>> it is five o'clock.
I'm calling tonight's meeting to order. Please take a roll. >> council member shin? >> present.
>> council member burkholder. >> present. >> council member acosta. >> here. >> mayor pro tem bhat-patel.
>> here. >> mayor blackburn. >> present. All five council members are present. I have to read the following.
it's an announcement of concurrent meetings. The city council is serving as
the carlsbad municipal water district board of directors on consent calendar, item number 5.
the city council is serving as the city council and the carlsbad municipal water district board of directors,
the public finance authority, the community development commission,
and the city council as successor agency to the redevelopment agency on departmental and city manager's report, item number 11.
next is the pledge. Ms. Acosta, will you please lead us in the pledge.
>> yes. Please
stand, face the flag, hand on your heart, and recite with me.
>> >> was that echo on zoom?
next is presentations, we have three speakers who choose to speak on presentations.
we're going to call them at the beginning of the presentation, but the first presentation or proclamation is going to be for third grade.
if any of the three speakers want to speak on the proclamation for third graders,
then we're going to welcome you up. If not, then after the third grade proclamations are finished,
then we'll invite the speakers to come up for the other proclamation. If anybody's here to speak on the third grade proclamations as a public speaker,
please come to the podium. Seeing no one, we're going to continue on.
I'm going to invite ms. Acosta to do the first presentation.
>> great. Thank you. I will be reading the proclamation for carlsbad historic preservation month,
and I'd like to invite two of our commissioners forward. Look they already did it. Chad major, historic preservation commissioner
and patricia schriman, historic preservation commissioner. Thank you. I'll go ahead and read the proclamation,
and then you'll have an opportunity to say a few words. This proclamation is for carlsbad historic preservation month, may, 2025.
whereas historic preservation is an effective tool for managing growth and sustainable development,
revitalizing neighborhoods, fostering local pride, promoting tourism, and maintaining community character while enhancing livability.
and whereas historic preservation is relevant for communities across the nation,
americans of all ages and all ethnic backgrounds, and whereas it is important to celebrate
the role of history in our lives and the contributions made by dedicated individuals in helping to
preserve the tangible aspects of the heritage that has shaped us as people. And whereas, harnessing the power of place is the theme for
national historic preservation month and encourages people to celebrate the places that are meaningful to them and their communities.
now, therefore, I, council member teresa acosta, on behalf of the mayor and city council,
do hereby proclaim may, 2025, as carlsbad historic preservation month.
please sew words. >> thank you very much for that proclamation.
we'd like to thank all the students that participated in the art contest,
and we'd like to congratulate the winners. >> when you call up the students,
will you have them line up up here so then that we were prepared for a group picture right after?
>> certainly. >> we're on it. >> from aviara oaks elementary,
we have everlyn lacard. >> where's everlyn? Mom,
dad, you can take photos.
>> chaden ramalia.
next up from calavera hills is bangie santos.
>> wait, chad. One more. >> sorry. >> that's the important part, the parents too. Here you go.
>> ellie harding. >> go
get there with that nice lady.
>> haydn koniki. >> congratulations.
>> from jefferson, we have kelyn wardell.
from kelly, we have beatrix mcfryer.
connor hughes.
v anne lou.
from la costa heights, bo goodman.
innes griffith.
from magnolia, we have clarie davis.
emerson dudley.
>> here you go. >> joey locker.
>> good job.
>> from pacific rim, we have camilla rodriguez.
elizabeth vincent.
last but not least, will shevlin. >> we're
going to do a photo. Council is going to stand behind the students,
but I'd like to invite the teachers to come up and stand with the council at the top level.
>> [background] everybody, look up here, 1, 2, 3. You guys look at the camera.
>> [background] thanks for having us.
>> what about the one person? Do you want, chad, the same? The one person?
>> did you want me to grab sloan? >> yes. If I may,
we'd also like to acknowledge the one winner that was not able to be here this evening, sloan ernest. [applause]
>> just going to give a few more moments for the kids to get out.
next is going to be the proclamation for national gun violence awareness day.
I understand we have some speakers. Let me go through this.
I'm supposed to read this. The brown act and the city's meeting rules allow
members of the public to comment on items not on the agenda,
as long as the comments are regarding matters within the city council subject matter jurisdiction.
members of the public may also comment on agenda items, as long as the comments relate to the question or matter under consideration.
information on how to participate in the meeting is also on the front page of this agenda.
the city council received non agenda public comments for a total of 15 minutes at the beginning of the meeting.
clearly, this will be after the three speakers on the proclamation. The city council receive
any additional non agenda public comments at the end of the meeting. In conformance with the brown act,
no action may occur on non agenda items. When making your comments, please treat others with courtesy, civility, and respect.
we welcome clapping during the ceremonial presentations at the beginning of the city council meeting.
however, we ask that you refrain from clapping during the business section of the meeting,
starting with the non agenda public comment. This will help make sure that the people's business can be conducted
efficiently and that this chamber is a place where all points of view are welcomed and respected.
the clerk will call your name, please come up to the podium. You'll have three minutes.
at the conclusion of two-and-a-half minutes, the podium will turn yellow,
giving you notice that you have 30 seconds left. I've asked the clerk to turn off the microphone at the conclusion of three minutes.
that way everybody gets exactly the same amount of time to speak. Please call the first speaker.
>> tamera dixon, followed by jen belknap.
>> good evening. Mayor blackburn and council members,
I'm opposed to presenting the gun violence award day proclamation to
moms demand action or any other group with a radical political bias such as theirs.
this group promotes extreme anti-gun, anti-police politics.
this threatens the rights of homeowners, is anti-police,
and accuses law enforcement as being inherently
racist and abusive in their use of firearms toward black americans.
mayor, as a former cop, you know the importance of the second amendment and public safety.
gun violence awareness day is meant to bring people together to create awareness of proper and safe gun use,
not to divide the community by their anti-homeowner,
anti-gun, anti-police politics.
recognizing this group with a city back proclamation is not about awareness.
it's about promoting a radical agenda under the guise of public safety.
I urge you to reconsider this recognition. Carlsbad deserves leadership that stands up for all its citizens,
not just those with the loudest political voice. Thank you.
>> good evening. I'm speaking today about equitable application of city policies.
last week, this body deliberated on changes for policy number 99,
with the majority on the board directing staff to bring back a policy specifying that a person from a political organization with
501 variety tax status so not receive proclamations here
in the chamber regardless of whether or not the content of the proclamation is political.
yet, in the very same conversation, everyone on the dias understood that the city will always,
via resolution, present a proclamation for arbor day and pride. In 2023, when the council passed the recurring pride resolution,
it was presented to max disposti, executive director of the north county lgbtq resource center,
a 501 organization, engaged in political matters.
tonight, you will present a resolution to a member of the moms demand action group, another 501 group engaged in political matters.
given that the majority vote on this body sought to change a policy to prevent
any citizens representing political groups from receiving resolutions here in chambers,
I'm wondering how your words and actions represent an equitable application of the policy
or spirit of the policy as you applied it last week, and as you intend to apply it in the future.
as president of the carlsbad republican women federated, I agree with two of the carlsbad democrats who
submitted public comment on policy 99 last week. Carlsbad should be inclusive of all voices and viewpoints.
I'd like to recall mayor blackburn's comments from a prior city council meeting because I appreciate his leadership on these matters.
what you do for one, you need to be prepared to do for all.
it is disappointing that tonight council appears to be doing one thing while saying another.
I think our city would be better served if you followed the leadership of our mayor. Thank you.
>> scott davidson.
>> good evening, scott davidson, resident of d2 citizens academy graduate.
I'm here tonight to speak in support of the gun violence awareness proclamation, but also in support of anyone who
wants to support the gun violence awareness proclamation. As I heard someone earlier today say,
who would be pro-gun violence? Unfortunately, a proclamation doesn't actually do anything.
if we want to actually reduce gun violence, we have to work together toward solutions.
unfortunately, that's where this all breaks down. Apparently, we can all agree on bringing awareness to gun violence,
but if you disagree on the solutions, then a few people in the city don't want your support anymore.
are you a democrat who supports gun violence awareness? Great. Are you a republican who opposes gun violence? Sorry, you're not welcome.
last week, the council tossed around the idea of somehow ensuring that no one who is political receive a proclamation.
ironically, the best response to that point came from ms. Wells in her website,
the very person that complained about a political party being recognized to support something we all agree on, celebrating women's history.
on her website, ms. Wells prominently states everything is political, and I agree.
that's what you'll find if you go down the rabbit hole ms. Wells is leading you into.
that's what I noted in my letter to the council last night, pointing out that the group receiving tonight's proclamation on
gun violence awareness is about as political as it gets. A pac funded by a billionaire with radical views against policing
and the justice system that the vast majority of our community does not support.
is that a reason to not recognize them for their efforts to reduce gun violence?
sure. Some people's idea of eliminating gun violence includes getting rid of guns or cops with guns.
some people's ideas include being tougher on criminals who use guns.
but are we really this petty and this immature, that we can't recognize that those with different methods
for accomplishing the same goals deserve recognition? I hope that's not the case because each of you
up here was supported by a political party. I think you would agree with ms. Wells that everything is political.
how about instead of caving to a few angry and intolerant voices,
you demonstrate leadership and show carlsbad the type of city we can be by celebrating all groups regardless of their politics,
who support the things we all believe in. Thank you. >> is that the conclusion of the speakers?
>> there are no more speakers. >> thank you. Now, I invite ms. Bhat-patel to read the proclamation.
>> sure. Thank you. I'd like to invite ms. Karen brennan to the podium.
I will go ahead and read a little bit and then the proclamation,
and then I'll pass it off to you, ms. Brennan, after I'm done. I just want to say,
thank you all for being here today. Great to see the community,
and I just want to say that today we are recognizing gun violence awareness day in the city of carlsbad.
it is a day to honor the lives lost, the survivors, and the families forever changed by gun violence.
usually, it is known to be warren orange to remember hadea pendleton,
a 15-year-old girl whose life was taken too soon, and to stand in solidarity with the millions impacted by this crisis every year.
orange symbolizes the value of life and the urgency to protect it. Gun violence is not just a national issue,
it's a public health issue that affects neighborhoods, schools, and families everywhere. Through this proclamation, we are reaffirming our commitment to safety,
prevention, and supporting policies and partnerships that help save lives. With that, I'll go ahead and read the proclamation,
and then I'll pass it off to you. Whereas the first friday in june is recognized as
national gun violence awareness day in the city of carlsbad to honor and remember all victims and survivors of gun violence and to
declare that we as a country must do more to reduce gun violence. Whereas in january 2013, hadea pendleton,
a teenager who marched in president obama's second inaugural parade was tragically shot and killed just weeks later on a playground in chicago,
and whereas to help honor hadea and all the other americans whose lives are cut short and
the countless survivors who are injured by shootings every day. A national coalition of organizations has designated
the first friday in june to be national gun violence awareness day. Whereas every day in america,
more than 125 people are killed by gun violence and hundreds more are wounded, and whereas by wearing orange,
on june 6th, 2025, residents raise awareness about gun violence to
honor the lives of the victims and survivors. Therefore, I, mayor pro tem pria bat patel,
on behalf of the mayor and city council, hereby proclaim the first friday in june 2025
to be national gun violence awareness day. With that, ms. Brennan. >> hi, everyone. My name is karen brennan.
