How Pleasant Hill is run
Who runs Pleasant Hill, 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 Pleasant Hill's own public documents. Every number links to its source and says which year it describes. Checked Oct 9, 2026.
Who runs Pleasant Hill
A city manager appointed by the council runs the city day to day and oversees city departments. The five council members, elected to staggered four-year terms, set policy, pass ordinances and approve spending. The city is moving from citywide to district elections; Districts 3 and 4 are on the ballot in November 2026.
What they are paid
- Twelve months' salary as severance if fired without cause after the first year
- The council can fire him only by a 3-of-5 vote, and not within six months after an election that changes a council seat
- CalPERS pension and city-paid health, dental, vision, life and disability insurance, like other top managers
- May join the city's 457 and 401(a) deferred compensation plans
- City pays professional association dues
- City pays up to 50% of the Kaiser medical premium
- Or $200 a month in cash or deferred compensation instead of medical coverage
- $20,000 life insurance
Pleasant Hill city staff
126 full-time-equivalent positions. FY2026-27. Budgeted positions for FY2026-27, counting the five council members. City of Pleasant Hill · Jun 15, 2026
The city posts salary ranges for each employee group, and the budget lists the city manager's monthly pay. We found no city list of pay by employee. We name pay only for elected officials and the city manager.
Is Pleasant Hill 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.
Savings against the city's own target
Unassigned general fund balance: $5.1M (2025-06-30). The city's own target: Hold $5 million as working capital and $4 million as a budget stabilization reserve, both kept as assigned (not unassigned) fund balance; the audit shows $9.0 million assigned as a contingency reserve. A separate pension reserve sits in a Section 115 trust ($2.0 million on June 30, 2025). City of Pleasant Hill · Dec 5, 2025
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
- Sales tax$10.9M · 30%
- Property tax (including vehicle license fee backfill)$9.5M · 26%
- Other taxes (business license, hotel, property transfer)$5.6M · 15%
- Franchise fees$2.7M · 7%
- Licenses and permits$1.7M · 5%
- Interest and rents$715,000 · 2%
- Other (charges for services, state aid, fines, transfers, misc.)$987,000 · 3%
- From reserves (fund balance)$4.1M · 11%
Goes to (FY2026-27)
- Police$15.1M · 42%
- Non-departmental (citywide costs)$6.1M · 17%
- Public works maintenance$3.1M · 9%
- Information technology$1.6M · 4%
- Planning and code enforcement$1.4M · 4%
- Insurance and risk management$1.4M · 4%
- Finance$1.1M · 3%
- Other (council, manager, clerk, attorney, HR, building, engineering, transfers)$6.5M · 18%
Your property tax bill: who gets it
Every property pays the 1% base levy, which the county splits among local agencies; the city's audited report shows the city's share at 0.0566 of the 1.0000 base rate, about 6 cents of each base-levy dollar. Voter-approved bonds for schools, BART, the community college and parks bring the total to 1.1153%. The city itself has no voter-approved property tax rate.
0¢
of each property-tax dollar goes to the city of Pleasant Hill
- 1% base levy (shared by the county, schools, the city and special districts)The city's share is about 5.7 cents of each base-levy dollar1 · 90%
- Mt. Diablo Unified School District bonds0.0718 · 6%
- BART0.0152 · 1%
- Contra Costa Community College District bonds0.0142 · 1%
- Pleasant Hill Recreation & Park District bond0.013 · 1%
- East Bay Regional Park District0.0011 · <1%
- Total (percent of assessed value)1.1153
FY2025-26 rates for a home in Pleasant Hill (Contra Costa County, tax rate area 12003). Contra Costa County Auditor-Controller
See what a Pleasant Hill home costs each year, line by line →Who provides your services
Not everything in Pleasant Hill is run by the city. Who provides a service decides whose budget pays for it and whose election decides it.
- PoliceThe cityPleasant Hill Police DepartmentCity of Pleasant Hill · Jun 15, 2026
- Irrigation water (Diablo Vista neighborhood)The cityDiablo Vista Water System (city-run)Raw canal water for irrigation to 474 homesCity of Pleasant Hill · Dec 5, 2025
- SewerSeparate districtCentral Contra Costa Sanitary DistrictCity of Pleasant Hill · Jun 15, 2026
- Streets and storm drainsThe cityCity of Pleasant Hill Public Works, Maintenance DivisionCity of Pleasant Hill · Jun 15, 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 | Desert Hot SpringsCA | Menlo ParkCA | Pleasant HillCA | MoorparkCA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Residents | 33,629 | 33,785 | 33,853 | 34,161 |
| Top administrator's base pay | $253,000 | $324,000 | $303,420 | $252,346 |
| Council member pay | $19,584 | $11,400 | $11,400 | Not confirmed |
| General fund per resident | $1,014 | $2,658 | $1,070 | $763 |
| Debt per resident | $1,107 | $819 | $483 | $0 |
| Unfunded pension per resident | $446 | $2,156 | $1,625 | $22 |
| City staff per 1,000 residents | — | 8.8 | 3.7 | 2.3 |
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). Moorpark pays another agency for police or fire, so its own staff count is lower.
What Pleasant Hill 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 and FY2027-28 budget book, dated June 15, 2026, is posted on the city's budget page with earlier budgets. City of Pleasant Hill
- Yes: City manager's contract findable online City of Pleasant Hill · Jun 26, 2023
- Yes: Council votes recorded member by member online City of Pleasant Hill · Dec 2, 2024
- Yes: Council pay stated in a public documentOrdinance No. 968 sets council pay at $950 a month starting December 2024. City of Pleasant Hill · Apr 15, 2024
- Partly: Employee pay published City of Pleasant Hill
Questions to ask your council
- Payments toward CalPERS unfunded liability rise from $5.1 million in FY2025-26 to $5.5 million in FY2026-27, and net pension liability was $55.0 million. When would the city draw on its $2.3 million pension trust?
- The library loan, $16.4 million owed on June 30, 2025, is repaid from Measure K through 2032. How will Measure K-funded services be paid for when the tax ends in 2037?
- Unassigned general fund balance was $5.1 million on June 30, 2025, beside a $9.0 million assigned contingency reserve. Which of these will cover the planned $4.1 million draw in FY2026-27?
The fiscal year runs July 1 to June 30, and the city adopts a two-year budget before July 1. The council set its goals at a workshop in February 2026, and the FY2026-27 and FY2027-28 budget was on its June 15, 2026 agenda for adoption. Staff report budget-versus-actual results to the council's Budget Committee each quarter. See who is running for council
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