As it faces a budget deficit of almost $7 million for fiscal year 2025-2026, the City of Hollister laid off employees across multiple departments, including the police department, on Wednesday, city officials said.

The scope of the layoffs was unclear. The city would not confirm the number of employees dismissed or in which departments they had been employed, but did confirm that the layoffs would impact staff at the Hollister Police Department.

The layoffs come in the midst of a budget crisis for Hollister, as city leaders say they anticipate $50.2 million in revenue for FY25-26 to cover $57.1 million in expenses. A graphic on the city’s website outlining the crisis says “other personnel must be reduced” to protect police and fire services.

“The city must now take additional action to reduce expenditures and preserve its ability to provide essential public services,” the city said. “Because personnel costs represent a substantial portion of the city’s operating budget, workforce reductions have become unavoidable.”

“These decisions are difficult and deeply personal,” the city added. “They affect dedicated public servants who have contributed to the Hollister community, often for many years.”

The Hollister Police Officers Association warned of the impending layoffs in a social media post on Tuesday night, stating that they had been notified that City Manager Ana Cortez intended “to lay off every single civilian staff member of our department” on Wednesday morning. That would leave the agency “effectively closed for business,” they said.

“The way we describe this is that the city manager is attempting to trim the limbs on the top of a tree by sticking dynamite at the base of it,” said Bo Leland, president of the Hollister Police Officers Association. “Instead of coming to the police department or the union or the police chief and saying, ‘Hey, we need to cut, how do you suggest we do it?,’ instead of doing that, the city manager shut herself in an office and laid off every civilian employee that we have.”

Leland said that eight civilian staff members of the police department were laid off on Wednesday. One additional civilian staff member who was on probationary status was terminated earlier this week, and one administrative police captain was laid off.

The city said that it is not eliminating all civilian positions at the police department but did not confirm how many employees would be impacted. Among those not impacted by layoffs include the police department’s senior administrative leadership and employees of the Animal Control Division. It called the union’s claims “premature, misleading and factually inaccurate.”

The union said the layoffs would leave the Hollister Police Department without a records, code enforcement, or building and fleet maintenance division; patrol community service officers; or anyone in the evidence section to help process evidence. Leland said that one administrative services supervisor remains and will be the only non-gun carrying employee at the police department.

“No one will answer the phones,” the union said. “No one will release reports. No one will release vehicles that have been towed or impounded. If we arrest someone, there’s no one to process the report based on law and deliver it to the district attorney’s office.”

The city confirmed that records and “general customer services” would be limited “until further notice.”

San Benito County Sheriff-Coroner- Marshall Eric S. Taylor said in a statement that he is “deeply concerned” about the cuts to civilian police staff.

“Such a decision would have consequences far beyond an administrative budget reduction. It would be a cut to public safety,” he said. “Civilian employees are essential to police operations. They perform specialized work that allows officers to remain available for patrol, investigations, and emergency response.”

The city, meanwhile, still intends to fill seven police officer vacancies, the union said. Leland added that the city has $1.99 million budgeted for vacant police officer positions and that the civilian employees laid off account for $1.4 million in the budget. The lack of civilian positions is not feasible, he said.

“The police officers are trained in their specific job, which is responding to 911 calls, helping on medical aids, arresting people, investigating crimes. We are not trained in the ins and outs of California public records law,” Leland added. “Essentially, all of that work has ground to a halt, and until those employees come back, we have no way of starting it again.”

The city alerted the police union to the impending staff reductions on Monday as a “professional courtesy” and sent the same alert to other impacted city labor organizations, they said.

“The City is disappointed that the HPOA chose to publicly distribute information before the City had completed its employee notification process,” the city said. “More concerning, the Association’s statements misrepresented the scope of the anticipated reductions, creating unnecessary anxiety among employees , their families, and the broader community.”

City departments will be revising their service levels and operational hours in the coming days to adjust to the revised staffing, the city said. Updated hours will be available on the city’s website. The police department lobby closed at 10 a.m. on Wednesday and was expected to reopen at 8 a.m. on Thursday.

In April, the city began considering a staffing reorganization due to its “serious financial conditions,” it said. It offered incentives for retirements and voluntary separations in July, which several employees accepted, but those workforce reductions “did not generate sufficient savings.”

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