Berkeley is staring down a budget crunch that could pull officers off the streets, shutter a fire station and thin out critical public-safety staff. A fresh budget-balancing plan at City Hall sketches out dozens of job cuts and contingency moves as officials scramble to plug a multiyear hole. Inside the departments, officers and staff say morale is scraping bottom, and some are already eyeing the exit.
The City Manager’s proposal forecasts roughly a $29.3 million General Fund deficit for FY 2027-28 and calls for eliminating 138 full-time equivalent positions, including 38 filled jobs and 100 vacancies, while asking voters to approve a 0.5% city sales tax this November to blunt the damage, according to the City of Berkeley. The same packet lists public-safety contingency cuts: several police posts and a set of fire reductions tied to a possible closure of Fire Station 4, a move staff warned would push calls to more distant stations and increase reliance on mutual aid. One-time tactics are sprinkled in to delay some cuts, but those stopgaps depend heavily on how that sales-tax measure fares at the ballot box.
On the ground, rank-and-file officers told The Berkeley Scanner that morale is at rock bottom, with at least seven officers already jumping to San Francisco or expected to make the move. The Berkeley Police Association told the outlet it counts roughly 137 sworn officers, with about 15 on modified duty or off work, and Sgt. Neil Egbert summed up the staffing churn by saying, “We’re just swapping one body for another.” The Scanner also reported that the department’s new patrol schedule, due at the end of the month, would leave roughly 54 officers on patrol per shift, a noticeable drop from previous staffing levels.
The department’s own 2025 annual report lists somewhat higher official numbers: BPD reported employing 154 sworn officers in 2025, 144 of whom were available to work solo, still short of its authorized strength of 174 and leaning on overtime and Community Service Officers to plug the gaps, according to the Berkeley Police Department.
How Fewer Staff Could Reshape 911 Response and Street Policing
Smaller patrol teams and trims to specialty units would mean more work for whoever is left, with a likely hit to response times and less bandwidth for proactive policing, according to department materials and union leaders. The budget packet models specific ripple effects: closing Station 4 would send hundreds of medical and other calls to engines farther away, and Engine 4 alone handled nearly 1,000 emergency medical incidents in the past year. Dispatch cuts layered on top of that would only compound the strain. For residents, that could translate to longer waits for non-urgent calls and fewer officers available for follow-up on investigations and community programs that depend on in-person contact.
Next Steps: City Hall Hearings and a High-Stakes Ballot Question
The proposal now heads to the City Council’s Budget & Finance Committee, followed by a series of public hearings in the coming weeks. A final council vote is expected in June, with an option to delay some of the cuts if a November ballot measure is approved that could bring in an estimated $9 million a year. The Berkeley Scanner has posted the packet and the meeting schedule and plans to keep tracking the budget as it moves through the committee and the full council. Community members and employee groups are expected to pack the April-through-June hearing cycle with testimony.
City leaders emphasize that nothing is locked in yet and describe the document as a framework for balancing the books, saying there is still room to tweak the plan before adoption. For now, officers and residents alike will be glued to council meetings and the fate of the sales-tax measure as officials decide which services survive intact and which ones land on the chopping block.
