At the July 8, 2026 meeting, the Stockton City Council voted 7-0 to approve new long-term labor contracts covering the Stockton Police Officers Association, Stockton Firefighters Local 456 and fire management, the Stockton Police Management Association, and a compensation plan for some nonunion city workers. The vote closed out more than a year in which the city's public safety employees worked without a long-term contract after the previous agreements expired the prior summer. The three labor items combined are projected to add roughly $17.5 million to the city's budget this fiscal year, according to budget amendments attached to the council agenda.

The agreements passed as part of the council's consent agenda — meaning they were bundled with other routine items and were not pulled out for individual debate. Under the approved Police Officers Association contract, running from July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2028, officers receive a 6 percent raise in the first year and a 4 percent raise in the second year, along with a one-time $2,500 payment and salary step changes. The Firefighters Local 456 contract includes a 6 percent first-year raise and a 2 percent second-year raise, along with salary step changes, increased healthcare contributions, and a limited vacation cash-out program.

A Year of Bargaining Stalemate

Councilmember Michele Padilla, addressing the delay in reaching an agreement with police, said at the meeting: "We know the Police Department has gone for over a year without a contract, and I can't imagine how frustrating, how discouraging that has been for the staff, as well as their families," Padilla said. Vice Mayor Jason Lee, a former union leader, said he supported arbitration as a fair process but was glad the city and employee groups reached agreement before that became necessary: "I believe in arbitration. I believe in having a process that's fair to everybody," Lee said.

A Grand Jury Report Landed Two Weeks Earlier

The contract vote came less than two weeks after the San Joaquin County Civil Grand Jury released its 2025-26 annual report, which included an investigation into the Stockton City Council titled "Governance in Turmoil." That annual report is published as the "2025-2026 Civil Grand Jury Final Report" on the Superior Court of California, County of San Joaquin's official grand jury reports webpage. The "Governance in Turmoil" investigation found that council meetings had "repeatedly featured arguments, accusations and 4-3 votes on some of the council's most contentious decisions, though the split has not always involved the same members."

The report also examined how the council has interacted with city staff. Under Stockton's council-manager form of government, councilmembers are supposed to direct policy through the city manager rather than city employees directly. The grand jury found that "some councilmembers bypassed that structure, creating confusion inside City Hall and contributing to operational problems."

On spending, the grand jury flagged the pace of the city's use of its investigations budget. The panel noted the city budgets $500,000 a year for investigations and that, in a typical year, "$200,000 to $300,000" is used — but reported that the "entire $500,000 was exhausted" by the first half of the 2025-26 fiscal year.

"We know the Police Department has gone for over a year without a contract, and I can't imagine how frustrating, how discouraging that has been for the staff, as well as their families," Padilla said.

— Stockton Councilmember Michele Padilla, July 8 council meeting

The council-approved contracts and the grand jury's governance findings are separate matters procedurally, but both surfaced in the same stretch of city business: a public safety budget item requiring council sign-off, and an outside oversight body's review of how that same council has been functioning. The same July 8 meeting agenda was also expected to include a separate, no-vote discussion led by Mayor Christina Fugazi on the cost of council-launched investigations, anchored by three documents — a confidential investigation's executive summary, the civil grand jury report, and a June 25 letter from the San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office. That DA letter, written by Assistant District Attorney Richard B. Price, found no basis for prosecutors to act against former interim City Manager Steve Colangelo, who had since left his post.