Councilmember Rick Cole Calls For ‘Fundamental Budget Reform’

Councilmember Rick Cole on Monday called for “fundamental” budget reform.

The call comes as the City Council prepares to vote on the FY 2026 budget of more than $1 billion over the next 10 weeks. The fiscal year begins on July 1.

“Spending in our City is on automatic pilot,” the District 2 City Councilmember said on Monday. “Instead of a pro-active setting of priorities, the Council and City Commissions are relegated to confirming long-established patterns of how and where the City makes investments.”

According to the City’s budget ordinance “the City Council shall establish procedures whereby public suggestions and comments on the Mayor’s budget proposals may be received and considered prior to the preparation and submission of budget estimates by the departments to the City Manager.”

That process begins in the summer, nearly a year before the budget is submitted to the City Council.

“Contrary to the spirit of our own laws, public input is essentially confined to after-the-fact comment on the City Manager’s budget proposal,” Cole pointed out. “The public is locked out of meaningful participation in how we allocate their tax dollars.”

Cole serves on the Council Finance Committee and previously advocated for capital budget reform when he served on the Planning Commission.

He says the result of “automatic pilot” budgeting is that while Pasadena’s operating budget and reserves are strong, the City has accumulated a $2 billion capital deficit of deferred maintenance and infrastructure investment.

“We are an older city that can’t afford to sit on our assets,” Cole insisted. “We need a long-term strategy for protecting our economic foundation by modernizing the vital public facilities we all rely on: our streets and public transportation system; electric, water, storm drain and sewer systems; public buildings, including libraries and community centers; parks and urban forest; and the public realm in our neighborhoods and business districts.”

“Both Mayor Gordo and City Manager Miguel Márquez have correctly pointed out the need to be cautious about our finances,” Cole said. “However, it’s not just new spending we need to scrutinize — it’s the billion dollars of embedded spending that needs a hard look. Are we delivering services in the most efficient and sustainable way possible? How can we use the latest technology and process improvements to economize? How do we free up dollars to meet emerging needs, including investing in stronger fire protection, climate resilience, affordable housing and boosting our local economy?”

Cole proposes the Council hold an annual Council retreat in December or January, ahead of the Mayor’s February State of the City Address, to establish priorities for the upcoming capital and operating budgets. He supports a robust public engagement effort, including City Commissions, to debate those priorities and how to best achieve them prior to the May submission of the City Manager’s budget recommendations.

The retreat would become the annual kickoff to the City’s budget season.

“The City’s budget is not just a book of numbers,” Cole declared. “It is a statement of our community’s values. Pasadena can be proud of it’s record of fiscal responsibility. However, as Mayor Gordo noted in his State of the City speech, we can’t take that for granted. We need to be looking ahead to the need to respond to new and changing circumstances and needs. The public should be at the center of that dialogue.”

Cole is holding an Issues Forum on “Decoding the Budget” headlined by the City Manager at 7 p.m. tonight, April 15 at Jefferson Elementary, 1500 E. Villa St.

It will also be available for streaming on https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82869964736