Seal Beach adopts $108.8 million fiscal 2025–26 budget, keeps Measure GG funds for services

The Seal Beach City Council on June 9 adopted the fiscal year 2025–26 operating and capital budget, approving a plan the city called balanced for the coming year while cautioning that revenues must be monitored closely as costs continue to rise.

City finance officials presented the $108.8 million all‑funds budget and said the plan relies on $3 million in Measure GG sales tax proceeds to preserve services reduced in prior years. Director of Finance Renato told the council the budget includes $27.4 million in capital improvement project funding and that total general fund revenues are $48.2 million against general fund expenditures of $48.1 million.

The budget matters because it sets spending for public safety, infrastructure and daily services that affect residents and businesses. Finance staff described the document as a policy and operations guide built from months of department input, public workshops and council direction.

Council members and staff emphasized the need to track revenues closely. Councilmember Sinegal asked how quickly staff would know if sales‑tax receipts were falling short of projections and recommended quarterly revenue updates to the council and public. Director Renato said sales‑tax receipts are received monthly with a roughly four‑month lag and that the city works closely with consultant HDL, allowing staff to detect trends early. “With sales tax, we can know pretty early,” Renato said. Staff also noted property tax carries an 18‑month lag.

Public speakers urged the council to prioritize lifeguard and safety staffing and to seek revenue opportunities. Mike Kovalev, who identified himself as a long‑time lifeguard parent and former law enforcement official, told the council lifeguards “deserve more money” and urged the city to pursue transient occupancy tax and hotel improvements to increase sales tax receipts.

The adopted budget allocates $300,000 to the fleet fund, $1.5 million to an economic reserve and an additional $250,000 CalPERS payment to reduce pension liabilities. The document says the city maintains a council‑adopted reserve target of 25% of annual operating expenditures and that staff will return at midyear (or sooner if needed) with updates.

The council voted 5–0 to adopt the budget.

Less critical items noted in staff presentations included a summary of recent public outreach (budget workshops, a Q&A, social media and a video) and a reminder of related community meetings: the city’s water/wastewater open house scheduled for June 14 at Fire Station 48 and two Orange County Health Care Agency neighborhood meetings on former gasoline station sites.

Councilmembers said they appreciated staff’s work in stabilizing city finances after the prior year’s cuts and asked staff to provide more frequent revenue snapshots so elected leaders can act quickly if projections change.