This is no time for local governments to be comfortable with their finances. 

That was one of the themes shared by Robert Nisbet, Goleta’s city manager, at the Santa Barbara South Coast Chamber of Commerce’s State of the City luncheon on Friday. 

The luncheon, held at the Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort at 633 E. Cabrillo Blvd., is an annual event hosted by the Chamber of Commerce.

“Together we can shape what happens here, and that work — our shared work — is worth doing,” said Kristen Miller, president and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce.

Mayors also shared a roadmap of what each city has accomplished during the past year.

Santa Barbara Mayor Randy Rowse highlighted city achievements such as full water reservoirs and new airport routes and upcoming projects such as the State and Carrillo streets intersection painting project.

From Goleta, Mayor Paula Perotte said the state of the city “is very strong.” 

She listed city highlights including repairing roadways, the two new roundabouts and the upcoming Goleta Train Depot, set to open in summer 2027.

She also highlighted the city’s current housing projects, including the conversion of the former Super 8 Motel into permanent supportive housing. 

“When employees can live where they work, especially our first responders, we all benefit,” she said.

Carpinteria’s accomplishments were centered on partnership, Mayor Natalia Alarcon said. 

The Carpinteria City Council established the Immigration Support Services grant after seeing the fear local residents had because of increased immigration enforcement, she said. The grant gave one-time funds to local immigrant activist organizations.

Attendees also heard from the three cities’ managers — Nisbet, Kelly McAdoo and Michael Ramirez — about housing and upcoming initiatives. 

While each city faces its own specific set of challenges, one issue is the same across the three: Expenses are going up faster than revenues. 

For Carpinteria, it faces a challenge with public understanding of projects and priorities, Ramirez said. 

He said that almost all of the city’s capital improvement projects have restricted or semi- restricted funds, which means that the money set aside for that project can go toward only that one project.

“Unfortunately, none of those have included pavement,” he said, “so that is creating some frustration among our residents and to where they are actually upset with the projects we are doing.”

In Santa Barbara, McAdoo said the city faces a structural budget deficit. 

She said, however, that had people not voted for Measure I, a sales tax increase, the city would be in a worse position. 

“We would have been facing layoffs and reductions to city services,” she said. 

A plan for the coming years for the city will be to create a short-term strategy to balance the budget.

A couple of months ago, the city’s general fund, which funds public safety, parks and recreation, among other departments, was facing a $14.6 million deficit.

At the time, the Santa Barbara City Council had approved city staff to pursue a real property transport tax increase on the November ballot.

However, as of Thursday, the city does not plan to pursue the tax measure, and the deficit is now at $3.6 million, McAdoo announced, eliciting applause from the crowd.

“It’s precariously balanced, and we have got a lot of work to do,” she said. 

For Goleta, the budget is stable but “shaky,” Nisbet said.

Goleta also won’t be putting a tax measure on the ballot this year, he said, eliciting applause once again from attendees. 

How Are Cities Stimulating the Local Economy?

The Good Land is becoming technology land.

Google purchased a facility in the city last year, Nisbet said.

“This is big for Goleta,” he said. “These dots are not random. There is something in the air.”

Additionally, about two weeks ago, Nisbet said Goleta had “one of the biggest property transactions ever in the county … $235 million and 41% of Goleta’s business parks were bought and sold. I don’t know (exactly why), but something is going on.”

For Carpinteria, Ramirez said the city is focused on bolstering its downtown area.

“We have had some businesses that are recently going out of business, and within two weeks, we have people that are interested in coming in,” he said.

Santa Barbara will be performing an ordinance audit that will survey every ordinance. McAdoo acknowledges that they do some good but have brought some unintentional consequences.  

The survey will look at how those ordinances can be changed to streamline processes.

What Are Cities Doing About Housing?

A big topic of Friday’s luncheon was about housing and how the South Coast can provide housing for the growing workforce. 

The cities’ managers shared status updates on each city’s housing progress. Some said they are a little behind on the Regional Housing Needs Allocation cycle.

In the current sixth cycle, which runs from 2023-31, Santa Barbara has more than 2,300 units in the pipeline, while Goleta and Carpinteria have more than 400 units. 

Additionally, all three cities reported accessory dwelling units as steady contributions to housing.

“(But) it’s not going to solve the housing problem,” Nisbet said.

While Goleta presented at Friday’s luncheon, it has scheduled its own state of the city event for 5 p.m. Wednesday at the Goleta Community Center.