The Santa Barbara City Council held the first of eight budget hearings Wednesday, in its lead-up to formally adopting a comprehensive city spending plan for fiscal year 2017.
A handful of departments present their own fiscal year 2017 budgets during each hearing.
Kicking off the cycle were the City Administrator’s Office, the mayor and City Council, Administrative Services, and Finance and general government.
Finance Director Bob Samario laid out the big picture for the council at its April 19 budget overview meeting, explaining that there were no significant budgetary or program changes from before.
The total proposed fiscal year 2017 budget, which grows every year, totals $305.4 million, he said.
Some 41 percent comes from the city’s General Fund, another 41 percent from enterprise funds, 10 percent from special revenue funds, and 8 percent from internal service funds.
The city’s capital program comes out to $26 million, Samario said, and the number of positions at the city for the year is expected to reach 1,029 — a total that has gone up each year since 2013 due to increased revenues and recovery from the recession.
In June 2015, the council adopted a two-year budget plan for both 2016 and 2017.
The fiscal year 2017 hearings are an addendum to the 2017 plan laid out two years ago, Samario said, with the aim of avoiding larger budgetary changes every two years.
When the two-year plan was being drawn up, the city was projected to run a $1.2 million surplus, but lower revenues — particularly in sales and transient-occupancy taxes — have resulted in a $660,000 deficit, Samario said.
Balancing that will primarily be done by reducing capital programing and implementing a “hiring slowdown,” which will save money in part from salaries that would go to unfilled positions.
The General Fund, however, is still in “really good financial shape,” he said.
Fiscal year 2017 General Fund revenues come out to $127 million, two-thirds of which is coming from taxes, primarily from property, sales, and transient occupancy.
The city’s future funding outlook was a little “murky,” he added.
“We’re optimistic, but a little cautious as well,” Samario said.
Fiscal year 2017 expenditures total $126.1 million, over half of which is for police and fire services.
The Parks and Recreation Department makes up 14 percent of expenditures, Community Development another 9 percent, and Public Works another 7 percent.
Samario said that the city owns infrastructure assets worth over $1 billion, with much of the upkeep covered by service fees, voter-approved tax measures, and state and federal grant funds.
However, a large portion of the infrastructure, such as sidewalks and storm drains, does not have dedicated or adequate funding. That portion totals an estimated $400 million in unfunded liability over the next 20 years.
The mayor and City Council’s proposed budget was revealed to be just shy of $800,000. The governing body oversees the city’s contributions to local arts, festivals, and community promotion, which are planned to increase 3 percent next year to $2.6 million.
One of the many arts-related objectives staff outlined for the coming year is taking the first steps in developing a Cultural Arts Master Plan and opening discussions with community arts organizations.
The city administrator’s office laid out a $2.29 million budget. The biggest project the office has on deck for 2017 involves a one-time change-out of all of City TV’s equipment.
City TV broadcasts City Hall and government meetings on television on Cox channel 18 and on the city’s website. The roughly $440,000 upgrade would drop the old analog system in favor of a digital one.
The new system would stream meetings in high definition on the city’s website, but would require negotiations with Cox Communications in order to set up an HD channel.
The undertaking is being paid for with several-years’ worth of saved-up public, educational, and government access fees, or PEG fees, from cable bills.
The Administrative Services Department reported that fiscal year 2017 would see considerable labor-union negotiations. Department staff said that it plans to complete negotiations with the Police and Supervisors Union and begin discussions with general, hourly, and police management unions.
The IT segment of the department laid out its plan to update its self-described “outdated” filing system. Council members were at their most expressive and excited when they heard the department’s cyber security updates, which involved firewall tests that showed its security systems to be in great and improving shape.
The next budget hearing will be May 9 from 3 to 6 p.m. at City Hall, and will cover the City Attorney’s Office, the Community Development/successor agency, and the Library.
The council is expected to formally adopt the overall budget June 21.
— Noozhawk staff writer Sam Goldman can be reached at sgoldman@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.