Pasadena council adopts FY2027 budget after amendments on training and court pay

Pasadena City Council adopted the fiscal year 2027 budget on Sept. 15 after a series of amendments that reshaped training and municipal court pay allocations. Councilmembers debated several proposed changes in an extended procedural exchange before voting by roll call to pass the budget as amended.

Councilman Emanuel Guerrero successfully proposed an amendment reallocating $40,000 from emergency preparedness training accounts, reducing training funding and moving $20,000 to the contingency fund; the amendment passed on a roll‑call vote. Separately, the council approved a balanced amendment to raise municipal court pay — moving N06 deputy clerks to $20 per hour, N07 deputy clerks to $22 per hour, and adding a $4‑per‑hour raise for court staff with 10 or more years of service, excluding judges.

Council discussion included repeated procedural challenges over whether amendments were in proper form and whether they balanced the budget. Councilwoman Valerio said she would have preferred more time: "I would really have liked to have seen these numbers ahead of time, but with the limitations put on it, I can agree to it." The council recorded its final roll call and adopted Ordinance 2026151, the annual FY2027 budget, as amended. The council also heard and rejected, for lack of a second, a motion to reinstate a 6% cost‑of‑living adjustment by reallocating existing funds.

The budget adoption followed several consent votes earlier in the meeting and was the subject of multiple late amendments that council members characterized both as necessary and, at times, procedurally irregular; the record shows votes and roll calls for each contested amendment. The council did not increase total fiscal year expenditures in the final adopted budget; amendments were presented as reallocations of existing funds.