Porterville committee approves quarterly reports and forwards proposed Measure H, I budgets to council

The Porterville Measure H/I Oversight Committee on an unspecified date reviewed fourth-quarter spending and the proposed budgets for the 2025–26 fiscal year for Measure H and Measure I, heard department updates on police equipment purchases, fire training and station projects, and approved the committee reports to forward to city council.

Committee members and staff said the police department incurred several one-time and recurring costs during the fourth quarter, including a portion of a Lumen Flex payment and a scheduled Axon equipment payment for body cameras, in-car systems, drones and cloud storage. Police staff said the Axon payment recorded in the quarter was about $272,000, of which roughly $40,000 was charged to Measure H and about $231,000 to Measure I. The department also reported expanding its SWAT unit to 20 personnel from 12 and adding covert equipment with a small fourth-quarter charge described as “about $8–9.”

“Axon covers our body cameras, the software, the drones, our fleet and car camera system, taser equipment, and our cloud-based storage,” Police Captain Josh Menas said while describing the line items. Menas also said the department had begun upgrades to the emergency operations center and recorded a Measure I charge of roughly $54,000 for that work; he said that expense is reimbursable through the California Office of Emergency Services.

Deputy Fire Chief Dave Rossman and other fire officials briefed the committee on capital timing and projects. Rossman said the department holds about $700,000 in capital as tools and equipment tied to a new ladder truck and two engines; equipment purchases are being timed to coincide with vehicle deliveries. He described a new live-fire training tower — built by Dräger and described by staff as the largest such tower in California — and said remodeled training classrooms will serve as a temporary station when Station 72 is rebuilt.

“We’re hoping that we will take delivery of the new ladder truck at the end of the year,” Rossman said. He said the Station 72 remodel is projected at about $3.6 million and that Station 72’s crews will occupy the remodeled training classrooms while construction proceeds.

Staff presented the proposed 2025–26 Measure H budget starting balance at $5.2 million and estimated Measure H revenues of about $5.4 million, which staff described as roughly 10% lower than the prior revised estimate. The proposed Measure H allocation shown in the packet included approximately $2.5 million for police services (about 43% of Measure H), $2.4 million for fire services (about 41%), and $678,400 for library and literacy programs (about 11.5%). Capital items listed under Measure H included a police generator replacement (about $140,000) and signal preemption equipment (about $80,000).

For Measure I, staff reported an estimated available balance of roughly $15.6 million and estimated revenues of about $11 million, also down around 10%. The proposed Measure I budget included roughly $6.3 million for police services (about 25% of Measure I) and $3.5 million for fire services (about 27%). Staff identified a planned new park and community center with about $1.1 million in Measure I funds, a sports-complex master plan item shown at $15,900, and a suite of street projects totaling roughly $10 million (about 39% of Measure I).

Staff also described a new trail maintenance program budgeted at $150,000 per year for three years. The committee was told the trail-maintenance funding will be tracked in Measure I but reimbursed by Measure R, meaning Measure I will be reimbursed by Measure R for those trail maintenance costs.

Public-works staff reported street-maintenance output for the quarter, saying the department self-performed 9.74 lane miles in the quarter and reached 100% of self-performed projects for the fiscal year. The streets presentation included a quarterly tally of pothole repairs and painted markings.

Committee members asked about enforcement and long-term upkeep for new trails, and police staff described direct enforcement options — patrol checks, citations and towing — and noted design and built-in safety features are considered during trail development.

The committee approved the meeting minutes and moved to approve the Measure H and Measure I reports as presented. Both reports were approved by committee vote, recorded in the meeting as passing by a 2–0 tally. The committee also moved to accept the review report on Measure H and Measure I for the coming budget cycle; that motion likewise passed as recorded.

The packet presented to the committee is scheduled to go to the Porterville City Council for consideration on Sept. 2 as the proposed budget; staff said any council direction at that hearing could change the proposal before adoption at a later meeting.