The City of Cupertino forecasts a $23.9M deficit from 2023-24. While Mayor Wei, Councilmember Fruen and Vice Mayor Mohan are fixated on persecuting elected officials they disagree with, our serious budgetary issues have gone unattended, which will result in cutbacks to services and personnel in all areas of the City. Here’s how the City plans to address the deficit, and how it will impact residents:
Source: FY 2023-24 Proposed Budget
While Cupertino will cut some expenses like capital outlays and several vacant positions, a significant part of its plan relies on deficit spending. The $6M “Use of Fund Balance” means Cupertino will need to draw from our General Fund, which is our historic savings, to fund operations.
Source: FY 2023-24 Proposed Budget
In fact, per the chart above, the City plans to deplete the General Fund over the next decade, draining it from its current level, $104M, to just $37M by 2033. It is unclear what the plan is to fully reverse this trajectory of diminishing reserves.
Cupertino’s largest expense category is employee compensation and benefits ($35M, or 41% of forecasted budget). During the May 17th meeting, Council Member Liang Chao questioned eliminating only 14 vacant positions, when there are 43 in total. She also suggested returning to 2015 staffing levels (169 staff vs 225 currently).
Here’s how budget cuts will impact residents so far:
- Decreased pavement quality
- Decreased maintenance of parks and trees
- Decreased janitorial cleaning of City facilities
- Reduced funding for community events (Fourth of July, Tree Lighting, etc)
- Closure of teen center
- Elimination of the Bobateeno event for teens ($10,000 savings)
- Fewer parks with Wi-Fi
- Law enforcement will not be impacted. Learn more in the city’s proposed budget plan.
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