FOLSOM, Calif. — Folsom painstakingly adopted its 2024-25 fiscal year budget Tuesday, adding positions to its police and fire departments and funding community space improvements.
Folsom City Council, with its mayor absent, approved the budget 3-1. Its passage added six positions to the Folsom Police Department, a division chief to the Folsom Fire Department, set aside $800,000 for Castle Park and increased the council’s travel and meeting budget from $17,000 to $35,000.
Police department position additions include:
- One sergeant whose annual salary and benefits cost the city $242,472.
- One corporal whose annual salary and benefits cost the city $215,690.
- Four police officers whose annual salary and benefits cost the city $183,995 each.
It is up to Police Chief Rick Hillman to decide what those officers’ assignments are. In an email Thursday to ABC10, Hillman said a homeless outreach team (HOT) will form Monday starting out with a sergeant and two officers.
“I do believe a homeless outreach team for the police department would be beneficial to Folsom,” Hillman told ABC10 in April. “My vision for the team is not simply a group to abate illegal camps but to be dedicated to improving the conditions for our residents and our homeless community.”
On May 28, Folsom City Manager Elaine Andersen proposed using $1.1 million of the city’s $23.79 million emergency reserve fund to make renovations to Kids Play Park, also known as Castle Park. Instead, the city will dedicate $800,000 and put $300,000 toward landscaping services.
There is a citizen movement to fundraise $300,000 for the park; city residents hope this effort raises enough to reach the $1.1 million total originally suggested.
The additional $18,000 to make the travel budget $35,000 will be pulled from next year’s contingency fund, the council decided.
Other major budget highlights include funding for the first phase of Benevento Family Park, which includes design and construction.
Who voted to adopt the budget?
Mayor Mike Kozlowski was absent from council Tuesday. He was making a presentation at the transportation infrastructure summit in San Diego with staff from Sacramento Regional Transit (SacRT) in his capacity as a board member of SacRT, according to the city.
The presentation was about transit-oriented development projects and their delivery methods, the city said. Vice Mayor Sarah Aquino called the meeting to order in his place.
Councilman YK Chalamcherla was the sole dissenting vote on Tuesday’s budget passage because the council was not in favor of implementing revenue targets, he told ABC10.
“Fiscal responsibility is my goal,” Chalamcherla said. “I want the city leadership to think outside the box and be creative in generating revenue from city resources and also spend tax dollars more efficiently. I see room for improvement and asked to incorporate some revenue targets into departments, which got lost…”
Budget deliberations took just over two hours Tuesday. Council previously discussed the budget for over two and a half hours on June 11.
“Thank you,” Aquino said once it was finally adopted. “That was a little more painful than I thought it was going to be.”
WATCH MORE: California Legislature approves budget that slashes spending to address $46.8 billion deficit
