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Goleta presents preliminary two‑year budget; council debates pavement funding levels and trade‑offs
Summary
City staff presented a preliminary two‑year operating budget and five‑year forecast; council members praised recent high levels of pavement investment but debated whether proposed baseline funding of roughly $6.0–6.2 million per year is adequate and requested additional analysis and options.
City finance staff presented a preliminary two‑year operating budget and five‑year forecast. Finance Director Luke Riu (presentation lead) told council the draft budget is structurally balanced for the next two fiscal years but cautioned it is constrained longer term: ongoing revenues cover current service levels, but addressing deferred maintenance and expanded services will require trade‑offs or new revenues.
Key staff points: transaction/use (sales) tax is now the city’s largest revenue source and is sensitive to consumer behavior; staff proposed matching one‑time revenues with one‑time expenditures and maintaining reserve targets. The budget includes the sheriff contract, library and community center contributions, homelessness strategic plan funding, a $400,000 allocation in both years for economic development and childcare (staff proposed status quo continuation), and a recommendation to temporarily defer a $250,000 annual general‑fund contribution to the housing‑in‑lieu fund for two years to help balance priorities.
Pavement funding was a central focus. Staff presented scenarios discussed previously: the city programmed an unusually large paving investment for the current year (carryover and projects) and proposed approximately $6.2 million for FY 2025–26 as a baseline. Council members stressed the industry evidence that underfunding pavement now raises future reconstruction costs, and several urged either steady multi‑year commitments higher than $6.2 million or exploring dedicated revenues. Mayor Pro Tem Kazdin and others noted earlier presentations showing a $19 million annual need to maintain a higher Pavement Condition Index target, while staff reminded the council that an $11 million federal grant for a multimodal project remains pending and that carryover and year‑end balances could be used toward capital obligations if the grant does not materialize.
Several council members asked staff to analyze additional revenue options and to bring back more detail at the May CIP workshop; staff said a detailed CIP report will be provided in the next scheduled workshop and that year‑end estimates will reveal additional one‑time resources that could be allocated. Council members also discussed workload and delivery concerns if funding were increased significantly in a single year; staff said in‑house capacity can support the planned work and that the city will use a mix of internal crews and contractors as needed.
Ending: No votes were taken on budget policy at this meeting; staff will return with a CIP workshop in May that includes a more detailed pavement plan and refined budget numbers for council consideration ahead of budget adoption in June.