I'm a 25-year resident of carlsbad, a longtime cert volunteer with the fire department,
and an army veteran. I'm also a long-time gun safety and gun violence prevention advocate who volunteers for
moms demand action with the goal of trying to end the epidemic of senseless gun violence in our country.
I'm joined today by others who volunteer in this effort, including some of the young people who feel
very strongly about the impact that gun violence has had on their school lives and their school experience in their lives in general.
looking around the room, I know that most of us probably never
experienced this in our school lives when we were growing up. But unfortunately, this is the reality of what they experience now.
as a military veteran, experienced also the initial training to handle weapons of war,
and that included three basic tenets, and those are still true today.
they're training, safety, and accountability.
with this background, my personal advocacy has focused on gun safety and ownership responsibility.
in 2013, I was very gratified to see that the veterans administration
began to support and encourage safe firearm storage practices to prevent accidental injuries and suicides.
they also offer resources like cable locks, gun safes, and lock boxes, and provide educational materials for veterans and their families.
I see this as a critical way for military families and, frankly, all adults to help keep minors safe in their homes.
where orange is a day of nationwide remembrance for all the victims and survivors of gun violence.
well, some might think there's enough awareness of the existence of gun violence because it happens so often.
it's the memory of all the lives impacted that we honor on that first friday in june.
the friends of hadea pendleton first started wearing orange in her memory because it was her favorite color.
now, 12 years after her death, it continues to be the color of remembrance for gun violence,
victims, and survivors. I'm wearing it today in solidarity with the words in the proclamation.
thank you to the council and also to mayor blackburn for issuing the proclamation and for the opportunity to receive it.
it isn't the first time this proclamation has been given, and I was happy to be able to be here last year in
support of the carlsbad police department as they received it. Again, thank you all,
and I hope everyone chooses to wear orange on june 6th. Thank you so much. [applause]
>> ms. Brennan, first of all, thank you for your service in the army. But would you like to come up here and invite anyone you would like to join you,
and we'll do a group picture? >> that would be great.
>> we're going to stay up to.
I think that would be appropriate. You stand in the middle and hold it in front of you.
this will be the middle, let's see if we can make an even amount people on each side.
[background]
all short people are jealous of your height.
I don't know which camera to look at.
>> thank you.
>> next is public comment. Do we have any speakers?
>> yes. >> please call. >> mike borrello, followed by either eric hefner or landis mcntyre.
>> good evening, mayor, council. Everything's political, except science.
science should not be political. The city of carlsbad's climate action plan is a fulcrum,
leveraging millions in spending and precariously hinging on an unverified climate emergency.
a house of cards that enables policies like the water rate hikes,
and excuses for dumping sewage waters into our neighborhoods. It erodes the health, freedom,
and prosperity for all carlsbad residents. As detailed in the cap analysis report,
I emailed you over the weekend. This emergency lacks critical evidence,
relying on unqualified narratives, not peer-reviewed studies.
the cap recites scientism, dogma, and politics over empirical science.
california city has ever challenged these claims or recognized corrupt academic capture by bureaucracy.
that's a real thing. The route by which these policies are spawned.
the lack of sufficient scientific literacy and inquiry among city officials and
staff undermines their capacity to evaluate the cap's validity or its core premise,
such as co2's causal role in temperature rise.
sorry, but that's the truth. This situation risks carlsbad's fiscal integrity,
the welfare of its residents, and exposes the city to litigation.
to protect residents, adopt president reagan's trust but verify principle.
suspend all cap projects immediately, including agenda item 11 that's tied to the cap.
commission a third-party review by independent experts in climatology,
atmospheric physics, and related fields. The objective, validate all cap claims,
assess cost effectiveness, and consider alternative hypotheses,
including natural drivers and governmental mismanagement. That's the biggest one.
if cap claims fail validation,
reject it as unfit for planning and push back on state mandates with firm foundations.
I beg that you adopt the resolution within 90 days for this scientific review,
with public findings to inform and educate residents and cement accountability.
carlsbad can lead the way with sound, rigorous scrutiny and avert
the impending doom this destructive policy has led us to. Thank you.
>> good evening. My name is eric hefner. I'm the president of our hoa for the new condominiums at state street in laguna,
known as ocean condos, ocean 17. I've been living in the village since 2016.
I've been on state street the entire time. The reason I'm here today is because we've been in
discussions with your traffic department to have an installation of stop signs and
crosswalks at the intersection of state street and laguna. It's right at maxton brown park is right there.
as the village has grown, I've seen more and more people use that park, children,
animals, etc, and dogs, and people just having a picnic.
my condo overlooks that intersection. On the top level there, you can wave to me as you go by.
but as I look down there, within every 15 minutes or so,
there's a slam of a honk of a horn, kids walking across the street.
there's no crosswalks at that intersection. There are no stop signs at that intersection.
we've gone through your city through the traffic department to try to get things done.
we keep on being told, well, we're getting to it. It's going to be another couple of months before we get there.
I am here. My role here tonight is to beg you to move it up the priority list because as we move into summer,
and that park has more and more people having picnics, etc, I really don't want to see a tragedy happen at that intersection.
it's going to happen because it happens so close. I see it every day.
anyway, I'm here with landis mcntyre. He's also on our board.
landis has been interfacing with your departments, the traffic department.
I ask you, please, if you could move it up to priority list so
we can get that done before summer even begins. Appreciate it. Thank you.
>> sir, that handsome man standing in the hallway there is our traffic engineer.
would you please meet with him and talk to him about your concerns? >> you ready?
>> yeah. >> well, I said handsome man, that threw you off, didn't it?
[laughter] >> shaner ruttman.
>> good evening, council members. I'm actually from carlsbad,
I'm here on vacation from washington, dc. I got my master's in public administration,
so I want to do exactly what you guys want to do. I'm actually here on behalf of my own nonprofit versus for purpose.
we are an advocacy group. We work with unhoused women across the country,
reminding them of their dignity and their value in society. When I did some research coming into this,
I found out about the ordinance that is banning car camping and rvs ordinance,
and it just really disappoints me that there is no alternative
to a safe haven parking lots because these are still individuals at the end of the day,
and even oceanside and sanitas have these safe haven parking lots,
and forgive me if I'm wrong, if I didn't find it, but I didn't see that carlsbad had one.
it just disappoints me. I grew up here. I started purses for a purpose in this city.
the ordinance is really pushing the problem away from the city to tackle and offer viable solutions,
and it just reinforces a punishable housing and moral crisis that perpetuates this distrust in
the systems and institutions that should have not contributed to their situations in the first place.
my question is just what is the alternative to the banning of car camping around here?
>> ma'am, I'm going to have you talk with mandy mills.
is she here? Mandy mills is our coordinator. I think you're going to be pleasantly surprised when
you find out the efforts and the amount of money we're spending to help those who are living in their cars get out of their cars,
rather than letting them stay living on the streets in cars. She just walked in the back door. Please talk with her.
>> thank you. >> are there any other speakers?
>> there are no additional speakers. Thank you. Next is consent calendar items number 1-7.
do we have any speakers? >> there are no speakers. >> anybody on council wish to pull one?
any comments on any? Motion, please. >> so moved. >> second.
>> please vote. That passes unanimously.
item number 8. Is an ordinance for adoption.
all we have to do is vote on that, is that correct? Motion, please.
>> move adoption of the ordinance. >> second. >> please vote. That passes 4-1,
with ms. Burkholder voting no. Item number 9, motion, please.
>> move adoption of the ordinance. >> second. >> please vote. Passes 4-1,
with council member burkholder voting. No. Next is a public hearing.
>> excuse me mayor? >> yes. >> for the record, there were no speakers on these two items.
>> thank you very much. That's why I keep her. She keeps me in line. Item number 10, please.
>> thank you. Item number 10 is a public hearing to close out the former carlsbad tourism business improvement district,
formed under the parking and business improvement area law of 1989,
which was replaced by a new district in 2023. For the presentation, is economic development director matt sanford.
>> thank you, mr. City manager. Good evening, mayor and council members. My name is matt sanford. I am the economic development director for the city.
on april 18, 2023, the city council established a new tourism business improvement district,
which replaced the previous ctb id, for short, and led to the winding down of its operations.
as of october 2024, all funds were expended and services rendered and on november 13,
2024, the old ctb id advisory board provided a recommendation to disestablish the bid.
on april 22 of this year, the city council adopted a resolution of intention to disestablish
the previous ctb id and set a public hearing for today. The public hearing is a required part of the process of closing out the former ctb id.
all 484 lodging establishments in the city were notified of the proposed action,
and as of this morning, we had not received any correspondence from lodging establishments regarding this action.
the recommended action is to hold the public hearing and introduce an ordinance repealing chapter 3.37 of
the carlsbad municipal code and diestablishing the former carlsbad tourism and business improvement district.
>> opening public hearing. Do we have any speakers? >> there are no speakers on this.
>> closing public hearing. Any questions or comments from council? A comment from ms. Acosta.
>> thank you. I know sometimes it seems like we're passing things very quickly,
but this is something that we've been talking about it for some time. We've been, maybe you can remind us of
the timeline that we've been talking about this issue.
>> yes, thank you. The bid was initially replaced in 2023,
which led to the beginning of winding down of operations. It took about a year and a half for the funds
that were left with that previous bid to be expended.
at that time, in october and november of last year,
we started the process of fully winding down the operations here.
>> great. As far as I understand, we received no opposition to this, is that right?
>> that is correct. >> great. It looks good. I'm very supportive. Thanks. >> any other questions or comments? Motion, please.
>> move introduction of the ordinance. Second. >> please vote. That passes unanimously.
thank you. Item number 11, city manager.
>> thank you. Item number 11 is the fiscal year 2025-'26,
preliminary operating budget, strategic digital transformation investment program,
and capital improvement program, and fiscal year 2025, master fee schedule.
for the presentation, we're going to have finance directors zach korach, deputy city manager administrative services laura rocha,
and city manager geoff patnoe. I'm pleased to be here to kick off the preliminary budget for fiscal year 2025-'26,
my first as your city manager. When we presented the budget this time last year,
our five year forecast showed that expenses could start outpacing revenues by fiscal year 2031.
I'm pleased to report that despite the economic uncertainty,
the timing of that projection has not been accelerated. That means we're maintaining a balanced forecast over the next five years while
continuing to focus on the priorities set by the city council and the community.
earlier this year as part of our mid year budget, the city council took key actions to support our community.
you approved funding for fire mitigation and preparedness efforts. You added six positions in our police department to help
improve response times and keep our community safe, and you responded to community requests to restore sunday hours at our libraries.
this proposed budget incorporates the ongoing funding needed to continue those commitments.
we've also been investing in core infrastructure and returning our focus to the basics,
making sure the foundation of city services remains strong. You'll see that reflected in the budget presented to you tonight.
after three years of reductions, both in our operating budget and in personnel?
we approach this year's budget by having a meaningful conversation with staff across departments,
asking not just how it's going, but specifically what's working and where the pressure points
are as we deliver quality services to residents on a daily basis.
we asked, are we stretching equipment beyond its useful life?
are we building up a list of maintenance needs that could cost us more later?
are there any areas we are experiencing delays or receiving feedback from the community?
are we actually finishing projects for the community versus adding to the list of new projects?
finally, are there things we can pause or simplify to free up staff to focus on what matters most to the community?
these questions help us make informed budget decisions in order to overcome
workflow and workload challenges while keeping a watchful eye on the general fund forecast.
while our proposed general fund budget has a minor increase of 1.8% over last year,
this is less than half the regional inflation rate of 3.8%,
and we're doing it while continuing to grow our general fund reserves during a time of immense economic uncertainty.
this budget increases our reserves beyond the 40% required to 61% this upcoming year.
what you have before you is a focused, responsible and responsive budget to both internal and community needs that delivers
services while not accelerating any projected financial deficits over the next five years.
to kick off the formal portion of the presentation, I'll now turn things over to deputy city manager laura rocha. Laura.
