A city budget is a plan for money
A budgetis really just two lists. One list is the money the City expects to collect — that's revenue. The other is the money the City plans to spend — that's expense.
The City Council votes on the budget once a year. Once they vote, the City is legally allowed to spend the money on the things in the plan. Anything that isn't in the plan needs Council approval to add.
The “fiscal year”
Menlo Park's budget year doesn't match the calendar year. A fiscal year runs from July 1 through June 30. The budget the City is operating under right now covers July 2025 through June 2026.
The Council is, right now, deciding the nextbudget — the one for July 2026 through June 2027. That's the “FY 2026-27” budget you'll see referenced all over this site.
Why this matters to you
Most of what the City does is decided in this one annual plan: police patrols, library hours, when streets get repaved, how often parks get mowed, whether the City hires more building inspectors.
If you have an opinion about any of those things, the budget public hearing on June 9is where it carries the most weight. We'll come back to that on the last page.