Judge Says City of Fresno Hid Its Budget Process From Public

Judge Says City of Fresno Hid Its Budget Process From Public

A ruling Monday from a Fresno County Superior Court judge found the city of Fresno’s budget process for five years violated state law by hiding the city’s financial decisions behind closed doors. From 2018 to 2023, Fresno City Council relied on a closed-door subcommittee to hash out some of the city’s most important fiscal decisions. While the city argued that the subcommittee is integral to the city’s strong mayor structure and that it’s not su…

Judge slaps down Fresno's Brown Act violations in new court ruling

Every year, elected leaders at the City of Fresno would spend days hammering out final budget negotiations in closed-door meetings away from the public eye.  In the days right before the Fresno City Council would approve a budget, a couple of its members would first get in a room with top officials from the mayor’s administration.  And then the bartering would begin. It’d go on for days — usually regarding upwards of $70 million in taxpayer fund…