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Council narrows 2027–28 budget priorities: marina plan, public safety, reserves and modernization
Summary
In an interactive exercise, council members prioritized near-term budget goals for 2027–28: develop a marina master plan, expand public-safety staffing and traffic/pedestrian safety, strengthen fund-balance reserves, modernize technology and business systems for better reporting, and explore shared-service partnerships.
City staff opened the budget discussion and asked each council member to identify their top 3–5 priorities for the 2027–28 biennial budget. The city manager (speaker 3) reminded the council the discussion is near-term and high level; she also noted the budget timetable: a community budget town hall on Aug. 18 and a detailed budget workshop on Sept. 12 when numbers will be available.
Council responses coalesced around five priorities staff will advance in the next budget draft: 1) set a long-term direction for the marina by funding a marina master plan; 2) expand public-safety staffing and attack traffic and pedestrian-safety gaps with staffing and technology; 3) strengthen the fund-balance reserve to improve fiscal resilience; 4) modernize technology and business systems to improve reporting and asset-replacement scheduling; and 5) explore shared-service partnerships with nearby cities to seek efficiency and cost savings. Council members debated trade-offs between communications/staffing investments and bolstering reserves; the mayor emphasized that the list is not finalized and staff will return with tangible budget proposals in September.
