Antioch Looks to Cut $30.58 Million From Budget

by CC News June 9, 2025

written by CC News June 9, 2025

On Monday, the Antioch City Council will hold a special meeting as they move closer towards finalizing its budget, but first, they need to make more budget cuts.

Seeking a balanced budget and facing a long-term structural deficit, the city council is tasked with making difficult spending cuts with an attempt not to use its reserves and budget stabilization funds as a strategy. According to the draft Fiscal Year 2026 budget, Antioch has a $14.69 million spending deficit while Fiscal Year 2027 stands at a $15.89 million spending deficit.

Combined, Antioch must cut nearly $30.58 million from its budget over the next two years. The city has already had 12 meetings/budget presentation beginning March 4—including a March 20 meeting to consider five budget models which the council provided direction.

At the meeting, the council actually managed to direct staff to add spending to the budget, versus cut.

According to Monday’s agenda, “The public should make no mistake that the amount of work needed to correct the structural deficit will include making hard calls, conducting long term remediation efforts, implementing revenue generating strategies and interventions, making a concerted push with economic development, and utilizing strategic innovation with an eye towards making data driven decisions.”

The staff report further warns that even with adjustments made at the May 20^th meeting using Model 1—expenditures only reduced by $337,131, the General Fund budget is still an unsustainable model beyond next fiscal year as it cannot continue to support the existing level of full staffing and services with our current revenue base. More cuts need to be made. The gap is only going to continue to widen with labor and inflationary cost increases, and City Council needs to make some difficult decisions this evening and throughout the next year to prioritize spending within City resources.

Also, the budget DOES NOT include colas (cost of living adjustments) for staff in either fiscal year. The agenda is suggesting the City Council must consider freezing ALL current vacant, and future vacant, General Fund positions, as personnel costs are approximately 59% of the General Fund budget, with

the Police Department comprising 68% of total personnel costs—including phased approach to Antioch Police Department where staffing would not be full until 2027.

Full Staffing Models

Should the city have full staffing in Fiscal Years 2026 and 2027, with no frozen positions or phased in hiring as built into the current draft budget. The deficit is $5,232,761 higher in FY26 and $5,388,524 higher in FY27 with fully funded staffing. $19.4M of Budget Stabilization funds would have to be used in FY27 to maintain a minimum 20% undesignated reserve balance, which would deplete approximately 50% of the Budget Stabilization fund. This is not viable, nor sustainable.

ARPA Spending

Also included in the packet is a breakdown of ARPA allocations which show the city had a total of $21.55 million. Of that money, $12.05 million went to mental health and homelessness spending. Just $2.08 million went to any form of economic development or small business support.

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