28-02-2025
Yuba City budget cuts start next week amid $1.2 million deficit
YUBA CITY — Yuba City is facing a budget shortfall of $1.2 million. It's something the city says was looming and the reason why they backed Measure D last November.
But that 1% general sales tax increase to address safety and the deficit failed, and now cuts are on the way.
If you go to city hall, you're greeted with a sign about their hours changing. That's because, after next week, city hall will only be open four days a week in Yuba City. It's one of the services reducing hours due to the budget cuts.
"To address that [deficit], we've got to not ignore it and actually make cuts," Mayor Dave Shaw said.
The cuts are coming as early as next week, starting with a reduction in hours at the Yuba City Police Department and the aquatic park. Frontline responders will not be impacted.
"My partner, he is from Southern California so I try to sell him a little bit on the area," Yuba City resident Miri Fields said. "The aquatic park is something that, I think because we have a kid, that's something I told him about and something we look forward to doing."
Fields recently made the decision to move back to Yuba City.
"It's unfortunate because I have an almost 2-year-old and we rely on things like going to the park, going to the water park. Kids don't have anything to do," she said.
Another thing suspended is the city's Summer Concerts in the Park series. These budget cuts come following the failure of Measure D. The mayor said the rejection of the measure is playing a role.
"Measure D was not only to fix the roads and build a new fire station but also, there was going to be a little bit left to combat the inflationary costs the city had," Mayor Shaw said. "Since that failed, we are right where we knew we would be, and that's facing some tough decisions."
Yuba City has the lowest sales tax in the state at 7.25%. Mayor Shaw said they haven't done any layoffs but are freezing vacant positions.
"Bear with us because we're working through this," he said. "We're doing a mid-year budget review like any business would do, but we're going to stay within our means. That means some things are going to have to change."
The city says getting things back to normal might take 1-2 years.
