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Desert Hot Springs council adopts two‑year budget, approves union MOU and several fee and assessment measures
Summary
City Council unanimously approved a balanced two‑year budget for FY 2025–26 and 2026–27, ratified a three‑year memorandum of understanding with the Desert Hot Springs Employees Union, and adopted a 2.9% CPI adjustment to user fees plus three local assessment levies to fund landscaping, lighting and drainage.
The Desert Hot Springs City Council on June 17 adopted a two‑year operating and capital budget for fiscal years 2025–26 and 2026–27 and approved related fiscal measures, voting unanimously on each item.
The adopted budget projects general‑fund revenues of about $30.88 million and expenditures of $30.7 million in 2025–26, producing a modest $91,000 addition to the fund balance, staff said. Administrative Services Director Jeffrey Buckheim told the council the city’s largest revenue source remains sales and use taxes, including the recently implemented 1% transactions and use tax.
Council also received a closed‑session report that it had voted 5–0 to approve a memorandum of understanding between the City of Desert Hot Springs and the Desert Hot Springs Employees Union for a term running July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2028. The city attorney said the MOU contains amendments affecting salary and shift provisions and that the fully executed agreement will be made public.
In related fiscal actions, council adopted a 2.9% consumer‑price‑index adjustment to selected user fees, a change staff said is intended to preserve the city’s cost‑recovery for services. Buckheim told the council the revised master fee schedule had been circulated to the Desert Valley Builders Association and to SoCalGas, which submitted questions and was ultimately satisfied.
The council also approved three assessment levies: Lighting and Landscaping Maintenance District No. 1 (estimated district cost about $1.8 million with the annual levy producing roughly $575,000), Lighting and Landscaping Maintenance District No. 2 (estimated $348,000 annual levy), and Drainage Assessment District No. 1 (estimated $229,000 annual levy). Buckheim said the general fund will subsidize the remaining required maintenance costs.
During the budget hearing, resident Robert Row asked how the city prioritizes repaving and whether specific corridors such as Little Morongo and Pearson Boulevard are scheduled for resurfacing. Public works staff said the city is finalizing a pavement management plan that will rank street segments, identify funding sources and present a multi‑year schedule; staff also said the city will use web and social channels and a forthcoming mailed newsletter to communicate project schedules to residents.
Councilmember Jan Pi, Councilmember Dirk Voss and others thanked staff for the budget’s conservative approach and for outreach efforts tied to the city’s strategic plan. The budget resolution passed by unanimous roll call.
The council also voted to receive and file the AB 2561 report on vacancies and recruitment; staff reported 128 authorized full‑time positions, 16 distinct vacancies posted in calendar year 2024 and 30 hires during that period, and described recruitment and retention efforts including competitive compensation, bilingual incentives and in‑person onboarding.
The council approved these items by unanimous votes at the June 17 meeting. The two‑year budget and adopted fee and assessment measures will guide city spending and capital projects in the coming fiscal cycle.
