Oxnard staff present $659 million proposed FY2025-26 budget; wastewater projects drive borrowing

Javier Charo de Lacaro, chief financial officer for the City of Oxnard, presented the proposed fiscal year 2025-26 budget at a public hearing and recommended the City Council conduct the hearing and provide staff direction before final budget adoption on June 17, 2025.

The proposed consolidated budget forecasts $593,000,000 in total revenues and $659,000,000 in total expenditures for FY2025-26, resulting in a projected overall fund balance of $166,000,000 at year end. Charo de Lacaro said portions of the difference between revenues and expenditures will be funded from available fund balances and one-time items from the prior year.

The proposed general fund budget is balanced with revenues and proposed expenditures both at $243,600,000. Major revenue drivers identified by Charo de Lacaro are property tax (up $3,100,000 or 4.3%) and sales and use taxes — including Measure A, Measure E and a 1% Bradford Fund sales tax (sales-tax revenue up about $3,500,000 or 3.1%). He said miscellaneous income, including investment interest, also contributes to the general fund increase of $7,900,000 over the prior adopted budget.

Charo de Lacaro said the prior year included several one-time expenditures that affect year-over-year comparisons. The adopted FY2024-25 budget included a $20,000,000 payment toward pension debt recorded in the nondepartmental section; in FY2025-26 similar projects have been reallocated to the public support department, which increases that department’s reported expenditures.

Enterprise and capital funds show larger swings. The wastewater fund shows the largest projected decrease in fund balance, driven by capital project execution. Charo de Lacaro said the City has approved State Revolving Fund loans totaling $88,600,000 in low-interest financing to support wastewater-plant improvements. The proposed wastewater budget lists $45,000,000 in revenues and $87,500,000 in expenditures for a net drawing of $42,400,000 from fund balance, reducing the wastewater fund balance from $73,900,000 to an estimated $31,400,000 and placing it about $4,800,000 below the City Council’s 25% reserve target.

The water fund is projected to record $73,600,000 in revenues and $75,200,000 in expenditures for a net reduction of $1,600,000; the projected year-end fund balance of $10,500,000 is about $7,600,000 below the 25% enterprise reserve target, the presentation said. The environmental resources fund (which covers solid waste management) shows revenues of $68,700,000 and expenditures of $69,700,000 for a $1,000,000 net draw that would reduce that fund’s balance to an estimated $11,400,000, about $4,600,000 below the 25% reserve target the City Council established.

Measure-related and special funds also change materially. A half-cent sales tax fund described in the presentation had proposed revenues of $19,900,000 and expenditures of $29,200,000, producing a projected fund-balance decline from about $11,100,000 to $1,900,000; the presenter attributed the revenue decrease partly to repayment of a general-fund loan to the measure fund that completed in FY2024-25. The golf fund is projected to increase fund balance by about $500,000 to $5,900,000 after a new agreement with American Golf Corporation to manage the course.

Charo de Lacaro reiterated staff’s recommendation that the City Council hold the public hearing and provide direction on any adjustments needed before the council’s scheduled final budget adoption on June 17, 2025. The presentation did not record a council vote or other formal action in the transcript provided.