How Oroville is run
Who runs Oroville, what it costs, and where your money goes
The city manager, council pay, the budget, your property tax bill and who provides each service, from Oroville's own public documents. Every number links to its source and says which year it describes. Checked Oct 10, 2026.
Who runs Oroville
A city administrator appointed by the City Council runs the city day to day and also serves as city clerk. The seven-member council, with six members elected by district and the mayor elected citywide, passes ordinances and adopts the budget. It appoints the city administrator, the city attorney and department heads.
What they are paid
- Six months' salary as severance if let go without cause
- City car, or $300 a month if no vehicle is available
- $100 a month technology allowance
- City puts 3% of salary into deferred compensation and matches his first 2%
- Three-year agreement through February 26, 2029
Oroville city staff
140 full-time-equivalent positions. FY2024-25. City of Oroville · Aug 31, 2026
The city posts its master salary schedule with pay ranges for each position. We found no city list of pay by employee. We name pay only for elected officials and the city manager.
Is Oroville in the red?
Cities must pass a balanced budget, so "profit" and "deficit" mean something different here. The useful questions: does the city's everyday money (the general fund) cover its everyday costs, how much does it keep in savings compared with its own target, and how big are its pension and debt bills.
The city's own outlook
The city administrator's budget message says revenue is flat or falling while costs for labor, insurance, pensions and fuel rise. Sales, hotel and utility tax revenue fell close to $2 million over four years, and over $700,000 of post Camp Fire grant revenue ended. The proposed budget had about $27 million of revenue and $29.5 million of spending, covered by $1.3 million from fund balance and $1.2 million from the pension trust. It leaves several vacant positions unfunded and says costs are forecast to keep outpacing revenue. City of Oroville · Jul 7, 2026
Savings against the city's own target
Unassigned general fund balance: $9.2M (2025-06-30). The city's own target: We found no written minimum reserve rule in the audit or the budget. Separately from the unassigned balance, the audit shows a $9.0 million general reserve assigned by the city administrator or finance director, and the budget message says the city keeps a $9,000,000 reserve. City of Oroville · Aug 31, 2026
Why we skip the "budgeted deficit": many cities plan to dip into savings, then spend less than planned. The audited result tells you what really happened.
Where the money comes from and goes
The general fund only: the city's everyday money for FY2026-27.
Comes from
- 1% district sales tax$6.8M · 22%
- Sales and use tax$5.6M · 18%
- Property tax$5.2M · 17%
- Utility users tax$3M · 10%
- Drawn from district tax fund balance$2.8M · 9%
- Transfers in from other funds (including the pension trust)$2.1M · 7%
- Interest, rents and concessions$1.3M · 4%
- Other (franchise fees, permits, hotel tax, charges for services, grants and other revenue)$4M · 13%
Goes to (FY2026-27)
- Police$9.8M · 32%
- Fire (CAL FIRE contract, including a $1.26 million fire truck)$8.1M · 26%
- Streets and drainage$2M · 6%
- Parks and trees$1.3M · 4%
- Code enforcement$1.3M · 4%
- Risk management$1.2M · 4%
- Finance$1M · 3%
- Other (administration, city attorney, clerk, IT, HR, planning, building, museums, council, public works administration and fleet)$6.1M · 20%
Your property tax bill: who gets it
California caps the base property tax at 1% of assessed value, shared among local agencies. Voter-approved school and college bond rates are added on top. The city has no voter-approved bond rate of its own.
0¢
of each property-tax dollar goes to the city of Oroville
- 1% base levy (shared by the county, city, schools and other agencies)1 · 92%
- Butte College bonds0.033844 · 3%
- Oroville High School District bonds0.033216 · 3%
- Oroville Elementary School District bonds0.020854 · 2%
- Total (% of assessed value)1.087914
FY2024-25 rates for a property in the city of Oroville (Butte County). City of Oroville · Aug 31, 2026
Who provides your services
Not everything in Oroville is run by the city. Who provides a service decides whose budget pays for it and whose election decides it.
- PoliceThe cityOroville Police DepartmentCity of Oroville · Aug 31, 2026
- Fire protectionContractorCAL FIRE/Butte County Fire, under a cooperative agreement with the cityThe agreement began in July 2022.City of Oroville
- Sewage treatmentAnother agencySewerage Commission - Oroville Region (SC-OR), a joint powers agencyThe city collects SC-OR's treatment charges and remitted $2,917,126 in FY2024-25.City of Oroville · Aug 31, 2026
- StreetsThe cityCity of Oroville Public Works, Streets DivisionCity of Oroville · Jul 7, 2026
- Municipal airportThe cityCity of Oroville Public WorksThe golf course lease is included in the airport fund.City of Oroville · Jul 7, 2026
- Planning, building and code enforcementThe cityCity of OrovilleCity of Oroville · Aug 31, 2026
Compared with similar cities
The cities in this state closest in population that we cover. Read it for scale, not as a ranking: cities provide different services.
| Per city | AlbanyCA | DixonCA | OrovilleCA | GreenfieldCA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Residents | 20,564 | 20,567 | 20,664 | 20,918 |
| Top administrator's base pay | $326,934 | $290,000 | $225,312 | $267,093 |
| Council member pay | $11,400 | $6,576 | Not current (2022) | Not confirmed |
| General fund per resident | $1,731 | $1,793 | $1,492 | $1,018 |
| Debt per resident | $787 | $940 | $784 | $304 |
| Unfunded pension per resident | $2,122 | $1,375 | $550 | $350 |
| City staff per 1,000 residents | 5.8 | 7.4 | 6.8 | 5.8 |
Figures as shown in each city's section, divided by its population. Years differ by state, and pension figures are measured differently in each state (each city page says how). Oroville pays another agency for police or fire, so its own staff count is lower.
What Oroville publishes
What a resident can find online today. A "no" is something you can ask the council to publish.
- Yes: Adopted budget posted onlineThe FY2026-27 adopted budget and earlier budgets are posted on the City Budget page. City of Oroville
- Yes: Council votes recorded member by member online City of Oroville · Jul 7, 2026
- Yes: Council pay stated in a public documentThe master salary schedule lists the mayor's $600 and council members' $500 monthly stipends. City of Oroville · Aug 4, 2026
- Partly: Employee pay published City of Oroville
Questions to ask your council
- The general fund and district tax fund are budgeted to spend $30,829,013 in FY2026-27, with $2,822,796 drawn from district tax fund balance. How will the city close that gap once that balance is used up?
- Police ($9,817,974) and fire ($8,060,385) make up most of the FY2026-27 general fund budget. How will the city pay for them if sales tax stays flat?
- The city owes $16,200,000 on 2021 pension obligation bonds and still reports an $11,361,159 net pension liability. How much will it pay toward both each year?
- The audit for the year ended June 30, 2025 is dated August 31, 2026. When will the audit for FY2025-26 be published?
The fiscal year starts July 1. The City Charter requires the budget to be presented to the council on or before June 1 and adopted by the first regular meeting in July. The council received the FY2026-27 preliminary budget on June 16, 2026 and approved the budget after a public hearing on July 7, 2026. See who is running for council
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