Pacific Grove amends budget to pay $142,000 for fire station alerting upgrade

The Pacific Grove City Council on Oct. 15 approved an amendment to the fiscal year 2025-26 operating and capital projects budget to fund an upgrade of in-station emergency alerting at the city's fire station.

The council voted unanimously by voice (approved without recorded roll-call; recorded as unanimous) to move roughly $42,000 in additional funding into the project so the city can proceed with an upgraded alerting system that staff said will standardize the station's equipment with other stations in the shared Monterey system.

Mister Mogensen presented the item to the council and said the project was included in the city's capital improvement program with an original budget of $100,000. He told the council that the contractor revised its quote upward because of tariff and wage-rate increases. "This is one of those things that... it does have life safety implications," Mogensen said, urging the council to approve the additional funding so the fire station can receive the same alerting capability used across the other stations.

During public comment Miss Doomer criticized the planning process and said prior assessment should have avoided later cost increases; she told the council the city manager had not read the full report and said better planning would have saved money. The council discussed funding and procedures; Council Member Garfield asked whether Fund 12 (described in the meeting as a fire facilities fund) would be depleted and what would be delayed if the money were used. Staff responded that Fund 12 is a set-aside for fire facilities and maintenance, that it does not have ongoing dedicated revenue streams, and that it would need replenishment in the future but that the current use would not foreclose any specifically earmarked project.

The ordinance title read into the record was: "An ordinance of the City Council of the City of Pacific Grove, amending the operating and capital projects budget for fiscal year 2025-26." Council approved the ordinance and actions tied to the project by voice vote.

Next steps: staff will proceed with the contract at the revised price; staff noted the funding will come from the fire facilities fund (Fund 12) rather than the general fund. The city said the additional cost will not require a general fund appropriation at this time and that staff will bring any needed replenishment strategy for Fund 12 back to council as appropriate.