Goleta Officials Project New Budget Will Break Even
http://www.noozhawk.com/noozhawk/article/060809_goleta_officials_project_new_budget_will_break_even/
By Kenny Lindberg, Noozhawk Intern
Higher median income and a strong demand for housing are likely to keep the city on track financially despite California's budget woes
Goleta officials predicted Friday at the city’s second annual State of the City luncheon that their proposed budget will break even, despite the economic crisis plaguing California.
The city expects a 10 percent loss in funds, but credits the escalating demand for housing, its relatively high median household income and future developments as key reasons Goleta’s fiscal situation will remain steady next year.
“We’re doing our part to balance our budget,” Goleta Mayor Roger Aceves told a packed luncheon, sponsored by the Goleta Valley Chamber of Commerce at the Elks Lodge. “I wish the state would do the same.”
California is wrestling with a persistent $24.3 billion shortfall, and it may decide to borrow $440,000 from Goleta to help solve its short-term crisis. The loan would have to be repaid within three years.
But Sacramento also might take the sales tax Goleta generates from gasoline receipts. That proposal carries an additional advantage for the state, as it will not be required to repay those monies.
Neither state proposal has been calculated into Goleta’s planned budget. If the proposals are implemented, Goleta most likely would fall in the red.
“We must urge our state to not take our funds,” Aceves said.
City Manager Dan Singer indicated that despite the downturn in national real estate sales, Goleta’s “home values remain high due to slow growth and high demand.”
Singer said that unlike a city such as Riverside, Goleta can’t expand as rapidly, which increases demand for housing in the coastal community.
Officials estimate that Goleta’s average household income is $97,000 per year, or about 18 percent above Santa Barbara County’s average. That statistic translates into more tax dollars that the city can use to stay out of the red.
Singer also noted that Goleta has just approved three new signature hotels, which will help provide income through the transit occupancy tax, or bed tax. Although Goleta has seen a 7 percent decline in hotel occupancy, the numbers still stand strong at 65 percent.
City Councilman Eric Onnen, who is to succeed Aceves as mayor in December, says there is “great potential to come out of this (recession) in a very good spot, with more benefits to the consumer and to the community.”
Sales tax receipts also are a major revenue source for the city. Camino Real Marketplace recently added Best Buy to its list of high-profile tenants, which will help Goleta during this year’s economic slowdown.
Officials say that in the short term, property taxes will see modest gains of 1 percent to 2 percent. Reductions in spending, personnel and services also will have to be made, but officials expect the city to overcome those temporary shortfalls.
“We’ll get though this economic downturn,” Singer said.
Goleta TV will rebroadcast Friday’s event on Channel 19 at 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays beginning June 12, and again through August.
In addition to Aceves and Onnen, dignitaries on hand included Goleta Council members Michael Bennett, Margaret Connell and Ed Easton; 3rd District Supervisor Doreen Farr; Santa Barbara Mayor Marty Blum and Santa Barbara Council members Dale Francisco, Roger Horton and Helene Schneider; and representatives of Assemblyman Pedro Nava, D-Santa Barbara, state Sen. Tony Strickland, R-Moorpark, and Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara.
Sponsors of the event, which drew more than 250 people, included Noozhawk, Allied Waste Services, ATK Space, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, Business First Bank, Cabrillo Business Park, Haagen Printing, MarBorg Industries, Pacific Coast Business Times, Santa Barbara Airport, Santa Barbara Bank & Trust, Santa Barbara Daily Sound, SBParent.com, Synergy Computing, Towbes Group and Venoco Inc..
— Noozhawk intern Kenny Lindberg can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
http://www.noozhawk.com/noozhawk/article/060809_goleta_officials_project_new_budget_will_break_even/