contributions and Furlough Days:  This budget does not recommend furlough days, this restores about 9% that employees contributed over the last two years to help us through the recession.  It adds 12 days of service back to the community. We also fully fund the 21% increase in pensions, about $14 M.

    Only because of state and federal cuts and the increase in pension rates are we making a roughly 5% cut -- despite new funds which are mostly one-time increases in real estate transfer tax. We tried to do this in a "fair share." 

  • This is another document prepared by the city in response to questions by City Council (dated 5/23/13).

  • @tdlove5 storify-ed the May 23, 2013 City Council Meeting where councilmembers discussed their priorities.

  • On May 31st, 2013, City Council Members released their budget proposals. On one side was Pat Kernighan's proposal which supported Quan's call for 15 new civilian OPD positions. On the other was one from Desley Brooks, Larry Reid and Noel Gallo. This plan does not include the 15 civilian positions and ends Oakland's contract with CHP. It gives back the 3% cost of living (COLA) raise for Oakland employees at a cost of more than 3$ million. It also includes more funding for blight. Kernighan called this fiscally irresponsible. Both restore a job at the Oakland animal shelter, funding for Head Start and spending for dumping and graffiti. (see "Oakland: Competing budget plans would fund 15 new jobs in police department or employee raises.")

  • The May 31st budget proposals can be seen here. #7 is the proposal by Brooks/Reid/Gallo and #8 is the proposal by Kernighan.

  • The June 13th, 2013 City Council Meeting at 6:30 PM will be entirely devoted to the budget. The meeting will be held at City Hall in City Council Chambers on the 3rd floor.

  • Make Oakland Better Now! wrote their opinion about the budget.

  • On June 7th the Office of the City Administrator published a memo "Validation of Budget Figures in Published City Council Amendments to Mayor’s FY 2013-15 Proposed Policy Budget" available here.

  • On June 7th, an article in the Tribune said that the budget proposal from Brooks, Gallo and Reid would "blow holes" in Oakland's budget.

  • On June 10th, the Budget Advisory committee issued a memo on the budget. (supplemental report #10 here)

  • On June 10th, Councilmember Brooks posted the following letter on her facebook page in support of her proposal on behalf of herself, Gallo and Reid. She also tweeted it. Gallo sent the letter out through his D5 email list. Reid may have contacted his district in some way. This letter defended the proposal from the previous article.

  • Early in the week of June 10th, members of Kernighan's district and the Grand Lake list-serv received/sent emails that looked like this [dead link] encourage people to attend the June 13th budget meeting, express their views in chalk outside City Hall and sign up for speaker cards. 

  • The Block by Block Organizing Network put out this memo the week of June 10th (undated).

  • The Mayor's newsletter dated June 10th but delivered June 11th included a statement on the budget.

  • On June 11th, the City Administrator released a memo with revised information on affordable housing in the Mayor's proposed budget. 

  • On June 12th, Mayor Quan published an op-ed in SFGate.com.

  • On June 12th, the City Administrator released another memo with answers to questions from the City Council.

  • On June 13th, the Chronicle published an article about the budget propositions.

  • Libby Schaaf's June 13th newsletter stated that she strongly opposed the Brooks/Gallo/Reid proposal and supports the Kernighan proposal.

  • At the June 13th budget meeting, Brooks gave out an amended Brooks/Gallo/Reid proposal. It was distributed to Council and to people present in chambers and is visible here.

  • Lynette McElhaney's June newsletter talks about both proposals and gives her point of view which includes points from both proposals. 

  • The Chronicle published this story about the June 13th meeting.

  • On June 22nd, the Tribune published this story about the budget. According to the story the new proposal by Brooks/Gallo/Reid is more of a compromise. Rebecca Kaplan, Lynette Gibson McElhaney and Dan Kalb are working on a third proposal.

  • On June 24th, McElhaney, Kalb and Kaplan proposed an "All In" inclusive budget which can be seen here.

  • Libby Schaaf's June 26th newsletter outlined her positions on the 3 budget options (and used an oaklandwiki link!). 

  • On June 27th, Lynette McElhaney posted her position in a message posted to the D3 list serv. Rebecca Kaplan tweeted a link to a press release on her website about the "All-In" budget. Desley Brooks tweeted and posted her position on facebook.

  • On Thursday, June 27th, the City Council will vote on the budget. The meeting will be held at 6:30 PM in Council Chambers at City Hall. It will be broadcast on Channel 10 (KTOP), and online. You can sign up to speak ahead of time here.

  • On Thursday, June 27th, the City Council passed this budget (Google Doc) with some line changes/friendly amendments.

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