Nearly a week after it held a special budget workshop, the Goleta Water District’s board of directors unanimously approved on Tuesday a $25.6 million budget for fiscal year 2010-11.

“This budget was prepared in the most open and transparent process yet,” board President Bill Rosen said in a news release. “The budget was a very careful balancing of projected revenues and expenses in light of lower revenues in the current fiscal year.”

The district staff employed a number of devices to reduce its budget by about $2 million, including restructuring its debt and reducing expenditures associated with legal fees and Cachuma Operation and Maintenance Board expenses.

Breaking with the budget formulation process used in past years, General Manager John McInnes engaged staff in a ground-up structuring of this year’s budget, citing a need to start from scratch in order to remove inefficiencies.

“This budget allows us to live within our means and will serve as a sound foundation for managing our upcoming commitments, plans, projects and costs in a responsible and comprehensive manner,” he said in the statement.

— Noozhawk staff writer Ben Preston can be reached at bpreston@noozhawk.com.