Updated City of Carpinteria assessments that would have fully funded city right-of-way landscaping services and berm costs did not pass, staff confirmed this week.
Unofficial results released earlier this month showed that both updated assessments were poised to fail.
The ballots, mailed to property owners in January, were weighted by proportional financial obligation. In both cases, the majority voted no.
Carpinteria’s $1.15 million cost of city right-of-way landscape services is currently only partially funded by fixed, per-parcel fees set in 1985.
Those fixed fees bring in $200,000 annually.
Right-of-way landscaping services cover city parking lots, trails and some well-traveled public streets, such as Casitas Pass Road and Carpinteria and Linden avenues. They also cover management for the city’s 2,763 public trees.
The roughly $900,000 difference comes out of the city’s discretionary funds, which are dwindling because city expenditures continue to outpace revenues.
The updated landscaping assessments would have applied citywide, with each assessment amount varying by parcel type and size.
The $80,000 cost of the city’s berm — a sandy beach structure that is constructed every winter to protect adjacent properties from storms — is funded by fixed assessments that were set in 1997.
Those assessments, paid by the owners of parcels located in the city’s Beach Neighborhood, bring in $20,000.
That difference is also pulled annually from the city’s discretionary funds.
The updated assessments would have moved away from that fixed structure. The parcels that receive the most benefit from the berm’s existence — essentially, those located closest to the berm and the beach — would have paid the most.
City staff had said during last year’s budget discussions that the city would have to begin cutting programs and reducing staff by fiscal year 2028 if it couldn’t find funding for those services.
Continually pulling from the city’s discretionary funds without replenishing them is unsustainable, staff said.
Assistant City Manager Ryan Kintz reiterated that on Monday.
With the updated assessments, “we weren’t trying to tax our way out of anything,” Kintz said. “We were simply just trying to ensure that the revenue that’s coming in matches what it costs to provide those services.”
He called the assessments not passing “a big hit to the city.”
The city is going to face major fiscal challenges in the coming years, he said, “especially if we don’t proceed with some additional revenue, so longstanding, ongoing revenue generation.”
That includes reprioritizing funding for some programs and services. Some larger projects or services are supported by dedicated funding sources or grants, which can’t be used for general services such as right-of-way landscaping.
Kintz said the council could consider reducing the frequency of landscape maintenance by delaying tree trimming cycles or slowing staff response times for tree damage.
Councilmember Mónica Solórzano called the updated landscape assessment a “fairly minimal increase” for an assessment that hadn’t been raised since the 1990s.
She said members of the public must understand “that if there is less street maintenance going on, then that’s one of the very natural consequences of having voted against this assessment.”
The council asked staff to look into ways to reduce berm costs without violating the permits already in place.
Councilmembers also asked if the berm could be left up year-round, to minimize the costs of construction and takedown.
But leaving it up all year would require another expensive set of permitting and environmental review processes, staff said.
City Manager Michael Ramirez said the city is belt-tightening, but without additional revenues and rising expenditures, it’s difficult.
He likened it to cutting a gym membership one year to try and save costs, only to have to cut the healthcare the year after, because while revenues have remained the same, the cost of living keeps going up.
“You can’t belt-tighten your way out of those types of trajectories, where your expenses are just going up,” he said.