Candidates for three seats on the Santa Maria City Council offered up their ideas for solving the budget woes during a forum last week at Allan Hancock College’s Patty Boyd Hall.

Incumbent Gloria Soto is seeking a third term but has been challenged by Corby Poulis Sr., a small business owner, for the District 3 seat representing southwest areas of the city.

Local business owner Vincent Martinez and military retiree Tyler Barksdale are running for the District 4 seat to represent the southeast areas of the city. Incumbent Maribel Aguilera-Hernandez is not running for re-election since she is seeking the Fifth District seat on the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors. 

For council’s District 1 seat, three people are running for the rare two-year term created by the abrupt resignation of Carlos Escobedo in the spring.

Appointed incumbent Ricardo “Richard” Batalla, Celest Mendoza, a nonprofit manager, and Gary Janek Michael, a small business owner, are the trio vying for the seat representing the northwest neighborhoods. 

Questions spanned from the city’s budget woes, immigration role, public safety and youth programs in Santa Maria, the largest city in Santa Barbara County.

Not surprisingly, most of the focus centered on the city’s finances, including the huge deficit and Measure C sales tax hike proposal to help generate approximately $13 million annually.

Poulis promoted “a common sense and realistic approach” to solving the financial woes, suggesting reviewing each line item.

“We can’t take money that is one-time funds that we get, either state or federal, and use them to fund long-term projects that we can’t afford,” Poulis said.

He blamed “less than stellar decisions” made by unnamed former department heads for the city’s financial woes. All prior spending plans had to be approved by the City Council.

Soto said she is proud of her work on the ad hoc budget committee alongside the mayor to reduce the budget deficit, but emphasized the solution shouldn’t rest on the employees who keep the city running. 

She added she supports developers paying their fair share, noting she often cast the lone vote against trimming project fees that help pay for essential services such as public safety and infrastructure.

“Because it’s taken so long to get full cost recovery there, that is also part of the reason why the city is in this structural deficit,” she added. 

When he joined the City Council, Batalla said, “Boy, did I walk into a mess in May.” He claimed city department heads were meeting quarterly at the time — “now they’re meeting monthly on the budget because of me.”

Staff must be held accountable for the budget, he said. “That hasn’t happened for a very long time,” Batalla added.

He said if Measure C doesn’t pass, the city would have to “lay off a lot of people in January.” 

Recognizing an increased sales tax will put pressure on community members, he said, “That’s not OK. Because why? Because the City Council failed to hold department heads accountable.”

While critical of past spending, Batalla still voted several weeks ago to raise the stipend of City Council members by 20%.

Mendoza called for making measurable milestones for services and projects to help get the budget under control.

“It’s going beyond just holding people accountable. I can say hold someone accountable all day long, but at the end of the day it’s actually coming up with ideas,” Mendoza added.

She called for the city to spend Measure C funds on road maintenance and facilities providing key services for youths, seniors and other residents. 

“At the end of the day it’s making sure that not only those who help run and facilitate our city are being able to provide that to our residents, but it is also having resident input,” she said.

Michaels contended the city needs to reinvent itself to improve its fiscal woes by creating new economies. This could include recruiting agricultural technology firms to the area. 

“Our structural problem is that we basically mismanaged the fund,” Michaels said, contending aggressively overspent General Fund monies once voters approved the tax hike for public safety budget. 

He also noted the City Council decision to hike employees’ salaries in early 2025. 

“It’s City Hall’s structural management that’s broken,” Michaels said, adding, “We really need to have a fiscal watchdog on the City Council, and that’s why I’m sitting here today.” 

For the District 4 race, Barksdale was not able to attend the forum Thursday night, a League of Women Voters of North Santa Barbara County member said to explain the absence.

Martinez, an attorney and Santa Barbara County Planning Commission member, provided a brief introduction, but was excused from participating in answering questions from the audience.

The top vote-getter of each race in the Nov. 3 election will take office in December, joining Mayor Alice Patino and Councilmember Gloria Flores on the City Council.