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No layoffs or pay cuts will be included in Hollister’s $131 million budget for the upcoming fiscal year after all.
Instead, to balance the budget, the Hollister City Council agreed to eliminate 31 vacant positions and make cuts across several city departments at its June 16 meeting, which culminated with the adoption of the city’s budget for 2025-26.
City Manager David Mirrione said the city is saving about $6 million by eliminating its open positions. The city also looked to make about $4 million in additional cuts to address its budget deficit.
Mirrione told BenitoLink the cuts to departments were aimed at reducing expenditures and increasing efficiencies. He said additional cuts included eliminating the City Council’s $250,000 discretionary fund and $25,000 in travel allocations.
City officials have historically used discretionary funds to fund events or support organizations.
While council members did not ask questions about the budget, many thanked Mirrione and the staff for their efforts to balance the budget without having to cut salaries or positions.
“This has been an adventure and not one we want to keep going through, but if we stay on top of it we can work together to stay out of the red,” Councilmember Rudy Picha said.
“The Fiscal Year 2025-26 Recommended Budget strengthens our General Fund balance and restricted reserves to 16.8% [$7.8 million]—a prudent and forward-looking step that enhances our resilience against unforeseen challenges,” he said.
In a 20-minute presentation, Mirrione provided an overview of the budget with a focus on the general fund, which is $46.5 million.
He provided different graphs showing how the money was being allocated by departments and functions.
About half of the city budget funds quality-of-life functions (49%) such as road projects, followed by public safety (23%), administration (22%) and development services (6%).
The budget includes one-time expenses for projects across multiple departments, ranging from facility maintenance to the city’s General Plan Update, totaling $3.6 million.
The city officials also established a fund to place revenues from Prop. 172, a statewide half-cent sales tax passed in 1993, to fund public safety services. Mirrione said that Hollister receives between $250,000 and $275,000 annually, money which was previously placed in the general fund.
The budget continues to carry over several funds that have had negative balances for multiple years. Mirrione said staff will create a repayment plan for these funds primarily to the general fund and present it to the City Council for consideration for the next budget.
He said the city needs to spend $500,000 a year for five years to address the negative balances on the following funds. The list includes projected balances ending on June 30, 2026:
- Local Transportation (-$96,705)
- 4th of July Rally (-$462,941)
- FEMA/COVID-19 (-$522,899)
- Airport Enterprise Fund (+$17,080)
- Landscape and Lighting District (-$620,123)
Mirrione said while the airport fund doesn’t show a negative balance, it needs to repay the general fund for two equipment purchases that were in 2019 and 2023, and a grant match payment. He said the new airport budget includes a $200,000 initial payment to the general fund.
Mayor Roxanne Stephens said the city should focus on increasing revenues next fiscal year.
“There’s always going to be needs and wants on the expenditure side, we know that,” she said. “We need to look for opportunities to increase revenue. I think that’ll be the theme of our next fiscal year.”
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