City Council to Hold Rare December Workshop For Next Fiscal Year’s Budget

The Pasadena City Council will convene a special workshop-style meeting today at the Pasadena Convention Center with two agenda items: a closed session on the city manager’s job and an open public budget workshop.

City Manager Miguel Márquez recently announced plans to retire next year, and the closed-door conference is expected to address his position.

The public portion of the meeting will focus on budget priorities, criteria for setting those priorities, and mid-year adjustment protocols.

The Dec. 1, 2025 session marks a significant departure from recent practice. Pasadena operates on a July 1–June 30 fiscal year, and by policy the City Council “is required to adopt an annual budget by June 30 of each fiscal year.”

Preliminary budget discussions have typically taken place in spring.  The most recent occurred on March 24, for the Fiscal Year 2025-26 process.

The last comparable December workshop is believed to have been the Dec. 1, 2014, when then-Mayor Bill Bogaard and City Manager Michael J. Beck led a session ahead of the Fiscal Year 2016 budget. This year’s December meeting comes roughly seven months before the charter-mandated May budget submission, giving staff more time to incorporate council direction into the Fiscal Year 2026 proposal.

Under Pasadena’s budget process, departments work with the Finance Department in late fall through spring to prepare revenue estimates, expenditure requests, and capital plans. The City Manager then compiles a Recommended Operating Budget, which is released ahead of the May hearing schedule. By the time hearings open, a full proposed budget book is available online and at City Clerk and library locations.

The public hearing window typically runs from early May through early June. In recent cycles, the Council has opened hearings at a regular May meeting — for example, May 6, 2024, for the Fiscal Year 2025 budget. Once opened, the hearing remains active for several weeks while Council committees hold detailed departmental sessions.

Today’s meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. in Room 211 of the Pasadena Convention Center, 300 Green Street. Public participation will be in person only, and comments are limited to items on the agenda.