Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the City Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Council outlines FY26 budget priorities; proposal to redistribute Hilton Village event support
Summary
City council members previewed the FY26 budget review process and discussed redistributing existing festival support for Hilton Village events and continued microgranting through council contingency.
City Council members discussed next steps for the fiscal year 2026 operating budget and raised a proposal to redistribute current city support for a single Hilton Village event across several neighborhood festivals.
At the May 13 work session, the mayor summarized five budget-building priorities staff will examine as FY26 planning proceeds: a vacant position review, potential support for the Peninsula Airport Commission, a target of at least a 3% reduction as part of tax planning, and a potential 5% reduction in operating overhead across departments (excluding salaries) contingent on external funding changes. "So those are the 5 or 6 categories," the mayor said while previewing the approach to next year's budget timetable.
Councilman Coleman, speaking about Hilton Village, proposed the city redistribute existing support for one annual, city-supported event so the funds could be shared among four major community events in Hilton Village — spring festival, fall festival, Fourth of July parade and the weekly farmers market. "If we took that support from the one event and then dispersed it among the other four major events, I think that would ... enhance quality of life for our citizens," Coleman said, urging staff and council to consider the change; he said the funding is already in the budget and suggested an internal reallocation rather than new funds.
Several council members said they support expanding district events and festival funding to benefit small businesses and neighborhoods across the city. Council members also discussed continuing the council contingency process for microgrants to local nonprofits. Vice Mayor Bethany outlined a process to circulate signatures for the current set of requests; the mayor will read those at the next council meeting and council will vote at a subsequent meeting to finalize awards.
What happens next: staff will incorporate the mayor's budget categories into FY26 planning and council members asked staff to follow up quickly on scheduling and communications with neighborhood event organizers. No formal budget decisions were made at the work session.
