(SAN RAMON, CA.) – The Mar. 24 San Ramon City Council meeting brought up important financial uncertainties and emphasized possible discrepancies in resolving community issues. The first was a surprise when Mayor Mark Armstrong announced the deferral of the Master Fee Schedule adoption, which was initially introduced at the Mar. 10 city council meeting.
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Budget Manager Yuliya Elba approached the dais to explain that under the California Government Code 66016 it’s basically too soon to be discussing the FY27 Master Fee Schedule and requested the Council to continue the public hearing until the next city council meeting on Apr. 14, 2026. Armstrong then replies by saying “we need some additional time,” which sounds like a feeble excuse given that the topic was the main concern at the Mar. 10 meeting and adequate time was given to continue on with the subject at hand.
Armstrong then opened up the topic to public comments, where Former Councilmember Jim Blickenstaff reiterated his concerns and brought up cities such as Pleasanton and Dublin having significantly lower appeal fees. Expressing his frustrations, Blickenstaff ends by saying, “If it works in all these cities it can work here too and that would be a message to the residents that when you have a problem, we want to hear from you. We don’t want you to be blocked by a paywall.”
After the council unanimously motions to continue the public hearing for the next meeting on Apr. 14, 2026, the Senior Citizens Advisory Committee 2025-2026 Annual Report is presented. The main issues brought up were inadequate transportation options, lack of shaded seating in certain parks, and challenges in securing program instructors for seniors, particularly impacting areas like Dougherty Valley and raising questions about fair resource distribution.
Next on the agenda was a presentation to initiate the FY 2026-27 budget development process, providing the council with an overview of the city’s fiscal model, budget guidelines, and timeline. Finance Director Jennifer Wakeman led the presentation and revealed a revised Measure N sales tax revenue and a long-term structural deficit.
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The proposed plan to achieve a balanced budget by 2035 relies on an ambitious target of 2.3% expenditure growth against a historical 9%, a goal that appears preliminary and potentially unrealistic given economic volatility and unfunded mandates.
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Residents took to the mic to voice their opinions varying from demands for better transparency, solid plans for a realistic revenue generation, and an understanding to support small businesses amongst exorbitant fees. Small business owner, Paschalis Ntatsos voiced his concerns about costly fees and expenses, questioning how his business can sustain with these increases.
“The first thing that comes in my mind is what I really need to pay for…I need to figure out how to support my business, how to figure out what’s going to happen next year and if in the next five to ten years I’m going to exist as a business.”
Ntatsos ends his speech by suggesting if the city has thought about implementing AI infrastructure to help enhance city operations similar to big corporations already using it.
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Even though the main topics of discussion were the city’s finances, the Mayor declared March 2026 as Prescription Drug Abuse Awareness Month. Accepting the award on behalf of Founder/Executive Director of the National Coalition Against Prescription Drug Abuse, April Rovero, was Project Manager Alice Power.
After talking about the mission of their nonprofit organization, Power provided the council with some revealing stats, “fatal overdose is down since last year by almost 20%...but we’re not out of the woods yet. We really want to get Naloxone out to the public free of charge and we are ramping up distribution of it in the San Ramon Valley.”
The NCAPDA hopes to encourage everyone in the community to get trained in overdose rescue and Power provides information and dates on how to register or show up at their many in-person events coming up, including the San Ramon Art and Wind Festival on May 24-25th.
While this proclamation acknowledged key community engagement in health, the overall tone of the meeting showcased the complex financial matters and citizen expectations for more transparency and accountability from the city council.
If you have any comments or questions, please email me at kathleen.p@lead4earth.org or comment below.
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