Livingston staff present $64.8 million FY2025–26 proposed budget; council to consider adoption June 17

City finance staff on June 3 presented Livingston’s proposed fiscal year 2025–26 budget, telling the City Council the plan must be adopted by June 30, 2025, and covers July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026.

Finance Director Happy Baines said citywide proposed revenues are estimated at $64,800,000 and proposed expenditures at $75,400,000, leaving a $6.6 million difference “tied to capital projects.” Baines said intergovernmental revenue is the largest single category at $36,480,000, followed by charges for services ($12,600,000) and taxes ($9,900,000). Baines also told the council, “27,000,000 is from the…grant from the state water projects, and $55,300,000.0 of that total is the construction continuation of the RecPlex,” as department heads described the major capital work in the coming year.

Why it matters: the budget must be adopted by June 30, and staff told the council they plan to return the item for possible adoption at the regular June 17 meeting.

Key numbers and context

- Citywide revenues presented: $64,800,000. Baines said intergovernmental revenue is $36,480,000; charges for services $12,600,000; taxes $9,900,000. - Citywide expenditures presented: $75,400,000. Baines described the $6.6 million gap as capital-project-driven. - General Fund: revenue and expenses were presented as balanced at about $9,600,000. Baines said roughly $5.54 million of the general fund is proposed for the police department, $1.18 million for administrative services, and $1.31 million in transfers that subsidize community development and the recreation department.

Department highlights from the budget workshop

Public works: Anthony Chavarria, public works, summarized enterprise and operating budgets and highlighted proposed capital projects and equipment. Those included a proposed new playground at Max Foster Sports Complex ($165,000) as a cost-share with local maintenance districts and CFDs; a new boom truck (cost-shared across water, wastewater, public works administration, CFDs and LMDs); pulverize-and-repave work on Main Street (engineer’s estimate $507,000, cost-shared by Measure V and RMRA funds); restroom renovation at R. Kelly and Park (about $256,000 from a CFD fund); and lift-station renovations funded from the wastewater enterprise.

Police: Police Chief Rick Schiff said the department is the largest General Fund user at “almost $5,500,000” and presented personnel and equipment requests. The chief asked council to increase the number of paid reserve officers from two to five, saying “there will [be] no fiscal impact” because the same pool of hours will be shared across more paid reserves. Schiff also described requests to replace end‑of‑life radio equipment, expand the citywide Flock camera system (Chief: an additional 10 cameras to reach 28 total), upgrade tasers and Axon systems, and increase training capacity.

Recreation: Recreation staff (presented by Jackie/rec department) said the department seeks one additional permanent part‑time employee to support adult sports and program follow-up and showed a $53,000 increase in departmental salaries (staffing and seasonal payroll accounted separately). The department noted operating increases for contracted services and facility O&M.

Community development/planning: Contract planner Miguel Galvez (with JB Anderson) outlined an increase driven by long‑range work: a comprehensive general plan update (the city’s existing document dates to 1999), a housing element update (work underway with Rincon; state comments pending), and subsequent rezones, general plan amendments, and master plans (sewer, storm drain). Galvez said many planning and engineering costs are chargeable to applicants through deposit-based budgeting; he identified an overall increase in the department budget of about $524,000 but said much of that is tied to implementation activities.

Other budget notes and council questions

- Staff noted an errata/addendum to the posted budget for items received after the submission deadline; those items would be incorporated if the budget is adopted. - Finance staff said a $330,000 transfer to a revenue‑stabilization fund is being used to make up a projected shortfall driven by updated tax projections from HDL. - Councilmembers pressed departments for detail on specific line items: police rents and leases (Chief Schiff said the increase covers additional Flock cameras, taser lease and copier lease), recreation utilities, and community development negative fund balance in special revenue funds (staff said the negative balance is cumulative from prior years and that impact‑fee revenues should help reduce it). - Multiple councilmembers asked for follow‑up detail on staffing‑related savings and overtime assumptions, and for a “wants vs. needs” matrix to help prioritize discretionary items.

Decisions and next steps

No final vote on the FY2025–26 budget was taken at the June 3 workshop. Staff said they will return the proposed budget to the council for a possible recommendation or adoption at the regular meeting on June 17.

