The Santa Maria City Council and the public will receive a presentation on the draft proposed 2024-26 City Budget, and proposed fees for city services at the City Council meeting, 5:30 p.m. May 21 in Council Chambers, 110 E. Cook St.

The budget preview will be an opportunity to hear from each of the 10 city departments on their approach to addressing the City Council’s goals for 2024-26. 

Questions and comments on the budget will be recorded, and if appropriate will be addressed at the final budget hearing, 5:30 p.m. June 18.

The preliminary 2024-26 budget is online at https://tinyurl.com/3hwkbrpk.

The city said its goals are to maintain services and keep the workforce intact as much as possible. The proposed budget is $354.9 million in all operating funds across the 10 departments.

Expenditures are outpacing revenues in the General Fund and in Measure U, the city reports. All other funds are balanced.

Staff proposes to close the gap by drawing on $20.8 million reserves in 2024-25, and working on austerity measures for Fiscal Year 2025-26.

The public is encouraged to participate at the meetings, and/or watch the meetings via the City’s YouTube channel, or webstream at www.cityofsantamaria.org/tv, or watch on Comcast Cable Channel 23.

Meetings have live captioning (subtitles) in English and Spanish.