>> thank you, mr. City manager. Good evening, mayor. Mayor pro tem. City council members, laura rocha,
deputy city manager for administrative services, and tonight we are here to present the preliminary budget for fiscal year '25-'26.
tonight, I will kick things off talking about our overall approach and priorities with the proposed budget.
then I will invite finance directors zach korach to walk you through the details,
starting with the budget for each of our major service areas,
citywide revenues, including a pension funding update, and an update on our financial forecast,
bit about personnel, and update on city fees,
and finally, our investments in digital and physical infrastructure.
tonight's recommended actions are to receive
the report and set the public hearing for june 17, 2025.
here are some key dates. Tonight is a chance for you and the public to review the proposed budget,
ask questions and provide feedback. For the past few years,
city council has asked us to bring back the community budget workshop,
which we will have scheduled for this thursday, may 22 at the city's fair day center.
this will be an informal opportunity for residents to learn about the budget.
ask questions of staff and provide input. Any community input will be provided back to you,
so you can consider it in your final decision making. The public hearing to adopt the budget is scheduled for june 17,
and all of this leads up to the beginning of the new fiscal year, july 1.
over the past several years, the city council has taken several actions that have
contributed to our improved financial position. This included updating and creating new budget policies that
provide clear direction on both budget priorities and financial strategies.
directing staff to reduce ongoing expenses to close the structural deficit.
in fact, after three years of budget reduction efforts, we have successfully pushed back the point where the lines
cross when ongoing expenses are projected to exceed ongoing revenues.
setting out a five year vision in the strategic plan,
which has allowed staff to remain focused on the most important priorities.
starting about six years ago, city staff also began to make changes,
including new best budgeting practices. We eliminated the practice of providing
across the board increases to department budgets based on inflation and automatically rolling over unspent money into the following years,
department budgets as a contingency fund was eliminated.
we are now entering year 4 of
our city council's five year strategic plan and continuing to align and prioritize spending to meet our five major goals.
this year's budget reflects the cumulative impacts of new budget policies and practices over the past five years.
because of these changes, we are coming to you this year with good news on several fronts.
first, the general funds five year forecast is balanced, and we don't expect expenses to exceed revenues until at least fiscal year 2031,
no sooner than we projected last year. Our general fund reserves continue to grow,
and this proposed budget increases the reserve from 55%-61%,
which is well above the city council set target of 40%.
we continue to maintain our aaa credit rating, something only a handful of jurisdictions in the county can say,
and we have one of the strongest pension positions in the region. In fact, looking at all those cities participating in the carlsbad's system,
we have the highest funded standard among those cities that have not borrowed money to pay for their debt.
at the same time, the proposed budget also continues to set aside money for future needs we know are coming.
it ensures funding is available for long term, large value capital purchases,
such as roads, parks, and technology infrastructure.
we are only proposing a general fund budget increase of 1.8% over
the prior year at a time when inflation is 3.8% across the region.
most importantly, this proposed budget maintains a very high level of service for our community.
before we get into the details of the operating budget, we want to highlight some of the new proposed projects and
services that continue to support the goals of the strategic plan.
2.6 million for a one time purchase
of a second frontline aerial ladder truck within our finance department,
113,000 to support the newly upgraded schulman auditorium at dove library,
403,000 to reclassify six emts to paramedic firefighters as part of a multi year effort,
which allows the department to increase its service capacity and ability without increasing its employee count.
there's 440,000 in measures set forth in the climate action plan,
and this budget also proposes the addition of three full time support positions in the finance,
hr, and fleet department. With that, I will now turn the rest of
the presentation over to finance directors zach korach. >> thank you, ms. Rocha.
next, we're going to be taking a look at the projected general fund reserves.
as ms. Rocha had mentioned, when we were before the city council as part of last year's budget adoption,
we were proposing a general fund reserve level at 55%.
this year's budget proposes to increase the general fund reserve level to 61%,
which equates to a value of $147 million or $50 million in
excess of the city council's target policy level of 40%.
in addition to the general fund reserve, the 61%,
we also have $10 million set aside for economic uncertainty,
$19 million within the city's section 115 pension trust,
as well as $10.5 million in an asset replacement reserve,
which will be used over the next 10 years to fund large equipment replacement needs primarily within the city's public safety branch.
we spoke briefly earlier about the city of carlsbad and its pension funded status, currently,
the highest in the region with the exception of the four jurisdictions noted at the bottom,
each of which over the last three to four years, issued pension obligation bonds to pay down their pension liability.
>> we are going to spend a few minutes talking about calpers and the prepayment option.
every year, the city is required to pay down a portion of its pension liability,
and this number changes on an annual basis depending on calpers's investment performance.
in fiscal year '26, the required contribution is $18.7 million,
which compared to $12.3 million just two years ago, represents an increase of 6.4 million or 52%.
again, this is primarily attributable to investment losses experienced in fiscal year '22 by calpers.
every year, calpers offers a prepayment discount on the unfunded liability contribution.
if the full payment is made by the end of july at the beginning of a fiscal year,
an approximate 3% savings can be achieved. Currently, across all participating members throughout the state of california,
75% of member agencies elect to prepay. However, this historically has changed
depending on where interest rates are currently at, as well as the investment income earning ability for local governments.
in other words, the higher a city is able to earn on its own internal investments,
the more inclined they may be to elect monthly payments. The city has historically opted into the prepayment option
given the low interest rate environment for much of the last 10 plus years. However, with rising interest rates and the city's earning potential in excess of 3%,
the cost benefit analysis has become more competitive. If the city were to elect to prepay,
it would save approximately $600,000 and forego approximately $300,000 in investment income.
if the city were to conversely elect to make monthly payments,
it would forego the $600,000 upfront savings opportunity and instead earn $300,000 on its own internal investments.
on paper, the prepayment option is still more financially beneficial for the city.
however, the calpers's april 15th board meeting, ceo marcy frost discussed the $26 billion loss following
the presidential announcement of tariffs and warned of turbulent times ahead.
why is this significant? If the city elects to prepay and calpers experiences
a downturn in the coming months following the beginning of the fiscal year, the city stands to lose more on its prepaid investment.
the loss would be substantially lower if the city elected to make monthly payments.
simply put, the upside to prepaying is a 3% savings or 1.5% net of the city's internal investment income.
the risk to prepaying is calpers potentially experiencing negative investment performance,
particularly during the first few months of the fiscal year. I would like to note the fiscal year '26 preliminary budget
does assume that the city would be making monthly payments, making a switch in opting out of that lump sum payment in july.
in other words, not taking advantage of the 3% savings. However, should the city council provide alternative directions,
staff will reduce the budget by $600,000 when we return
for final adoption on june 17th and move forward with the prepayment option in july.
although the city remains financially healthy today, carlsbad is facing and planning ahead for new fiscal challenges.
although inflation has cooled since its 8.3% high back in may of 2022,
it has climbed from 2.5% in september 2024 to 3.8% as of march 2025.
with uncertainty regarding trade policies coming from the federal administration,
there is risk of inflation continuing to rise further into the upcoming fiscal year.
declining consumer demand, driven primarily by sustained levels of inflation over the last few years,
as well as the unknown surrounding trade policies, consumer confidence has reached the lowest point since the covid-19 pandemic.
pension funding continues to present challenges, particularly during times of market volatility,
infrastructure maintenance, and replacement needs continue to grow. Not only the volume or the number of projects that are
identified and recommended to be added to the capital improvement program, but the costs associated with those projects also continue to increase.
the general fund, or I should say, the city has been afforded the ability to fund a great deal from the general fund.
the annual 6% revenue transfer continues to struggle to keep up with the growing list of projects and funding needs.
the last item icon here is stormwater funding gap.
this is a relatively new challenge that we're communicating with the city council. As we'll discuss in the general fund expenditure section,
a $2 million transfer is recommended to be made to the stormwater enterprise fund
for the purpose of maintaining a positive fund balance as well as ensuring continuity of operations within the stormwater program.
as unfunded mandates and capital needs grow within the stormwater program and apply budgetary pressures,
the general fund may be needed to commit additional funding more so on an ongoing basis into the future.
we will next be looking at the projected revenues and proposed expenditures.
first, we are looking at city-wide revenues, and I will skip over the general fund.
we're going to go into a bit more detail in just a couple of short slides. Starting with special revenue funds.
they are estimated to decrease by 28%, driven by one time encampment resolution funding that was received in fiscal year '25,
that is not expected to be received in fiscal year '26. However, the funding that is incorporated into our estimated revenues in fy '25,
the city will have a three-year period to expend those dollars. Enterprise funds are increasing by 17% due to recycled water,
and wastewater rate increases that are set to go into effect on july 1st, 2025.
internal service funds are decreasing by nearly 11% due to a one-time transfer in to
the workers compensation fund in fiscal year '25 that is not expected in fiscal year '26.
in total, across all citywide revenues, we are estimating a 1.1% or nearly $5 million increase.
looking at citywide expenses, and again, starting with the special revenue funds,
we are proposing a 16% increase or $3.5 million,
that is driven by a one-and-a-half million dollar increase in continuum of care grant funding,
federal rental assistance funding, as well as permanent local housing grant funding,
enterprise increasing by 28 million or 24% over the previous year.
I do want to note that approximately $16 million of this year over year increase is simply
the movement of funds from recycled water operating to recycled water capital resulting in a net zero bottom line.
the remaining increase of approximately $12 million is mostly driven by
increases in san diego county water authority,
encina wastewater authority, as well as [inaudible] water district rate increases for the upcoming fiscal year.
lastly, internal service funds are proposed to increase by 9.3%.
this increase is comprised of workers' compensation, information technology, fleet replacement,
and offset by a reduction in year-over-year risk management costs.
next, we're going to be looking at some of the details within the general fund and starting with the revenues.
property tax continues to be the largest and one of the most stable revenue sources within the general fund.
while much uncertainty exists around whether interest rates will continue to fall,
the median home price in carlsbad increased by 4.3%-$1.54 as of march 2025.
the county assessor's office sets the property tax role for fiscal year '26, using assessed property values as of january 1st, 2025.
this means that even if there were to be a decline in property tax transactions or a decline in housing values or home values,
the city would likely not be impacted until fiscal year '27. Sales tax, however, the most economically sensitive revenue source in
the general fund is estimated at a conservative level of $57.8 million.
this represents a decrease of $1.5 million or 2.6% compared to current year estimates.
there are a couple of reasons for the year-over-year decrease we're projecting. First, fiscal year '25 revenues reflect
the correction of an error that was made by one particular auto dealer, and while there is a positive fiscal impact moving forward,
the majority of the correction was one time in nature. Secondly, during fiscal year '25,
and as staff have reported to the city council throughout our quarterly financial reports,
we have begun to observe declines in consumer demand. On an adjusted basis,
sales tax receipts have decreased by more than 3% quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year.
finally, consumer confidence has fallen to levels not seen since the covid-19 pandemic,
and much uncertainty exists around the current trade policies,
and the potential impact on consumer demand for the upcoming year.
for these reasons, maintaining a conservative outlook, particularly for sales tax is prudent and recommended.
transient occupancy tax has performed relatively well, considering all of the economic uncertainty.
during fiscal year '25, we've seen both occupancy rates as well as average daily room rates increase.
the future outlook remains relatively stable for tot revenues as travel has proven to be become more of
a fixed or prioritized expense for the general public as it relates to their personal budgeting.
