Woodland Hills finance committee recommends 2025–26 budget after discussion of roads, fire equipment and legal costs

The Woodland Hills Finance Committee voted to recommend the citys draft fiscal year 2025—6 budget to the full city council after reviewing revenue estimates and proposed increases to several expense categories, including roads, fire equipment and legal defense funds.

The committees review focused on why some operational accounts are ahead or behind typical year-to-date spending and on a handful of larger one-time or capital needs. "We are gonna have to open the budget to make several changes to individual line items," said Chris, a city staff member who presented the numbers, summarizing the committees reason for the mid-year adjustments.

Committee members said the largest near-term concerns are (1) public-safety cashflow tied to out-of-state fire deployments and reimbursements; (2) a multi-year plan for roads that could total roughly $2 million over coming years; (3) funding to restore legal-defense reserves that have been partly exhausted by a string of related lawsuits; and (4) continued…