Palm Desert presents balanced $109M budget; Measure G revenue to fund public safety and major capital projects

Veronica Chavez, director of finance, told the City Council that staff is proposing a balanced Fiscal Year 2025–26 budget with a modest surplus and an estimated $109 million in revenues and expenditures. "Most notable in the budget is the revenue from the passage of measure g," Chavez said, linking a year-over-year revenue jump to that new district 1% sales tax.

Staff identified sales tax (including Measure G), transient occupancy tax and property tax as the top three revenue drivers. Chavez said the sales-tax forecast relies on the city’s sales tax administrator and that Measure G lacks a local history, so staff is using administrator projections for 25-26 until local data accumulate.

The proposal includes roughly $24 million in Measure G transfers to projects and programs identified in the city’s five-year plan. Major allocations noted in the presentation include funds for Fire Station 102, upgrades to the Desert Willow facility, an accelerated library project and transfers to support operations at the aquatic center and library. Chavez summarized the operating picture as showing a general-fund surplus of about $312,000 while noting that CIP and transfer obligations will draw on fund balances in later years.

City staff emphasized the multi-year view: a 10-year cash-flow illustration presented to council shows the reserve balance dipping in '27–'28 as capital projects proceed, but staff said the plan keeps discretionary reserves above typical peer minima for the near term. Council members sought checkpoints for questions throughout the presentation and staff flagged page numbers in the budget packet for reference.

The council did not take formal action at the study session; staff said a public hearing is scheduled to be noticed June 15 with adoption planned for June 27 if the schedule holds.