I do want to direct our attention to the last row, all of the revenue. These revenues are comprised of intergovernmental licenses and permits, ambulance fees,
recreation fees, fines and forfeitures, investment income, as well as interdepartmental charges.
to briefly touch on the $500,000 year-over-year decrease is mostly attributable to
a one time fima reimbursement revenue that was received in fiscal year '25 for covid-19 expenses that again,
will not be received in fiscal year '26. Otherwise, revenues across these categories,
revenue sources are continuing to remain relatively stable.
next, we're looking at general fund expenditures. In total, a $4 million increase or 1.8%, again,
at a time where across the region, we are facing inflationary increases of approximately 3.8%.
I will skip over the personnel increases. The following slide will detail all of the components of the personnel line item.
starting with maintenance and operations, we're proposing a 7% increase,
the majority of which comprises inflationary budget requests submitted by departments for inflationary needs,
primarily within the parks and recreation department and across their programs.
do have in exhibit 7 to this agenda item, a detail of all of the budget requests that were submitted by departments,
and recommended by the city manager for city council to consider and ultimately approve.
the detail of those requests largely correspond with the maintenance and operations increases that we're seeing on this chart.
capital outlay, the next line item is increasing dramatically 417% or $2.2 million.
as ms. Rocha had pointed out earlier, the request to procure a
2.6-million-dollar aerial ladder truck is included in this in driving the year-over-year increase.
lastly, I wanted to touch on transfers. When we use the term transfers,
we're really talking about the movement of funds from one fund to another.
the majority of transfers out of the general fund fall under the direction
or the governance of city council policy number 91 for long-term capital funding,
whereby 6% of estimated general fund revenues are to be transferred
to three different capital project sources: general capital construction,
infrastructure replacement, as well as the technology capital fund. The reason for the year-over-year decline is
when we were developing the fiscal year '25 budget, we were working or operating with a smaller budget surplus,
meaning the difference between our estimated revenues and expenditures at that time was
greater than what we were working with during the development of this current year's proposed budget.
included in the $23.7 million that's proposed, again,
the 6% estimated general fund revenue transfer to the three capital projects funds.
there was, however, a one time budget surplus that we are making a recommendation for the city council to
consider redirecting $6 million to both the general capital construction and infrastructure replacement fund,
and then last but not least the $2 million transfer that's being proposed to the stormwater enterprise fund.
here is the detail on personnel. Before I go through each of these line items,
I did want to provide a brief explanation on vacancy savings.
vacancy savings was a budgeting concept that was
introduced and incorporated into the budget back during fiscal year '23, '24.
over the course of a fiscal year, when an employee leaves the city through employee turnover attrition,
it oftentimes will take a period of time to fill that position.
for example, if it takes three months to fill that position, there have been three months of unspent budget for salaries, wages,
and benefits that continue to remain unspent.
when we apply that, our vacancy rate over the course of
the entire fiscal year across the entire general fund, over the last 10 years,
we have realized no less than $2 million in vacancy savings.
the thought back during fiscal year '24 when this was first introduced and recommended was,
rather than accounting for the budget savings at the end of the process,
at the end of the fiscal year and reporting back to the city council how much budget has been left unspent,
let's account for it at the beginning of the process for purposes of number 1 transparency,
but secondly, to more closely align what we're actually budgeting with what we're actually spending.
the example here is, for the personnel comprising the general fund,
it would necessitate wages of approximately $98 million, but to account for vacancy savings,
we are requesting city council to consider appropriating only $96 million.
in other words, accounting for that vacancy savings upfront and reducing the city manager's budget authority, accordingly.
for salaries and wages, the year-over-year increase is 6.7%,
and there are a few factors that go into this. During the current fiscal year,
any negotiated compensation agreements that are authorized by the city council and increases in excess of what was
previously planned or budgeted or having impacts to this year-over-year change,
most notably, the carlsbad police officers association was approved during the current fiscal year.
secondly, and back on march 25th, 2025, the city council had authorized the addition of
six new positions within the police department. That is something that was not included in prior years
adopted budget and also contributing to the change, as well as anticipated step increases the movement of employees across
their respective position or classification range across all employee groups.
moving down and looking at retirement benefits. Nearly 50% of this year-over-year
increase across personnel is attributable to retirement benefits,
health insurance, as well as workers compensation, which are all items more or less outside of the city's control.
as I mentioned earlier, for retirement benefits and tied to the calpers system,
we've experienced over 50% increases in our annual required contribution in just the last two years.
for health insurance, this figure can fluctuate in the upcoming year.
we are anticipating insurance rate increases as well as
an increased number of individual employee benefit elections.
>> also included in the proposed budget. This is not something that is being explicitly requested from the city council,
however, included in our base budget. We do on an annual basis make city contributions for a number of
services and efforts that otherwise would be the responsibility of other or external entities,
namely local schools and the state parks department.
just a few as an example, crossing guard services for $520,000,
school resource officers, $167,000. In total, on an annual basis,
the city contributes approximately $1.1 million for these efforts.
next, we will be looking at the general fund forecast. The slide before you is a look at the general five-year forecast
as it was presented to the city council during budget last year.
as previously mentioned at that time, we were not anticipating
future expenditures to exceed future revenues until fiscal year '31.
this is a look at the forecast as we have it today.
the good news here is the projected timing for when expenditures are
expected to exceed revenues is still the same as it was last year, fiscal year '31.
however, on an annual basis, we have seen some changes.
the projected annual surplus has declined approximately four million dollars in each of
the respective years compared to where we were last year, and I wanted to spend a few moments talking about some of the factors that go into that.
we talked about on the general fund expenditure side, the addition of full-time employees,
whether specifically the six positions that were authorized for the police department or
any negotiated compensation agreements that are authorized in excess of what was previously forecasted for.
these are all things that can have impacts to the fiscal outlook.
when we specifically look at the changes between fiscal year '25 and fiscal year '26,
the most significant change is really us applying more of a fiscally conservative outlook or
assumptions to a number of our revenue sources, primarily sales tax.
we're in a very different economic climate today than we were 12 months ago,
trying to account for the declining consumer demand,
the low consumer confidence, as well as current uncertainty around trade policies.
we saw that directly with the year-over-year decrease that's projected for sales tax.
that is something that we were not projecting a year ago. We were expecting our sales taxes to remain relatively flat or slightly increase.
briefly touching on a few of our enterprise funds. We have our water,
sewer, solid waste, and golf course. These are different revenue sources or
different funds entirely separate from the general fund, and their revenue sources are primarily from user fees and on a year-to-year basis,
generally experience less volatility than the general fund, for example.
one of the unique characteristics for enterprise funds is the ability to use fund balances.
this is a look at the estimated revenues across
all of the enterprise funds as well as the proposed expenses.
the first thought that might come to mind is we're running into a deficit of 22 plus million dollars.
sixteen million dollars of the year-over-year increase for enterprise funds is simply
the movement of cash from recycled water operating to recycled water capital.
sixteen million dollars of the proposed expenditures are moving out of operating,
which is what we're only looking at here into the capital budget. But to balance that $4,
05, million dollar gap, is the pre-existing fund balance of $55 1/2 million.
oftentimes it is by design that the city will recommend and the district
will recommend to rely on fund balance in accordance with cmwd's reserve policy.
next, we're going to be looking at each of the city's branches.
we're going to be going over the financial summary as we see it here for each of the branches,
and then we're going to be discussing a few of the budgetary highlights. Just to provide some context in terms of what we're looking at.
the top portion of the chart will show last year's adopted budget and
the preliminary budget for the upcoming fiscal year for personnel, maintenance, and operations,
as well as interdepartmental charges. We'll have a look at any proposed changes in full-time and part-time staffing levels.
then lastly, we'll look at the expenditure figures by funding source,
whether it be the general fund, special revenue fund, enterprise, or internal service.
starting with the police department, personnel is increasing by five million dollars or 11%.
again, this is mainly driven by negotiated salary increases, calpers, and health insurance increases,
as well as the addition of six positions as authorized by city council on march 25, earlier this year.
these increases are offset by moderate decreases in the maintenance and operations budget as well as interdepartmental charges.
as for the increase in special revenue funds towards the bottom of this chart,
this is specifically the cops grant fund, whereby the department anticipates using additional grant funds to
facilitate staff trainings that otherwise would have been incurred within the general fund.
in this instance, this was a general fund savings opportunity.
while the police department is not requesting any significant items as part of this preliminary budget,
we did want to highlight again, the six positions that were previously authorized by the city council; three patrol officers,
one traffic sergeant, a digital forensics specialist,
as well as a detective to help assist with internet crimes against children.
next, we're going to be looking at the fire department. A total increase of 5 1/2 million dollars or
13% compared to the previous year, starting with personnel.
it is increasing due to, again, negotiated salary increases, as well as calpers and health insurance cost increases,
as well as the proposed reclassification of six emts to paramedic firefighters.
as mentioned, this will not only enhance the ability and level of service offered by the department,
while at the same time not increasing the total staff count across the fire department.
maintenance and operations is increasing by $2.8 million. This is largely driven by the $2.6 million aerial ladder truck that's being requested,
and there are no proposed changes to full-time or part-time employee counts.
in addition to the ladder truck and the six emt reclassifications,
the department is also proposing a weed and rubbish abatement services contract for
$135,000 and $40,000 for emergency medical services disposable supplies.
as part of the fiscal year '24/'25 mid-year economic and financial report
and mid-year budget review, the city council authorized a number of fire mitigation measures.
fire department will continue with its $300,000 appropriation received back in february of 2025 for
fire mitigation planning in concert with the brush and preserve fire management and mitigation and environmental sustainability
and parks department respectively.
next, we have the public works branch. Comprised of transportation, construction management and inspection,
fleet and facilities, environmental sustainability, as well as utilities,
the branch year-over-year is increasing by $34 million or 24%.
yes, this is a significant amount. However, it's important to note which funding sources are driving the increase and why.
first, we'll look at expenditure type, starting with personnel,
increasing by approximately 7%, again, driven by negotiated salary increases and calpers and health insurance.
maintenance and operations is increasing by $31 million or 31% of which the vast majority resides within the enterprise funds.
again, approximately $16 million of this increase is
simply the movement of funds between recycled water operating to recycled water capital,
and the remaining increase is driven by external entity rates, which we'll cover on the following slide.
