TO: HONORABLE MAYOR
AND CITY COUNCIL
FROM: Councilmember Bien Doan
Councilmember Pamela Campos
Councilmember George Casey
Councilmember Michael Mulcahy
SUBJECT: See Below DATE: June 6, 2025
Approved
Date:
SUBJECT: Mayor’s June Budget Message for Fiscal Year 2025-2026
RECOMMENDATION
Adopt the Mayor’s June Budget Message with the following amendments to the FY 2025–2026 Proposed Operating Budget:
1. Decline the $250,000 rebudget in MBA #32 for the ERP Feasibility Project City-Wide Expenses allocation.
2. Decline the $175,000 rebudget in MBA #32 for the Virtual Accelerator Program for Small Businesses City-Wide Expenses allocation.
3. Decline the following allocations from Manager’s Budget Addendum #26 (MBA #26):
a. EMS Temporary Fire Captain: $200,000
b. EMS Standby Pay: $123,000 (ongoing)
4. Increase the Fire Department’s Personal Services appropriation by $748,000 to fund a seven-month reinstatement of the Emergency Medical Services Field Coordinator Program (MedXX) to support EMS delivery.
a. After seven months make the MedXX program permanent by allocating $489,000 from additional Ambulance Transport and User Fees that may collected in excess of the $1,700,000 revenue estimate for the remainder of this fiscal year and $1,271,000 ongoing from additional Ambulance Transport and User Fees, or b. Should the additional Ambulance Transport and User Fees be insufficient, direct the City Manager to identify potential offsets for the City Council to consider prior to the end of the seven-month period.
5. Defer elimination of the Family, Friend and Neighbor (FFN) Early Childhood Education Program for FY 2026/27, incorporate the direction in BD #45 (Campos), and offset costs by the ongoing savings from item 3b above and decreasing the 2026-2027 future deficit reserve by $375,106.
ANALYSIS
COUNCIL AGENDA: 06/10/2025
FILE: 25-648
ITEM: 3.8
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
June 6, 2025
Subject: Mayor’s June Budget Message for Fiscal Year 2025-2026
Med30
Given that approximately 95% of San José's emergency calls are medical in nature, Med30 is integral to the city's emergency response infrastructure. Its versatility allows it to enhance medical response by providing on-site medical support, and it ensures timely care during emergencies. Additionally, it supports firefighter well-being by ensuring that personnel have access to necessary resources for recovery, maintaining operational efficiency.
In 2023, the City Council approved a budget that eliminated the Med30 Emergency Medical Services Field Coordinator position—a move justified at the time as a “least impactful” tradeoff to fund other staffing priorities. Despite objections, the decision was made to redistribute Med30’s core oversight responsibilities across already overburdened personnel.
It is important that we ensure we have as much capacity as possible in the Department to handle issues like this and Med30 could play an important role. Med30 has provided, and will continue to provide, important safeguards within our Fire Department if we fund it. Budget Document #21(Doan) supports reinstating the Med30 program for up to 6-months with one time funding, giving time for alternative funding resources to kick in, such as the first responder fee and the transport recovery fees.
The 2025-2026 Proposed Operating Budget eliminates the project management staffing originally envisioned to kick-start the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system replacement project, as this project is indefinitely deferred pending a reevaluation of Citywide organizational capacity. The Virtual Accelerator Program for Small Businesses would fund a new program to provide technical assistance for start-ups, which is an area of business we do not currently serve. So, while eliminating this rebudget would diminish future capacity, it does not affect existing service levels.
Note – The recommendation language reads “MedXX” because the number will be assigned once a station is chosen.
Family, Friend, and Neighbor (FFN) Early Childhood Education Program Aimed at ensuring that all children, regardless of zip code, income level, or race have access to a childcare environment that is safe and enriching so that they can enter kindergarten ready to learn, the Family, Friend, and Neighbor (FFN) program launched in 2021. This program provides informal caregivers with professional development training and supplies to provide an enriching environment for the children in their care. The Children and Youth Services (CYS) Master Plan calls for sustained focus from the City and community partners to continue to enhance access to quality childcare and early learning environments. In support of the CYS Master Plan priority areas of Early Learning & Childcare and Learning & Empowerment, in FY 25-26 the FFN program will focus on supporting caregivers in the Demonstration Areas of Mayfair/Poco Way and Seven Trees/Santee neighborhoods.
The proposed elimination of the FFN program in FY 26-27 will impact the City’s implementation of the CYS Master Plan and the variety of supports identified for children, parents and caregivers through increased citywide programming if the Early Education-FFN staff is retained.
Ongoing federal and state policy changes and funding reductions are projected to further limit
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
June 6, 2025
Subject: Mayor’s June Budget Message for Fiscal Year 2025-2026
access to critical local early childhood education programs, services and resources, particularly among the most vulnerable households.
Based on the ongoing and persistent need for early education services in our community to ensure that San Jose’s children develop and grow to meet their full potential, we request that the City Council withhold and defer a decision on the elimination of the FFN program in FY 26-
27. The City Manager should produce an environmental scan of the early and primary education landscape impacts to San José children and youth, including and fully considering changes to federal and state funded educational programs for children, while identifying best practices and opportunities to bolster community integration of early childhood education programs through CYS Master Plan Demonstration Sites.
Table: FY 24-25 FFN Participants, by zip code
Council District ZIP Code Area Participants % of Total District 5 37 20.00%
95127 East San José 19 10.27%
95116 East San José 18 9.73%
District 4 26 14.05%
95132 Berryessa area 17 9.19%
95133 Berryessa area 4 2.16%
95054 North San José 2 1.08%
95131 North San José 2 1.08%
94089 Alviso 1 0.54%
District 7 23 12.43%
95111 South San José 13 7.03%
95122 East San José 10 5.41%
District 3 19 10.27%
95112
Downtown and East San
José 12 6.49%
95110 Central San José 4 2.16%
95113 Downtown San José 3 1.62%
District 2 18 9.73%
95123 South San José 13 7.03%
95119 South San José 4 2.16%
95137 South San José 1 0.54%
C
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
June 6, 2025
Subject: Mayor’s June Budget Message for Fiscal Year 2025-2026
The signers of this memorandum have not had, and will not have, any private conversation with any other member of the City Council, or that member’s staff, concerning any action discussed in the memorandum; and each signer’s staff members have not had, and have been instructed not to have, any such conversation with any other member of the City Council or that member’s staff.