Berkeley’s Budget Strain: When High Staffing Levels Become a Structural Problem

 

We’ve just updated our report, Fiscal Imbalance: Analyzing Berkeley’s Budget Deficit, with the information below, see page 5. The findings underscore a growing challenge for our city: Berkeley employs significantly more staff per resident than any of our East Bay neighbors. In fact, Berkeley has one employee for every 46 residents.

While staffing levels may reflect Berkeley’s strong commitment to local services, they also reveal a structural cost problem—one that helps explain the city’s persistent budget deficit.


Employees Per 1,000 Residents – East Bay Comparison

City

Employees per 

1,000 Residents

Berkeley

21.4

Alameda

15.1

El Cerrito

14.9

Oakland

14.5

Walnut Creek

13.0

Albany

8.5

Source: California State Controller https://publicpay.ca.gov/Reports/Cities/Cities.aspx


Why This Matters

·       Personnel costs dominate Berkeley’s spending. Roughly 54% of total expenditures—and a striking 68% of the General Fund—go toward salaries and benefits.

·       High staffing levels magnify cost pressures. Even modest increases in wages, pension contributions, or healthcare premiums compound quickly across such a large workforce.

·       Fixed labor costs limit flexibility. Unlike project-based expenses, personnel costs recur every year and are difficult to reduce without layoffs or cuts to city services.


The Bigger Picture

These numbers highlight a structural issue rather than a short-term budget hiccup. When so much of the city’s operating budget is tied up in personnel, even small cost escalations can push the city further into deficit. 

Addressing this imbalance doesn’t mean cutting essential services—it means aligning staffing levels, compensation growth, and service priorities to ensure that Berkeley’s fiscal health is sustainable for the long term.

 

6 comments:

  1. This is helpful info. Thanks

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  2. These absurdly high staffing levels explain why with even very high taxes the city accomplishes so little.Citizens must demand that Berkeley fall in line with other nearby cities. Albany is the most efficient bureaucracy so it can get things done. Unfortunately, some people think the city's roll is to be a job creator not a system to make it a better place.

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    1. Berkeley council voted in June 2025 to raise your property tax line items (library, fire, etc). Their choice was 2.5% CPI (consumer price index) increase OR 6.44% increase in average salary in the bay area (including Silicon Valley & tech jobs).
      Your taxes are increasing 6.44%

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  3. The city has a rule that prevents them from contracting for tasks that could benefit from such specialized expertise. Required the city to hire more people rather that do what everyone else does, do limited term contracts.

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    1. $12,000,000 per year cost to only city with its own Health Dept. The city Auditor has ignored my 2 requests for info. DROP that department for a big step in fixing the $27,000,000 deficit last year

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  4. At the September 17, 2025 Planning Commission, Jordon Klein stated, that because only 11% of the Planing and Development Department funding is from the general fund, the Planning and Development Department in not constrained by hiring freezes placed by the City on hiring and filling vacant positions.

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