internal service funds are increasing by $3.3 million or 39%,
mainly due to fleet replacement, and the volume of scheduled replacements in the upcoming year.
much of the public works branch year-over-year increases are driven by external entities and their respective rate increases.
for example, san diego county water authority's 14% rate increase
is driving cmwd's costs for purchased water up by $5.9 million.
costs from vallecitos water district are increasing 1.1 million,
and encina wastewater authority rates are increasing by $500,000.
additionally, $2.7 million of the increase particularly within the internal service funds resides in fleet replacement.
the fiscal year '26 budget proposes the replacement of 29 vehicles, 15 of which are electric and 14 are hybrid,
which is an increase over last year's replacement of 26 vehicles.
significant inflationary and labor increases of $650,000 are being applied to the city street sweeping contract.
a new request of $250,000 for fire management in city preserves is being recommended.
this is in addition to the $250,000 that was approved by council as part of the mid-year report.
lastly, initiative set forth in the cap represent approximately
$440,000 in new one-time and ongoing costs. Most notably, nearly $250,000 of the request relates to
the climate action plan update and the call to switch to clean energy alliances,
100% renewable energy option by 2025.
this is something that the city wouldn't otherwise be required to do until 2035.
however, by doing so now, the city is able to earn credits it would otherwise need to make up in the coming years.
next, we have community services. We can see an increase from $82 million to $88 million or 9% over the previous year.
the 5% increase in personnel represents negotiated compensation increases,
as well as the addition of 2.35 full-time equivalent positions.
these positions are all part-time, mostly supporting the reopening of the newly upgraded auditorium,
as well as assisting with the return of sunday library hours. Maintenance and operations is increasing by $5 million,
and 3.4 million of this increase is due to non-general fund rental assistance,
permanent local housing, and continuum of care grant funding efforts.
as noted, in other branches,
within the parks department, there is a $300,000 request in addition to
the mid-year appropriation that was authorized by city council for fire management in the city's urban forest areas.
across many of parks and recreations' programs, there are requests totaling $900,000 for
various professional service agreement increases, tied to inflationary increases experienced over the last year.
as authorized as part of the mid-year report as well,
the return of sunday library hours, which at that time, we had reported necessitated an additional funding amount on
an ongoing basis of $90,000 is included in the proposed budget,
as well as $113,000 for the schulman auditorium in supporting the upgrades that were recently completed.
next, we have the administrative services branch. This includes finance, hr,
information technology, and economic development. Year-over-year, the proposed increase is $1.7 million or 4%.
personnel is increasing by 10%, due to negotiated compensation changes,
increases in calpers, and health insurance costs, as well as the addition of two full-time employees;
one accountant in finance, and one analyst in human resources.
maintenance and operations is increasing due to budget requests for ambulance billing services,
which are offset by fire department revenues as well as an increase to the city's tot audit services contract.
some of the budgetary highlights across administrative services include budgetary requests for the economic development strategic plan,
$35,000, in particular, for those actions.
the proposed actions for the upcoming fiscal year were reviewed by the economic development subcommittee.
the request for ambulance billing amounts to $75,000.
again, that is revenue offset across all of
information technologies contractual increases totaling $420,000.
last but not least, we have policy and leadership. Personnel is increasing by 7% for
the same reasons that I've mentioned and for all of the other branches. Maintenance and operations is decreasing by $100,000,
and interdepartmental charges are remaining relatively flat over the previous year.
there are no proposed changes to staffing levels. As for the significant decrease
towards the bottom of the slide within special revenue funds, this is from the local cable infrastructure fund
managed by the communications department. You may recall as part of the fiscal year '25 budget,
there is an expenditure included to support the schulman auditorium av upgrades.
with that project having been completed, that is driving the year-over-year decrease.
while there aren't any significant budget increases or budget requests across the policy and leadership branch,
there are still many ongoing efforts included in the proposed budget. Driven by the city council's five-year strategic plan,
the communications department will continue its community outreach and engagement efforts on a number of matters,
including the three public art projects underway at veterans memorial park,
next steps for robertson ranch park, as well as progress updates for a number of our capital improvement program projects.
as for the carlsbad village trench project, the city council previously authorized $5.22 million in local match funding,
and the city has since completed its mou with san diego and nctd.
funding opportunities at the federal, state, and regional levels are still being explored at this time.
next, we'll be briefly talking about the master fee schedule and updates.
on an annual basis, well, I'll start with what staff are recommending for the city council to consider for
the upcoming fiscal year's fee schedule is to simply increase the existing fees by the applicable index.
you may recall as part of budget adoption last year,
rather than moving forward with continuing the cost recovery increases, at that time,
we were really right in between the five and seven-year range in terms of needing
to conduct a comprehensive cost of service study for all of the city's fees.
staff had recommended and council approved that instead
of applying any cost recovery increases to simply apply
the applicable inflationary index to the fees and
have staff move forward in the upcoming fiscal year with a cost of service study.
that study is nearly all but finalized. There are a couple of subsets within that study that staff desire to
spend some additional time evaluating not so much from an internal cost recovery standpoint,
but more so from an external comparative standpoint. We do want to make sure that the level for which we set the fees,
we are maintaining some level of consistency across the region and particularly for other coastal cities.
>> as a result, staff are recommending that for the upcoming fiscal year,
only the applicable inflationary increases be applied to these fee categories, again,
largely coinciding with current levels of inflation with the exception of traffic impact fees,
which utilize caltrans construction cost index increasing by 15.7%.
as for the cost of service study, it is staff's intention to return to the city council in
the next three or four months with the results and bring forward recommendations as necessary.
next, we have the strategic digital transformation investment program.
this is a five-year plan that comprises of 40 projects totaling just under $38 million.
here, we have a list of the proposed new projects,
early literacy interactive technology, records management, website redesign, and 3d concepts and walkthrough a total of $320,000.
funding for all of these projects is already included in the technology capital fund.
here, we have a list of the previously approved and in-progress
projects some of which seeking additional appropriations.
the one project I did want to highlight is the core systems modernization.
the city council just a couple of weeks back had authorized all of the related agreements for this effort.
for the upcoming fiscal year, an appropriation of $3 million is being requested.
again, the funding for this project has been identified.
it is already within the technology capital fund. This is really the means providing staff
the ability to expend the dollars that have been set aside for this project.
here, we have a high level look at the technology capital fund and
the fiscal projection in accordance with council policy number 91,
and assuming a 2% revenue transfer or a 1/3 revenue transfer of that 6%.
over the next five years, we anticipate accumulating approximately $30 million in funding.
we anticipate spending just under $10 million with an estimated remaining balance of $20 million.
lastly, the capital improvement program.
first, we're looking at a list of all of the completed projects.
I did want to note that we have completed more projects than we are proposing to add to the cip.
for this list before you here, we are showing each project by district as well as
the corresponding amount of budget savings in total. There will be $3.1 million returned to the respective funding sources.
here, we're looking at some of the highlighted plan construction during the upcoming fiscal year 26.
most notably, veterans memorial park to begin in the fall of 2025,
and the orion center with design to be brought forward to city council
during the upcoming fiscal year with construction anticipated during the summer of 2026.
this is a visual representation of the 15-year cip presented by each of the four districts,
and each of the dots represent a different department or service area.
for the blue, we're looking at facilities projects. Green, parks and recreation.
orange, transportation, yellow utilities. This map or graphic does exclude 66 citywide projects.
this is a look at the five-year summary of costs.
what the city council directly will be considering in terms of approving
appropriations is that first figure under 25-26, the $47 million.
the vast majority of that $47 million is construction budget for maintenance and enterprise projects
with a small appropriation request for scoping and design budget for strategic plan projects.
as you'll recall, during the adoption of the cip last year,
we did make a change in methodology for how we approached the cip
whereby strategic plan projects as well as critical need projects,
any related construction budget would not be requested from the city council as part of the annual adoption,
but rather at a later date off cycle and only at a point in time where
final design and authorization to bid was authorized by the city council.
when looking at that $47 million request, understanding that there are design costs included,
it's important to understand what the potential future estimated construction costs might look like down the road,
and we estimate that to be $85.5 million for a total investment of 132 million.
for the $47 million request, this is a breakdown by department with
nearly half for transportation maintenance and half for utilities maintenance.
as mentioned, the majority of the requests are falling under
the maintenance category with a small portion under strategic plan in project accounting.
we have two slides here that are showing the new capital projects that are proposed to be added to the cip.
again, many of these dollar figures are going to appear to be small mainly because again,
for strategic plan, critical need projects. We are not including requests for construction,
or we have not reached a point in time where the construction budget is needed.
lastly, as we always do provide information
regarding the projects within the cip that are recommended for removal,
the one I did want to flag attention to is the green paint maintenance.
we are not saying here that we are as a city are seizing,
maintaining our green paint that was installed. Rather, we are simply removing this from the cip and
moving it into transportation's operating budget within the general fund.
after evaluating our efforts in recent periods,
we are proposing a decrease from what was previously $250,000 to $150,000.
again, the recommended action is to accept the report and to set the public hearing.
before I turn it over to the city council, I would like to pass it back over to the city manager for some closing remarks.
>> thank you, zach. This budget makes targeted investments in public safety, sustainability, infrastructure,
community character, and the efficiency of our organization all while boosting our reserves to prepare carlsbad for any uncertainty in the future.
I'd like to take a moment to sincerely thank city staff for their hard work in developing the balanced budget being presented to you today.
it is our pleasure to present this budget to you and the community. This concludes our presentation.
the finance team, along with all of our city department of leadership are here to answer any questions you might have for them. Thank you.
>> we're about 90 minutes into the meeting. Does anybody on the council need a break?
no. Then we'll power through. Speakers, please.
>> vicki sage, followed by dean weimer.
>> hi. Vicki sage here. Given that the sdge deal appears to be solidified,
I asked the council to take any necessary budgetary action tonight to streamline
the process to make the hub park trails a reality for carlsbad sooner rather than later.
since only the mayor was on the dice a decade ago when the 8515 plan,
later known as measure a, was at the forefront of city politics, I'd like to share a little background.
about 35-40 years ago, the trails at hub park were thoughtfully designed to be a central hub,
connecting our city's entire trail system together. That original vision was led by michael holzmiller,
the city planning director at the time, and I had the privilege of learning about it directly from him.
ten years ago, a billionaire developer from la proposed building
a massive mall on the agua hedionda lagoon using the citizens initiative process.
as part of that plan, he promised to create the same trails that I'm discussing tonight.
the city spent over a million dollars of taxpayer funds in support of the mall and those trails.
although, the mall was ultimately defeated, thankfully, in my opinion, both the pro mall people and no mall voters agreed on one thing.
we wanted those trails. That trail system was laid out in great detail in measure a.
the measure was over 250 pages long. It included detailed designs, environmental studies, everything you needed.
I can tell you that personally because I read every single page. In june of 2016 after measure a failed,
a group of very committed and talented citizen resident volunteers
presented a comprehensive trail plan to the city council in june of 2016,
if you want to look it up and read it. This plan use the exact layout from measure a.
the same trails the city has spent a million dollars to get approved.
the team included seasoned professionals like the former city planning director,
former city carlsbad attorney, and even a caltrans director who was an expert witness in court for them.