Speakers (attributed in article)

- Happy Baines, Finance Department (presenter) - Anthony Chavarria, Public Works (presenter) - Rick Schiff, Police Chief (presenter) - Deanna Soria, Police Department (budget staff/support) - Miguel Galvez, Contract Planner, JB Anderson (presenter) - Jackie (Jack Ybonois), Recreation Superintendent (presenter) - Jose Antonio Ramirez, City Manager (participated in discussion) - Councilmember Paul (questioning) - Councilmember Wallace (questioning) - Councilmember Oppal (present) - Councilmember Roth (present) - Mayor Pro Tem Semmer (present) - Mayor Moran (presiding)

Authorities

- statute: Assembly Bill 2561 — referenced later in the meeting by staff as local statutory context for a separate public hearing (referenced_by: ["ab2561-public-hearing"])

Actions

- No formal action on the FY2025–26 budget was taken on June 3. Staff scheduled the budget for return to the council on June 17 for recommendation/adoption.

Discussion vs. decision

- Discussion: Extensive departmental presentations and Q&A were workshop‑level briefings. Council members probed specific line items, staffing assumptions, and capital‑project prioritization. - Decision: None on the budget itself on June 3. The council voted later in the meeting on unrelated consent items and a separate AB 2561 resolution (see other article).

Clarifying details

- Deadline: “Fiscal year 25 26 budget must be adopted by 06/30/2025” (Happy Baines). - Budget period: 07/01/2025 through 06/30/2026. - Citywide proposed revenues: $64,800,000; citywide proposed expenditures: $75,400,000 (difference tied to capital projects). - General Fund: presented at about $9,600,000 in revenues and expenses; police share ~ $5.54M; admin services ~ $1.18M; transfers out ~$1.31M to subsidize community development and recreation.

Proper names

[{"name":"Livingston City","type":"agency"},{"name":"RecPlex","type":"facility"},{"name":"Measure L","type":"other"},{"name":"Measure V","type":"other"},{"name":"Springbrook","type":"other"},{"name":"HDL","type":"other"},{"name":"JB Anderson","type":"organization"}]

Community relevance

- Geographies: City of Livingston; Max Foster Sports Complex; Main Street (D to I Street) project corridor. - Funding sources referenced: state water project grant, revenue stabilization fund, CFD and LMD cost shares, Measure V, RMRA, general fund. - Impact groups: city residents (tax/property owners), police personnel, recreation program users, developers/applicants.

Meeting context

- Engagement level: Workshop presentation with multiple department heads and sustained council Q&A; several follow‑up information requests recorded. - Implementation risk: Medium — some capital projects dependent on outside grants, impact‑fee updates, and interagency approvals. - History: Recurring budget workshop; city must adopt budget by June 30, 2025.

Searchable_tags:["budget","FY2025-26","capital projects","police","public works","planning","recreation","Livingston"]

Provenance:{"transcript_segments":[{"block_id":"block_1598.225","local_start":0,"local_end":88,"evidence_excerpt":"Seeing none, closing the citizen comments of 5 55. Next, we have discussion and potential action items. Number 6, discussion on fiscal year 20 25 20 26 proposed budget.","tc_start":"00:26:38","tc_end":"00:26:48","reason_code":"topicintro"},{"block_id":"block_1616.57","local_start":0,"local_end":276,"evidence_excerpt":"Good evening, mayor. Mayor Pro Tempus absent. Members of the council, city staff, and members of the audience. My name is Happy Baines from the finance department. And today, we'll be bringing you the fiscal year 24 25, 26 proposed budget.","tc_start":"00:26:56","tc_end":"00:28:36","reason_code":"topicintro"},{"block_id":"block_4601.05","local_start":0,"local_end":110,"evidence_excerpt":"So just for mister Wallace, for your question for Jackie's current year to date for this fiscal year, Jackie is around around $4,041,000 dollars right now. So we anticipate she has 1 1 more month of June left estimating around $2,000 for that. So that's why we kept it at the savings at at the with the current's at right now. So that does conclude the presentation for the department heads.","tc_start":"01:16:41","tc_end":"01:16:56","reason_code":"topicfinish"}]}

salience:{"overall":0.86,"overall_justification":"Budget adoption is time‑sensitive (statutory deadline 06/30/2025), large dollar amounts and capital projects; multiple departments present and council follow‑up required."}