Santa Barbara’s financial outlook is good but tempered, according to city leaders, who on Thursday celebrated completed projects and looked forward to adding more to that list.
Business leaders, city officials and members of the public gathered for the annual State of the City address at the Fess Parker Doubletree Resort, where Santa Barbara Chamber of Commerce CEO and President Ken Oplinger welcomed attendees to the event hosted jointly with the city.
Before getting into the nitty-gritty of finances, Mayor Helene Schneider briefed the crowd on Santa Barbara’s commitment to showcasing the arts in museums as well as in theaters and on the streets.
“I can’t wait to hear what our creative community comes up with next,” she said, playfully setting up a planned — albeit left out from the morning program — performance by five members of the Opera Santa Barbara.
With the audience’s full attention, Schneider said the arts industry has an estimated $124-million impact to the Santa Barbara region.
She highlighted the city’s efforts to withstand the ongoing drought by restarting the desalination facility, improving infrastructure and making strategic state water purchases.
Executive hires including the interim police chief and library director were also key, she said, noting a nationwide search for a permanent police chief was receiving quite a bit of input from the public.
Ongoing police officer vacancies would hopefully be addressed soon, Schneider said, calling new Community Resource Officers a great, cheaper way to patrol State Street and respond to the numerous calls for disturbances involving homeless people.
A new noise ordinance and improved sidewalks were mentioned, as was the Bicycle Master Plan and whether the city will move forward to create a dedicated bike lane on Micheltorena Street to connect the Westside and downtown, a decision that was recently delayed after a threat of litigation.
City Administrator Paul Casey, who oversees a $300-million budget, 1,000 full-time employees and over 500 hourly staff, said the general fund was in good financial shape with revenues — sales, transient occupancy and property taxes — that have more recently slowed.
The city’s reserves are fully funded for the first time since 2005, he said.
“Sales tax growth has been good but not as strong as expected,” Casey said, identifying online sales as a reason why the tax grew less than 3 percent last year.
He said TOT was nothing short of stellar, but it’s also seen a drop as of late. He attributed the change to the Sandman Inn and Santa Barbara Inn closing up shop — the latter only temporarily — but failed to mention the hit the city will take when it stops allowing short-term vacation rentals to operate outside residential zones.
Santa Barbara believes 31 cruise ships visiting each year outside peak summer travel is the sweet spot, Casey said, which generates about $450,000 annually in revenues.
When the Santa Barbara City Council sees a draft budget April 19, he asked attendees to be engaged in discussions to address infrastructure maintenance, the need for a new $80-million police station and other issues they care about.
The mayor thanked everyone for their patience related to Lower State Street construction of the Cabrillo Bridge and La Entrada development, which will boast 123 hotel rooms, commercial space and a 264-space parking structure when it’s completed in summer 2017.
Schneider said the city would work to launch special efforts to replace aging pipes in light of recent water main breaks, explaining that so far Santa Barbara replaces 1 percent of that aging water infrastructure each year.
“One could say our city is itself a work of art,” she said. “We each play many roles in this screenplay. Like a work of art, we have different interpretations but all agree Santa Barbara is worth showcasing.”
— Noozhawk staff writer Gina Potthoff can be reached at gpotthoff@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.