I walked you through this history because we've waited long enough.
hub park was envisioned 40 years ago. The city spent a million dollars trying to get these trails built a decade ago.
a well researched community led proposal was submitted nine years ago.
waiting for another seven years would bring us close to 20 years post measure a and almost 50 years,
a half a century since hub park was conceived. Let's not let more time sip away.
please take whatever budgetary action is necessary tonight so that when the paperwork is complete and the approvals are done,
and the money its account, we are ready for construction. Those trails are in sip 4085,
so there's already a cip set up for them. Thank you. >> vicki at the conclusion of the speakers,
I'm going to ask gary barberio to come up and address that. >> thank you.
>> good evening, mayor and council members. My name is dean weimer and I'm here speaking on behalf of citizens for north county.
first of all, I'd like to commend you and I pray that you are right
that we don't have any more inflationary action than you are considering in your budget.
as we go forward, we want to be as conscious as we can,
that there are expenditures that might arise that would impact some of the projects that are here.
but vicki is exactly right. This community is committed to these trails.
we'd like to see them now. I think I have a slide show somewhere I don't know, but that's all right.
we would simply ask that you not only have the 500,000 that you have ready to go for the hub park to begin to be allocated,
but also to add over either 200,000 if you can do it this year or over the next couple of years,
another 100,000 each to be able to make sure that we are shovel ready.
when we reach the point where all of the hurdles engaged in your san diego electric agreement can be met.
we just want to make sure that we are good scouts and we are prepared when that time comes,
whether it's two years from now, three years from now, or five years from now. Hopefully, not seven because some of us are not going to be able to
walk those parks if we wait too much longer for that. Finally, I would like to ask that you increase the ranger's program.
>> dean, your slide show is ready. >> I didn't even see it. There we go.
that shows you how long it's been since I've been here. But just to say that the ranger program,
you have two people now. We need a larger ranger program when you have almost 70 miles in trails. If you look
at gohike carlsbad, you can see that all of our trails are rather spaghetti onto the map of
carlsbad and we need to connect them in a cohesive form and that
that should be a priority going forward as we consider the hub park and how
that's going to fit into all of this trail system that we need to focus on that in the future,
so we can truly walk around the city and have a walkable community.
that would be my request in your budgeting, and I hope that you can find the budget
for more personnel and rangers to help us make sure that these parks and trails are kept up to the standards that we would like to see. Thank you.
>> diane nygaard followed by chris wright.
>> thank you. Good evening, mayor and council. Diane nygaard, representing preserve calavera.
please just scroll through slowly while I'm talking. Our organization has been working for 20 years to preserve,
protect, and enhance the natural resources of coastal north county.
I'm not going to do that, if you can just scroll through.
that means supporting trails in the right places.
we want to see enough natural lands conserved so there can be public access.
our natural open space is not like animals in a zoo where you just look through a fence to see them.
personally, for 20 years, I was a carlsbad trail volunteer and captain.
we are truly invested in these trails. Carlsbad has listened to the residents who made it clear they value trails in open space.
you have a robust trails program, but it needs updating. The master plan from 2017 includes trails that were
supposed to be built by 2020 that are still not constructed. Many of the trails that show us existing are managed by hoas who do not
manage them to city standards and often have serious erosion and safety issues.
e-bikes were hardly on the radar screen when the tmp was adopted,
and now they're everywhere causing much more damage on a trail than a regular bike because of their weight and speed as well as safety concern for hikers.
these issues exist throughout the city and only get worse as the population increases and more residents and visitors want to get out and hike these trails.
when the hmp was adopted 20 years ago, the open space management plan identified a need for
four full time rangers and a supervisors just to monitor and patrol the natural lands.
then their patrol area was expanded to include all of the parks and beaches,
yet still only two rangers. It is not enough. The slide show shows examples of illegal trails
cut on city owned preserve land at lake calavera, illegal bike jumps built on land managed by an hoa.
having greater enforcement presidents will reduce this damage and make the trail safer for everyone.
please, at least add the two additional rangers that were supposed to be in place 20 years ago.
finally, we thank you for finalizing the agreement with sdge that preserved the plant for trails on the south shore of agua hedionda.
the community has been waiting 40 years for those trails, so please direct staff to expedite that process so we don't use
more years opening that wonderful new area with lagoon views for everyone to enjoy. Thank you.
>> good evening, mr. Mayor. Members of the city council.
on april 16 of this year, the city of carlsbad, sdg&e,
and cabrillo power one, llc reached a settlement agreement called the seaside option.
part of that agreement is to "cooperate with the city to
develop the hub park trail system on the south shore of the agua hedionda lagoon,
which includes an agreement for parking on sdg&e-owned lot 11 and two existing pedestrian tunnels under cannon road."
this includes a one-million-dollar contribution to develop hub park trail system,
which is a key part of that agreement. I watched the city's november 15, 2021,
meeting that included estimated one-time costs and annual budget for the hub park trails.
cost based on 2021 values was approximately 3.2 million one time,
and ongoing yearly costs would be between 13,000 and 46,000 based on the staff report.
the hub park trails cip 4085 was approved in
september 2019 and as part of the master trails plan.
with this settlement agreement, there still remains up to seven years' permits and approvals from the cpuc,
the coast commission, and other agencies. I would like to request that the city initiate
the initial stages of the hub park trails project, which already has money set aside for design and public engagement,
and to allocate necessary funds to complete the project based on 2025 costs,
then proceed with what is legally allowed.
so that when these permits and approvals happen, we do not have to wait to immediately start construction.
the hub park is already 50 years into the 60 years of the park lease from sdg&e,
which was initiated in 1975. The public is most anxious to get these trails started.
I want to thank the city for creating both the cip and negotiating the settlement agreement to allow
one million dollar to be added to the cost of this project. Trails and open space are the highest priority according to recent surveys by residents.
in addition, these trails are a meaningful benefit to the public with
their water views and connectivity to other trail systems at the veterans park,
lagoon center, and south of cannon road. Thank you very much.
>> there are no more speakers. >> thank you. I'm going to ask gary barberio
and kyle lancaster if you can come up and address some of the questions that were brought up.
specifically, hub park and secondly,
the connection of any trails. I want to make sure that our staff has what
they need or believes they need to get these things accomplished.
>> mayor, members of the council, gary barberio, deputy city manager for the community services branch.
[noise] we have had a lease on hub park for a long time.
that lease is on land that is owned by sdg&e on the south shore of agua hedionda lagoon,
east of the freeway. The lease boundaries and the lease agreement were entered into
prior to cannon road in its alignment,
prior to cannon road being built. The challenge that we have with
that lease area and the agreement is that it doesn't front on
cannon road except for a very small area that is
on the steepest part of the downgrade of cannon as you're heading towards faraday avenue.
no place for trailhead parking,
really hard to access there, and so we initiated conversations with sdg&e to
try and obtain the permission to access their lot 11,
which is a 20-acre parcel that fronts on cannon road.
those conversations started, but then it got wrapped into the three-way agreement,
the seaside option agreement that the council considered and signed onto just about a month ago.
that agreement allows the city to work with sdg&e.
we would work with them on the trail design, and there's a conceptual trail alignment map that was included in that agreement that
sdg&e was willing to accept as a conceptual trail alignment.
also, sdg&e would grant the city an easement across lot 11 for a number of things.
one is a small 10-12 space trailhead parking lot.
the other would be trail easement access from the parking lot,
both west and east, to two existing undercrossings that were built as golf cart undercrossings,
but they can serve as pedestrian undercrossings. Those go under cannon road to the south side of cannon road,
and would allow us to connect to existing and future trails on the south side of cannon road.
the third, probably one of the most important things, is it would grant us access across lot 11 to the hub park lease area and allow us
access to the greater trail system that we have planned for hub park.
as I said a month ago, sdg&e is a utility.
they're regulated by the california public utilities commission, and they cannot transfer or enter into real estate transactions without pc approval.
that includes easements. The other thing that's in the agreement,
two other things to point out are there's
a million-dollar contribution from sdg&e towards the design and construction of the trail system.
then there is language in the agreement, and in fact,
it includes a new lease agreement for the hub park trails area that includes language to extend the time period.
that was mentioned by one of the speakers that's current lease will expire in the future.
the puc approval, as I pointed out in a month ago,
it's estimated it's going to take 3-5 years before the puc approves the agreement.
we wouldn't get the easements or the money or the new lease agreement for
hub park area until the puc approves the agreement that's going to them and all the land transactions.
most of the speakers are asking us to initiate
environmental design construction drawing type work to be poised
to immediately start construction when the puc approves that,
and we're able to get those easements and the money from sdg&e. But sdg&e describe this agreement
in the application that they're going to need to prepare to the puc as
the most unique and complicated agreement that they as
a utility have and will ever have submitted to the puc.
there is no 100% guarantee
or I can't even put a percentage on it that it will be approved by the puc.
the idea of spending money today,
anticipating and hoping that we do get puc approval is problematic.
certainly, if that's something council wants to direct, we can do that.
it could be money lost, and it would be our money today because we won't get that million dollar from
sdg until the puc approves the agreement.
we do have an existing cip project, and I think that's the point where, on this issue,
I'm going to turn it to kyle to tell you how much money is in there,
what we've done with some of that money to date, and how much is left.
>> thank you, sir. Good evening, mayor and council, kyle lancaster, parks and recreation director.
the speakers were correct. There's an existing capital improvement program project for
the south shore agua hedionda lagoon trail also referred to as hub park,
and the current appropriations to date are approximately $790,000 of that,
approximately $230,000 has been expended on preliminary designs,
such as those leading to this ultimate agreement with sdg&e and nrg.
also been some preliminary scoping from an environmental standpoint conducted and finally,
staff time charge to that project. The balance remaining is approximately $560,000
that could be put towards the balance of the design.
if you will, taking it from these conceptual levels to actual plans and specifications,
going through the environmental review process, and then ultimately, construction.
again, $560,000 is currently available,
but staff has not requested that in this year's budget, as mr. Barberio described,
in lieu of the puc reviewing the legal agreement that was approved by council last month.
>> the money we did expend for conceptual and environmental work.
it did lead to the conceptual trails plan that is in the three-way agreement.
that was money well spent. It led us to a plan that sdg&e could conceptually agree to put forward to the puc.
besides environmental construction design,
we also would need to achieve any permits we would need, and one of those is a coastal development permit
that would be needed for the trail development, and that actually wouldn't be issued by the city.
we do not have permit authority in this area. It would actually be a permit that we would be applying
once local city approvals are completed,
including the environmental document for the trails construction. It would be submitted to the california coastal commission for their review and approval.
there's a lot of work to happen to make this come to reality.
again, do you spend time, money, resources now,
whether not knowing that the puc is, for sure going to approve the easements that we need.
take that risk or do you wait till you know you have the burden in hand?
>> help me understand. Right now, there's a lease between sdg&e and the city to use that hub land, is that correct?
>> correct. >> but they didn't go through the puc for that.
do they have the authority to extend the lease and allow us to start the project?
>> first of all, yes, it did not go through the puc because it was a lease signed many years ago
before real estate-type transactions needed to be reviewed by the puc.
we could exercise that lease, but we can't get to it.
to expand the boundaries of the lease, that needs puc approval,
and that's what the easement, and that's part of the three-way agreement that we'll be going to the puc is all about.
