Parlier council workshop: proposed budget shows $1.2 million next-year general fund deficit; council signals move of $1.9 million in ARPA to cover revenue loss
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Summary
At a July 8 budget workshop, Parlier staff projected a $1.2 million general fund shortfall next fiscal year and outlined options including using $1.9 million in ARPA funds as revenue replacement; council members discussed cuts, loans from enterprise funds and timing constraints tied to ARPA spending deadlines.
At a July 8 budget workshop, Parlier City staff presented a proposed fiscal year budget showing the general fund running a projected $1.2 million deficit next year and an overall combined shortfall of roughly $1.8 million when considered with the current-year deficit.
Finance Director Myra Escobedo told the council the city’s total projected general fund revenue for the coming year is about $6.1 million while total departmental expenses were listed at about $7.3 million. “The total expense, between all departments is 7,300,000.0, which brings the total general fund to be at a deficit this year projected to be at 1,200,000.0,” Escobedo said during the presentation.
Escobedo and City Manager Erin reviewed options for closing the gap. Staff framed three primary choices: transfer American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to cover revenue loss, implement across-the-board reductions (staff suggested up to 20 percent), or take a temporary loan from enterprise funds (staff suggested about 10 percent) and combine that with cuts. Escobedo said moving ARPA funds would be subject to federal expenditure deadlines and staff cautioned that some projects were not shovel-ready.
Council members debated using ARPA funds earmarked for a sports complex. Myra and city staff said $1.9 million of the city’s ARPA allocation was set aside for the Parlier Sports Complex and would need to be expended by December 2026. Staff recommended, and a majority of the council indicated support, for moving $1.9 million of ARPA funds from the sports-complex allocation into revenue replacement to cover ongoing deficits. Council members and staff discussed that the sports-complex project is likely not shovel-ready within the ARPA spending window — the land dispute tied to that project has a court date staff said is set for August 2026 — and that funds not spent by the federal deadline would have to be returned.
Council members who opposed moving the money said they wanted to hold funding for the sports complex given community interest and uncertainty over litigation outcomes. One councilmember asked staff to document a formal record of any dissent.
City staff said the ARPA funds being discussed are restricted by program rules and timing: “If we don’t spend it, whatever is not spent by December 26 goes back to the federal government,” the city manager summarized in the workshop.
Next steps: staff said they would prepare follow-up material, run numbers on the deficit and the options discussed, and pursue targeted reviews of contested expenditures and legal invoices raised at the meeting. The workshop concluded with a staff direction (informal at the workshop) to move forward with preparing for an ARPA transfer to revenue replacement, subject to final council action when staff returns with the formal budget and documentation.
The workshop record shows the presentation and follow-up discussion covered revenues, departmental expenses, and enterprise funds (water, wastewater, garbage), with staff emphasizing the timing constraints on ARPA funds and the potential need to combine measures to reduce the projected deficit.
