Foster City staff outline biennial budget and a larger CIP driven by parks master plan

Foster City staff presented a study‑session overview of the city and district biennial budget for fiscal years 2026–27 and 2027–28, emphasizing capital needs driven by an updated parks master plan and an evolving transition to electric vehicles in the city fleet.

Nate Cruz, the finance director, said the city is proposing a biennial budget with no new utility rates for now and a separate timetable for parks fees. On the capital side, Cruz recommended a transfer from the general fund to the capital improvement program starting at $5,650,000 in the first year with annual increases of $150,000 that would stabilize near $6,500,000, noting that updated parks project estimates added about $8,500,000 to the 15‑year CIP. "We're recommending a transfer from the general fund of 5,650,000 in the first year and increasing that by 150,000 per year... and then it stabilizes at $6,500,000," Cruz said.

Public‑works staff presented the proposed five‑year CIP of 57 projects. Andrew Busciano, public‑works director, told the council the list includes ongoing pavement preservation work and larger projects such as signal upgrades, the police department roof and water infrastructure. Council members probed whether CIP line items could be transferred if a larger police‑department renovation proceeds and asked about staffing and the use of on‑call consultants to help deliver projects. Busciano said staff will use on‑call agreements for design, construction management and inspection and acknowledged the program is aggressive.

Council members asked about several high‑cost items: a placeholder of roughly $8,000,000 for lagoon dredging pending a bathymetric survey and environmental permitting, a $3.5 million Catamaran Park improvement project that includes sports‑lighting and geese mitigation, and an almost $8,000,000 signalization program that covers phased controller and hardware replacement across roughly two dozen intersections. Staff said the lagoon dredging scope will be informed by an upcoming survey and RFP and that the placeholder will be adjusted when the study provides clearer scope and cost.

The vehicle replacement fund report noted higher replacement costs driven by conversion to electric medium and heavy vehicles to comply with state regulations; staff cautioned that some operational questions remain about battery capacity for emergency use and said costs were set at market rates and may be reduced through bidding or state contract piggybacking.

The IT internal service fund presentation described a roughly $1.07 million increase in internal service expenditures for 2026–27 tied to two major projects: an enterprise resource planning/financial system replacement and physical security upgrades to city buildings. Staff also noted IT projects planned for the second year, including server replacement and a website migration to a .gov domain. A public commenter earlier in the meeting had asked why the city reduced بعض IT security line items in recent budgets and whether the city carried cyber liability; staff advised that security matters would be addressed as part of follow‑up briefings and added the emergency closed session for the ransomware incident later in the meeting.

Council discussed alternatives for funding the 15‑year CIP strategy, including using part of reserve funds for upfront projects versus gradual annual increases, and asked staff to return with more detailed breakdowns and opportunities to prioritize and swap projects based on resident feedback.

Next steps: staff will return with a preliminary budget in May, additional parks and fee‑schedule work on the parks timetable in April/May, and more detailed project priorities and funding options ahead of final budget adoption in mid‑June.