>> I see. One of the questions, kyle, was the connection of a lot of the trails throughout the city.
do we have a plan for that, or do you have the resources you need to get that done?
>> specific to hub park in the south shore,
agua hedionda lagoon trail. There is now trail connectivity provided under cannon road.
there are actually two undercrossings that are currently covered or buried.
those would be a part of the project to ultimately uncover, make accessible,
and provide that connectivity from the hub park property through
lot 11 and ultimately to southward trails along the flower fields, along armada drive.
we do not have the resources currently, but that would be part of a future ask by staff to
provide the additional funding to again, finish the design and then ultimately go to construction on that project.
>> what about other trails throughout the city, the connectivity? >> other trails are really subject to individual funding as well.
oftentimes we attempt to achieve exaction through development.
essentially, having the developer fund the construction and connection to
existing trails in regards to existing trails and ongoing maintenance,
which was also referenced by a couple of the speakers. Staff does run a tight budget in that respect, admittedly,
and part of that is because the trails program was originally established to be a community based effort,
largely volunteer driven, and in recent years,
the ability for volunteers to perform certain tasks has been more constrained due
to legal risk requirements and workers compensation items.
ultimately, we now have more that is on staff and contractual resources,
and with recent budget reductions. We have felt that pinch, frankly.
staff was considering a request of approximately $75,000 to this year's budget,
specific to trail's maintenance. It was not presented as part of tonight's budget,
but we would certainly be open to the council reconsidering or
considering that request because staff can certainly put that money to use.
>> you said that we're waiting for development to pay for their fair share of the trails.
in the past, we've been able to put in roadways, we pay for it,
and then as development builds, they have to reimburse us for their percentage of that particular roadway.
is it possible that we do that with trails that we front the money,
we complete the trail connectivity, and then as developers come in later,
they have to pay back the city for their fair share of their percentage of the trail?
>> in theory, on a case by case basis, yes.
I don't know if those opportunities present themselves very often. I would defer to our finance team for the specifics to the funding mechanism,
but in theory, yes, money could be fronted and then paid back to the city.
>> now I'm not an expert in trails, but looking at having these portions of trails that don't connect to the other ones,
it just seems like it'd be more efficient if we finished those trails and got them to where they're all
connected and that the city pay for that and then get reimbursed for whatever they can later.
is that reasonable? >> well, if I could add to.
most of the roads were constructed by developers, and if the stretch of roadway that
they constructed was beyond the boundaries of their development,
the reimbursement came to the developer from additional developers down the road.
the city hasn't built new roads in a long time.
it's developers, and they did front a lot of the connections
and length of roadway and then we're reimbursed by future developers.
we have a citywide master trails plan.
kyle can detail the total mileage that's expected of that plan and
how much mileage we have in place to build out that trail system.
I don't know that we could even venture $1 amount. But I think the speaker, chris wright,
was in the ballpark, the numbers depending on when you do an estimate change,
but it's several million dollars just to build the hub park trail system,
which is just one smaller good area, but it's not the whole city and it's not the whole trail system.
it would be millions of dollars to build out the trail system, and re resources, staff resources,
and contractual resources would also be an issue. >> well, we're proud of the amount of miles of trails we have.
but if it's one mile here, one mile there and they don't connect, it doesn't seem like there's
the same effectiveness of however many miles of trails we have.
I would ask for the council's input,
but I like maybe kyle to come up with some ideas,
how much it costs and how much you would ask the council for to get at least some of these trails connected.
but I'm going to ask the rest of the council for questions and comments. Any questions?
>> mayor if I could add just one other point. We also don't necessarily have the real estate rights to those trail extensions.
acquiring an easement or acquiring actual ownership
of the property will also be part of that cost and challenge of extending.
that's why primarily most of our trails in the city have been
developed through the developer entitlement process with new development.
>> is that accurate for all of the trails? >> it's not for all, but [overlapping]. >> we could do it for some amount.
there may be some select segments that we could
target that would you put in a quarter mile of a trail and it gets you an extension that goes
three miles that you're getting good bang for your dollar there.
>> thank you for your help. I appreciate it. Questions from counsel, ms. Acosta.
>> yes. Thank you. Please don't go away because I think the might be for one of the people up here.
I know that there are some places where we have plans for trails that have not been constructed.
I wouldn't want to add new connectivity to
our trail system without considering that we have a backlog,
not just the hub area,
where we're talking about trails to this hub park area. But in my district, district 4, I know that we've got, for example,
roselina trail and the [inaudible] lagoon trail going all the way through to el communal rail to the ocean.
I'm wondering if you could elaborate, how long these have been waiting and any examples that you have of
trails that have yet to be constructed that are already in the queue.
>> I will start with roselina, since you mentioned that. That was actually a condition of development by
the coastal commission of roselina community that has been ongoing for over 30 years,
and the developer then handed that responsibility to the homeowners association.
many of those owners have changed over the years. The coastal commission is currently taking action to have
that trail final designed and ultimately constructed.
that particular project has again been ongoing for decades.
the batacu lagoon portions to the east.
many of those are traversing private property, as mr. Barberio referenced,
we do not have easement rights over the property. Unless the city were to claim eminent domain or something along that line,
we would not necessarily have the right to construct trails, even if we did fund those.
I'd like to go back to the example of hub park, south shore, agaonda.
in today's dollars, and again, with the recent modifications,
we're probably looking at well over $5,000,000, again,
inflationary from the 2001 estimate that was presented to
city council and also the additional connectivity that we referenced regarding going under canon park.
that money needs to come out of
similar competing projects such as robertson ranch park
and other park projects that we have in the queue already.
we have limited funding, but also limited staffing resources to put towards those projects.
that's another reason why the trails development has largely been put on the developers conditions of approval.
certainly, at the city council's discretion, you can re prioritize our existing cip projects and
direct staff to move certain trail segments above other existing park projects already in the queue.
but we do have quite a load already,
and we're pushing hard to get through the existing projects, including the aforementioned veterans memorial park,
which I'm extremely anxious to get before you, and I'm hoping that that comes before your summer recess.
again, happy to consider all of this, but it does have a bit of a domino effect, if you will.
>> just for the council's knowledge or reminder,
[inaudible] is an issue.
however, we do have from the proxy vote in 2002 or something like that,
I think it was 2002 or 2004. We do have voter approval to spend at that time, it was $1 million.
now it's three point something. We have the voter approval to spend
more than $1 million of general fund money on trail linkages.
that issue is not necessarily an issue in this discussion.
>> thank you. I'm asking because I understand that there are
some complications and a lot of staff work that needs to go into researching what can be done.
it's not like there is simple low hanging fruit here. I did have one other question related to our conversation,
and it was about the rangers. I know that we have heard that
there are only two rangers and that they cover a lot of area.
I'm wondering what the need would be and what the cost might be if any research has been done for our park rangers.
>> yes, ma'am. I will defer that to our police chief, ms. Christie calderwood.
>> I've watched our current rangers. It's like we have four.
>> [inaudible] awareness, although they're referred to as park rangers, they are positions that are actually housed in the police department,
and that's why ms. Calderwood will address the question. >> yes. Thank you. Good evening,
mayor and city council. As you know, I was here in march and did a five year strategic plan presenting what we think we need within the department,
which was about 19 personnel over five years.
thankfully, unanimously, you all were very supportive of the six personnel that we were in dire need of for this fiscal year,
which came before the budget. I think I made it very clear throughout the presentation that each budget season,
we would re evaluate what we need. We have a plan of 19 people.
next budget season when we're preparing, that could change because just like one of the speakers said,
e bikes didn't even exist when some of these problems with the parks and some of the things that we are dealing with have arisen.
while the rangers are currently not within our 19 personnel,
overall, that we're thinking, we are going to be requesting over the next five years, that does not mean that through reassessments each year,
that they may not be added for future requests. Additionally, one of the requests that I did make in the presentation was a cops team,
a community oriented policing team. The intent with that team is almost
like an umbrella team that would capture a lot of the work that the emergency responders and patrol
cannot get to are detectives that are working the background, cases on the back end cannot get to,
and they would be a hybrid in between to assist. That cops team, the intention would be to assist the rangers,
assist detectives, assist patrol officers, and doing a lot of things that we just don't have anybody to do right now.
hopefully that helps. There is going to be an assessment to see what we need in terms of rangers in the future.
but right now, the six personnel that we were approved, we are extremely fortunate and grateful for,
and we will have future assessments in the future budget cycles.
>> great. Thank you. >> mr. Shin. >> thanks. We're talking specifically in regards to trails right now.
I just want to make a statement. You guys just tell me if you agree or not.
there's a macro issue at hand right now that zach was just stating and which is we
have an inability right now to forecast our future because of all the things that are happening
far beyond the jurisdictions with us right now. That being said, we created which I'll say again,
it's going to be a very successful and tight budget, and we'll be able to tinker one thing or another.
I feel like I'm a huge user of the trails. I'd almost bet that I'm probably one of the greatest users in this room.
I'm there all the time. My wife tells me to take a hike all the time. I agree. I go. On that aspect,
I volunteer there, whatnot? When we're asking to be completely compressed with what our staff needs to do by
asking them to do more or deviate from what they are trying to create as a plan,
then adds to things that they're unable to do. It's going to increase our labor costs.
it's going to come back into our budget in my sense, because I remember doing this in my time as staff, and it disrupts.
when we have a plan right now and we're trying to have as much guidance and as much vision that we can provide when outside of us,
county, state, feds, all of them, are having budget issues that we are not having right now.
it would be really great in my opinion to just steer forward with what you guys are recommending,
knowing that the budget looks like it's going to be very clean. But also knowing that maybe right now the time isn't for rangers.
maybe it's time for more volunteer work where we can work on the trails and improve the quality of the trails based off of our citizens acting.
knowing firsthand, though, that we have a priority once we can catch our breaths,
not pivot more more and more for these years in this decade,
which has just been pretty wild to focus on. Is this something that you guys are asking for that we just steady the ship right now,
focus on this, we'll get to it. We'll get to the puc approval.
I'm just wondering if that philosophy is what we're trying to do with this budget.
>> in regard to the capital improvement program budget,
staff's opinion was to hold the line and wait for the puc determination.
again, being stewards of taxpayer money, we don't necessarily want to invest significant dollars
into developing those plans and specifications and such, pursuing environmental work, only to have
the puc redirect or perhaps not approve the agreement.
we're hopeful, and we want it to happen. But there is not a guarantee of that at this time.
in regards to the operating funds. Again, it was a request that was considered not advanced in this budget,
$75,000 is something annually that I'll defer to
our finance team in terms of whether or not that would make a considerable impact to the overall balancing.
but again, if the council so desire to have additional maintenance efforts on the trails,
we would need to put that into contractual resources. We have had recent staffing reductions and the volunteers
really can only do so much in terms of working with heavy equipment or power equipment.
there are greater constraints these days than we once experienced with the trail volunteer program.
again, I'll defer to our finance team in regards to the request.
