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Laguna Beach outlines $2 million-plus shortfall; staff floats 2% hotel-tax and 1% local sales-tax options

City of Laguna Beach (town hall) · February 20, 2026
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

City Manager Dave Kiff and staff told residents the general fund faces roughly a $2 million shortfall and presented two voter-approved options — a 2% transient-occupancy tax increase (estimated ~$3 million annually) and a 1-point local sales tax (estimated ~$7.8 million) — while also proposing $4 million in operational reductions.

City Manager Dave Kiff said the City of Laguna Beach expects roughly $98 million in general-fund expenditures against about $96 million in general-fund revenues, creating a structural gap the city must close.

Rob Kurinke, a city staff member leading the revenue discussion, described two voter-approval options the council could place on the ballot: a transient-occupancy tax (hotel tax) increase and a locally controlled sales tax increase. "A 2% increase to the TOT would be anticipated to generate about…

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