Must-Do List
Here’s how new city manager can succeed
By Jeff Harris
November 2025
New City Manager Maraskeshia Smith inherits a budget with a structural deficit caused by nine bosses who regularly outspend their checking account. That’s how the City Council operates.
Can Smith do a better job than the former city manager, Howard Chan?
“I will lead with integrity, transparency and a commitment to innovation, fostering a culture that embraces forward-thinking solutions,” she says.
Foolishly, the Bee ran many articles criticizing and distorting Chan’s salary. He made $400,000 annually. The council started Smith at $399,000 per year, with potential for $420,000. Councilmembers saved $1,000 while facing a $60 million deficit.
As budget strategies go, I suppose it’s a start.
I hope Smith can convince her nine council bosses to change their minds and realize they must walk back expensive programs started under former Mayor Darrell Steinberg. She also needs to reduce public-safety costs.
Here are some suggestions for the new city manager:
The City Council gave the Sacramento Police Officers Association a 5% raise. This means $8.3 million per year added to the general fund deficit.
The pay raise arrived through binding arbitration, a process enshrined in the city charter. Binding arbitration gives unions an advantage in labor negotiations. Police salaries are roughly in line with neighboring communities.
Now is the perfect time to remove binding arbitration from the charter and give the city manager a level playing field in labor negotiations. Smith should convince the City Council to seek removal of binding arbitration with a 2026 ballot initiative.
Smith should contract out emergency medical services to the private sector. This would free up firefighters to concentrate on the mission described by their original job title.
They could respond to fires with engines manned by three people (instead of the current four) and send multiple units to fires since they wouldn’t be busy with medical calls.
If Smith is bold, she can shift to zero-based budgeting, where every department justifies its expenses from the ground up each year. This provides greater fiscal discipline and reveals inefficiencies.
Zero-based budgets encourage departments to critically evaluate their operations and remove redundant programs or outdated expenditures.
Smith can work toward managed competition, a process local governments use to identify cost-effective service delivery.
Managed competition compares the costs and benefits of contracting with private business, rather than city employees. San Jose adopted managed competition with positive results.
With $1.5 billion in unfunded pension liabilities and $1.8 billion in unfunded capital improvements and repairs needed, the city is falling apart. It will take innovative thinking and strong action to make the needed changes.
At a recent goal-setting session by the City Council, the highest priorities were economic development, public safety and homelessness.
Wrong, wrong and wrong. The highest priority should be budget and fiscal health. Without that, other ambitions can’t be realized.
Former city manager Chan faced considerable challenges. He worked for a fiscally irresponsible mayor and City Council, and achieved remarkable results under the circumstances.
The new city manager can take a fresh approach. By prioritizing financial stability, Smith can then move the city forward on economic development, public safety and homelessness.
“My aim is to make Sacramento the best managed city in the country,” Smith says.
I wish her well. Let’s see if her substantial skill set leads to a better future.
Jeff Harris represented District 3 on City Council from 2014 to 2022. He can be reached at cadence5371@gmail.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @insidesacramento.
