San Ramon City Budget Workshop (City Council)

San Ramon’s next City Council meeting is doing double duty. It’s the regular Tuesday night meeting, but it also serves as the city’s next big budget workshop — the point where council members and residents get a look at the preliminary budget for fiscal year 2026-27. The meeting is set for Tuesday, May 12, at 7 p.m. at City Hall, and the city says public comment is part of the plan. ### What is happening on May 12? This is the city’s review of the preliminary FY27 budget, folded into the regular City Council meeting in the Council Chambers at San Ramon City Hall, 7000 Bollinger Canyon Road. If you can’t attend in person, the city says the meeting will also stream live on its YouTube channel, and a recording will be posted afterward. The agenda is expected 72 hours before the meeting. (sanramon.ca.gov) ### What does FY27 mean here? San Ramon is budgeting for the fiscal year that runs from July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027. That matters because California cities have to adopt a balanced budget before the new fiscal year starts, and San Ramon says its council must do that by June 30, 2026. So this workshop is not a vague planning session — it is one of the last public checkpoints before the final budget vote. (sanramon.ca.gov) ### Why is this workshop a big deal? Because San Ramon is not just tweaking line items. The city has been openly working through a structural deficit — basically, spending has been rising faster than revenue for years. Finance staff laid out that problem in earlier budget presentations, and the May 12 workshop is where those warnings start turning into actual budget choices. (sanramon.ca.gov) ### How big is the gap? The clearest number the city has put out is this: over the past five fiscal years, revenues grew by an average of 4% a year, while expenditures grew by an average of 9% a year. The city also said that in FY26, $10 million in Measure N funds were allocated to cover the structural deficit, with another $1.9 million appropriated to discretionary spending. That tells you the problem is not theoretical anymore — San Ramon is already using voter-approved sales-tax money to keep the budget balanced. (sanramon.ca.gov) ### What has council already seen? This spring’s budget process has come in stages. On March 24, Finance Director Jennifer Wakeman gave the kickoff presentation, including revised Measure N projections, a 10-year General Fund forecast, and budget guidelines. On April 14, Budget Manager Yuliya Elbo walked through revenue projections. On April 28, Elbo and Wakeman covered expenditures, reserve calculations, debt service, the Dougherty Valley CSA and other funds, plus changes to the capital improvement program. (sanramon.ca.gov) ### What kind of budget strategy is the city using? The city’s own framing is pretty blunt. Staff has been working under fiscal-sustainability guidelines that say no new programs or positions without tradeoffs, and no committing money the city has not actually received yet. Earlier presentations also pointed to a target of keeping expenditure growth at 2.3%, or about 2% below expected revenue growth, as part of the broader balancing strategy. (sanramon.ca.gov) ### What should residents watch for? Watch for where the preliminary budget lands on three pressure points — ongoing services, reserves, and capital projects. The April 28 workshop already flagged reserve calculations, debt service, and General Fund commitments to capital improvements as core issues. If residents care about service levels, staffing, or whether major projects move forward, this is the meeting where those tradeoffs should become much more visible. (sanramon.ca.gov) ### Bottom line The May 12 workshop is San Ramon’s public reality check before budget adoption. The city still has to balance next year’s books by June 30, and the whole point now is to show how it plans to do that — with residents able to weigh in before the final decisions lock in. (sanramon.ca.gov)