Murrieta Measure T oversight committee receives FY24–25 report, reviews FY25–27 budgets and library loan plan

The Measure T Transaction and Use Tax Oversight Committee met Sept. 18, 2025 in Murrieta City Hall and received staff’s fiscal year 2024–25 Measure T budget-to-actual report while reviewing adopted Measure T operating budgets for fiscal years 2025–26 and 2026–27. The committee took no formal action on the report; the item was received and filed.

Javier Carcamo, director of finance, told the committee that Measure T year-to-date revenue as of June 2025 totaled approximately $28,300,000 and that figure represents about 102% of the amended revenue budget. “Please note as I share with you, audit is not complete yet,” Carcamo said, warning the figures are preliminary and subject to change once auditors finish their work.

Carcamo said the city originally adopted a Measure T revenue budget of $31,400,000, later amended downward (first to about $29,000,001 and then to $27,900,000). He described Measure T revenue as broadly steady over recent years, with average monthly collections that staff said are about $2,300,000 and the largest taxable sectors being general consumer goods (~28%), auto sales (~22%) and online sales (~15%).

On expenditures, staff reported year-to-date Measure T spending of about $25,100,000 for FY2024–25 (roughly 109% of the amended expenditure budget). Carcamo attributed much of the variance to personnel costs, reporting year-to-date personnel spending of about $14,100,000 and citing negotiated salary increases, payouts for accrued leave on separations, rising insurance premiums and pension costs as drivers of the overrun.

Carcamo summarized key Measure T-funded accomplishments and near-term projects. Since Measure T’s inception staff said the fund has supported 67 authorized positions and that roughly 77% of Measure T spending has been directed to public safety. “With the Measure T fund, we are able to fund 67 positions since the beginning,” Carcamo said. Measure T also paid for replacements of 72 self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) units for the fire department, upgrades to radio and emergency software, police body-worn cameras and license-plate-reader equipment, police locker-room remodeling, and citywide facility repairs.

Staff described capital projects completed or under way with Measure T support, including the Town Square amphitheater parking and monument sign, City Hall annex reconfiguration, library roof and HVAC work, and planned projects such as a children’s-area expansion, Fire Station 1 sewer and building repairs, a citywide pickleball court project and Cow Oak Sports Park repairs. Carcamo said the city awarded a grant for a new mobile command center and that Measure T will provide about $120,000 as the local match for that purchase.

Carcamo also outlined a recently approved interfund loan approved by the City Council on Aug. 19: $3,500,000 would move from Measure T reserves to the library development impact fee fund as a 30-year loan at about 1% interest, with the loan to be repaid from the impact fee fund rather than general property-tax or general-obligation bonding. He said council also committed $1,075,000 to fully fund a library expansion project. “The loan…is a 30-year loan, for 1%,” Carcamo said, describing the approach as cost-effective compared with issuing lease-revenue or other bonds that would carry higher interest expense.

Committee members pressed staff on the mechanics and transparency of transfers and fund tracking. Vice President Panko asked whether a bond would appear on residents’ tax bills; Carcamo explained the approach is not a property-tax-backed general obligation bond but an interfund loan repaid by the designated impact-fee fund. Committee members also asked how purchases financed through the new fleet replacement fund will be tracked; staff said a $1,200,000 transfer into a fleet replacement fund will be recorded and traceable in the general ledger and that major purchases will be reported back to the committee.

Staff outlined the city’s projected reserves and fund-balance classification work: preliminary figures showed approximately $35,400,000 in total reserves, about $20,100,000 of which staff said was projected to be unassigned or available for future commitments, with staff continuing to finalize classifications with auditors.

The committee held the report as a receive-and-file item and did not take formal votes on Measure T allocations or the council-approved spending plan. Procedural motions to approve the meeting agenda and to pass the consent calendar were made and carried unanimously earlier in the meeting.

The committee adjourned after member announcements; staff said they will include the fund-balance tables and a year-end classification in the annual report to the committee and will continue reporting on purchases funded from Measure T and the fleet replacement fund.