WILIAMS, CA (MPG) – Employees working for the City of Williams will keep their jobs but they will work less over the next two years to offset the city’s massive budget deficit.
Officials said reducing government employee costs with furloughs is a better solution to laying off workers to overcome a $1.17 million budget shortfall for fiscal year 2026 and a $1.3 million shortfall in 2027.
City Administrator Frank Kennedy announced at the June 18 city council meeting that administration has reached an agreement with the public employee unions to take what amounts to a 13% reduction in pay over the next two years.
“Their cooperation has been instrumental in helping the city avoid staffing reductions that would have otherwise taken effect beginning July 1,” City Administrator Frank Kennedy said.
City officials said beginning July 1, all employees, including non-represented management, will be furloughed days off without pay to the equivalent of 10 percent of their salaries. The city also suspended the 3% percent pay raise that employees were expecting to take effect the same day.
“We don’t take this lightly,” said Mayor Maria Belmontes-Leyva. “This is a decision that affects people’s livelihoods.”
Council members said there will likely be more tough decisions ahead. The reduction in worker costs and a few incidental reductions, such as cancelling League of California Cities membership, making changes to their liability insurance, and defer the housing element update to 2028, will still leave the city with an anticipated budget shortfall of $65,159 for 2026 and $229,669 for 2027, said Finance Director Rex Greenbaum.
Officials did not spend very much time discussing the impacts on services to the public.
Williams Police Chief Chris Miller said he has clocked the days and times of year when his officers are typically the busiest so he can adjust schedules and staffing for furloughs.
Miller said summer typically has more traffic and a higher number of alcohol-related crashes, but there will be less officers on the street.
“We will make it work the best we can and keep morale up,” Miller said. “Everyone just took a 13% pay cut, so it is what it is.”
City officials agreed that changes will need to be made moving forward.
Greenbaum said the significant changes in the 2025-26 budget comes from a 2024-25 budgeted shortfall of $325,479; the Fire District 2025 midyear increase of $147,674; the Fire District 2026 budgeted increase of $74,848; a $102,533 decrease in sales taxes in the prior year; a $47,651 decrease in licenses and fee revenues in the prior year; a $143,524 decrease in transient occupancy taxes from the prior year; and a $30,000 increase in the audit contract.
Councilman John Troughton, finance committee member and former City Treasurer, warned officials last year there would be an eventual reckoning to building a structural deficit into the budget, especially when the economy is uncertain.
“I think it is time for us to go to the finance committee and start setting down and figuring out a long-range solution to the budget problem,” Troughton said. “It’s not going to be pretty but we can’t keep doing this and making everybody worry about what is going to happen next week or next month. I think it is time to make this a priority and fix the problem permanently.”
The City Council is expected to adopt the city’s two-year spending plan that takes the cost reduction into account at a regular meeting in July or August.