>> sure. Thank you, mr. Lancaster. Regarding the $75,000 request, again,
it is always difficult to definitively say whether or not something is going to have a fiscal impact,
obviously, $75,000 is $75,000. When we're talking about the five year plus long forecast,
we're measuring that at a point in time. When we look at the forecast tomorrow,
it's going to look somewhat different. It is constantly changing. To say that yes,
based on the forecast that we've presented to the city council this evening, adding an ongoing $75,000 budget line item is not
going to accelerate the timing for when we anticipate future expenditures to exceed revenues.
but that's not to say that we're not going to find ourselves in a position a year from now with an accelerated timeline,
and it wouldn't be necessarily driven by trails,
budgetary efforts, but maybe other factors.
>> I would like to just say, council member shin, thank you for your thinking and your point there.
I would say that this budget, again, we are in year 4 of the strategic plan,
where we are trying to carry out the goals that we set forth in that plan,
and I would say that as kyle mentioned as well, the priorities within that is what we're focusing on.
it is always at the discretion of city council should priorities change. We would certainly make those changes.
but I think as a whole, we're trying to really stick focus to that five year plan.
>> I just don't want to get us caught. As we're stuck in whether how much inflation we're going to be dealing with,
not if we're going to go through a round of inflation. To add costs and then maintenance,
it's just going to be cyclically damaging to our budget if we just continue to say we're going to shift gears.
there's going to be a time where things are going to be on a nice uptrend once again.
but until then, it's like it just seems like we just need to buckle up a little bit, and make sure that we weather the storm.
>> mr. Shin, I don't want to look rude. I'm passing notes back and forth with the city manager because I was asking
him about the appropriateness of asking the council to consider under these understanding that we can't have
our volunteers do certain amount of work that they used to do because of liability and insurance issues.
that we add the 75,000 back into the budget,
but just for this one year, and then we'll revisit that the following year.
that was my note passing back and forth, would that be appropriate?
city manager said it would be fine if I asked that question. Input from the rest of the council to add it for just this one year, ms. Bhat-patel.
>> I'd be open to that. I do have some other additional questions if you're okay with that. Thank you.
thanks for the presentation and thanks to the speakers for being here. Just a couple of questions to
re-emphasize a few things that have been said and asked already.
in terms of the possibility to prioritize some of the trails that were mentioned,
especially hub park trail, from what I understand, just to clarify, because of the puc involvement,
that's where we're making sure that we're going to wait before we start to invest our funds.
I see head nodding. I'm assuming that's a yes. >> yes. >> great. Then in terms of timeline,
I know the question has been asked, what is this looking like? I know obviously we have a timeline that we've put out there.
but I'm just curious if there's anything that's been agendized in terms of when this is going to go before the puc, if not,
is there a way for us to ensure that there's some way that
this can be prioritized at the very least so that we can continue to move it along.
>> to remind the council from a month ago, you've had a lot of business since then.
but the sdge cannot apply to the puc until they have environmental clearance.
they need to apply to the city for permits for their project,
get environmental documents certified by the appropriate decision maker,
and then they can apply to the puc. They will be preparing the application to the puc
concurrently with processing application and sql review with the city.
they estimated about a year's time frame for that to happen,
and then up to again, a very unique and complicated application for
the puc up to two years for the puc to process that.
it could be longer. That's where the 3-5 years estimate came from.
>> thank you. >> they can't really speed it up per se.
>> thank you. I just wanted to ask those questions. I don't have any other associated with this right now. Thank you.
>> any other questions? Then I'll make the motion that we add 75,000,
one time funds to parks and rec budget to help
at least get the trails back into the shape they were in at the beginning.
>> second. >> ms. Acosta, yes, please.
>> thank you. I appreciate the request. I would love to finish our conversation
about the full budget to see if there are other [inaudible], if there are other one or
$200,000 that we want to add in here or there and then we'll have to prioritize.
I'm not ready to support this yet. I'd like to hear from my colleagues on other items,
not just trails, because we've only gotten to one item so far. >> I think that's a good idea,
and I'll hold on to that. I have my second in my pocket,
so I'm comfortable with doing that. Any other questions or comments at this point?
we're two hours and 20 minutes into the meeting. We're going to take a 10 minute break.
we're going to reconvene at 7:30. [background]
I'm calling us back to order. We've already beaten to death,
the trails and the hub park. Mr. Shin, you want to start off with any questions about the budget then?
>> no. I have no questions and comments. >> anybody have questions on the budget, ms. Acosta.
>> great. Thanks again for the presentation, just getting right back into it.
[laughter] really going right back to the section 115 pension fund.
we talked about two options for prepayment versus monthly payment.
I was wondering how likely it would be that we would lose money on option 1.
I know you have slides on this. Because usually, I would like to prepay,
especially when you see a $600,000 difference between prepayment versus monthly,
but we heard the description of how we might lose money if we prepay based on market performance.
but I'm wondering with your math and your ability to forecast the future,
if we have any idea. I know you really aren't a seer and you don't know everything,
but if you could help us understand, it would be helpful. >> sure. Thank you, councilmember.
with the prepayment option, immediately, there would be approximately $600,000 in savings that the city would be able to realize.
unfortunately, as you mentioned, I am not a seer and do not have that crystal ball.
it really is a risk, and that's ultimately why we are bringing it forward to the city council
because there has been an increase in interest rates,
to make this analysis a bit more competitive. When I say the analysis,
the comparison between the $600,000 in savings and the approximate $300,000 that we would otherwise
earn on our own investments by holding onto that money and making the monthly payments.
we felt that we've reached a point, again,
based on where interest rates are and our internal earning potential,
that it's risen to more of a policy decision. I did speak to calpers position as they tend to do during times of economic uncertainty,
basically warning jurisdictions to brace themselves for some up and downs.
of course, they are not saying that there's going to be investment performance declines.
the flip side of it, I spoke about the risk of making the prepayment,
calpers losing 10%, and yes, in that case,
that would be a bad deal for the city and all participating agencies that elected to prepay.
but with that said, on the flip side of that,
if the city had elected to make the switch and opt in to monthly payments,
hold onto those dollars, and calpers earned 10% or 15%,
then we missed out on some of that early investment income.
to put it as simply as I can, on paper without taking into consideration
any future market projections in calpers investment performance projections.
on paper option 1 is still more financially beneficial for the city to prepay.
>> I hear you say that at the end, but I heard you say just a moment ago,
the reason staff brought it forward is because they might be about the same in terms of risk.
>> the difference would be approximately $300,000.
>> great. I have another question.
when we talked about the cops grant,
I was reminded to think of all the potential grant sources that we have and the uncertainty with grants.
the state is facing a big budget deficit. We know at the federal level that
california and california local governments are not likely to get as many grants.
I'm wondering how this is going to affect our budget going forward,
or did we take that into account and we have tried
to protect ourselves from that possibility.
>> as far as the upcoming budget year is concerned,
there really is not any material adjustments or proposed revisions as it pertains to
uncertainty surrounding future grant opportunities or those that we receive on an annual ongoing basis.
but with that said, that is something that we will continue to monitor closely and as
we receive updates from respective grantors or other agencies,
we'll make sure to inform the city council. >> great. Just to follow up on that with one small follow up question,
have we heard what they call playbacks, any thing that we've been promised from
state or federal entities that are in danger of being taken back?
I don't think so, but I'm wondering if we've heard of that.
>> that was my understanding as well. I would look to the city manager and perhaps some
of our other department experts to see perhaps for
particular capital projects or if there are any future anticipated impacts that we might be aware of,
but I haven't been made aware of any. >> unless jason haber intergovernmental affairs director has additional comments on this.
I have not made aware of any particular project where we
may be in danger of having funds being clawed back at this time. But jason.
thank you, [inaudible]. I would just echo those comments. We haven't heard anything definitive projects that we have grant agreements in place.
those are being honored and likely to be funded, and we haven't heard of any others that are at risk currently of claw back.
>> thank you. I do recall, mr. Haber as long as you're here that there was one that was in danger that I remember that you worked on.
I want to say it was ev charging in the village.
it was assembly member burner had gotten us some money, and there was some danger.
but in the end, I believe the money did come through. >> that's correct. That was part of last year's state budget considerations.
there was an announcement that some of those funds would be clawed back. That was reversed subsequently and those funds are planned to be dispersed to the city.
>> great. Thank you. I don't have any other questions. >> ms. Bhat-patel.
>> yes. Thank you. Just a couple of questions around reserves.
just to reiterate, you said we are currently at about 55% and it would increase to 61%,
I think it's for 147 million, right?
>> that's correct. >> I just wanted to make sure I'd gotten all of that correctly.
then it was about 9.6 million and set aside for economic uncertainty.
>> that's correct. >> great. I'm glad that
the question was asked around calpers because I had that same question. Then I think my other questions were answered,
so that was it. Thanks. >> other questions? Comments? Mr. Shin.
>> real quick, I just really want to thank you guys extremely. First and foremost, the questions I'm not
asking is because I still want to comb through everything, and we'll be even longer than you guys expect.
I thank you guys for all this hard work, but I also thank you guys for what's about to take place,
which is all the uncertainty and having it adjust behind it. I think one thing that really does stand out is if we
think about what's happening federally, state, county and all the woes that they're having,
the city is really shining bright in regards to it. Some of it is because clearly of what it is that you guys are doing,
but I actually want to thank everyone from here all the right to the mayor. That we've had a culture of making sure that we're
always fiscally sound here in the city and there's a testament behind that, because I remember that since I've been here since the 90s.
thank you all the way to the mayor for having a good legacy of maintaining
being fiscally sound across the board and adjusting when need to.
on that note, one thing that was extremely highlighted is that
through the city manager in creating this budget is that while our costs have to rise,
it's still lower than inflation. That means we're essentially we're doing it at an exceptional way,
because every time if you say you're going to run an organization like a business,
and you're able to provide at the same pace, this is pretty remarkable.
the fact that we have a 61% reserve when we only need to do 40 is a combination of two things in my opinion,
it's what you guys are doing to keep everything in regards to your cost slow and understanding that,
but there's also the economic side of it, meaning that we have great vitality with our businesses,
but we need to help there the most. When you were stating something, which I quoted, of you saying that our sales tax is a sensitive issue.
it's very correct, and we have an opportunity to be able to assist them in a public and private partnership.
a lot of times we don't realize we have a disconnect sometimes in regards to how we
act within government and then not thinking that what we do affects those in business.
I would say that I believe I'm looking at this right,
40% of our revenue comes from businesses,
and it's the greatest aspect of it. I encourage the department that matt is in charge of and
yourself to each feel the pulse of what's about to take place and what it is that we can do.
for as much as a lot of us think that the pandemic is over, and that first wave of inflation is over.
in the eyes of an entrepreneur right now, this decade is still going with pivoting and pivoting and pivoting.
we may be in another adjustment period where we're going to get constant whip lashes and having to help support our small businesses,
no different than we had to do like four or five years ago.
just take that into consideration as we're doing this and as we're creating policy.
outside of that, that's all I'm doing. I think the focus is there. I hope that we can not disrupt this plan too hard,
so that we can finish off our strategic plan, continue on a next one,
because we have so much uncertainty that we can just focus really hard,
less is more at this point right now. I don't know if it was the previous city manager,
but let's do the few things very good here, and I guarantee we'll have a lot of success in the future. That's all.
>> [inaudible] >> thanks. >> thanks for putting together a really tight budget,
1.9% increase when we're seeing 3.8% inflationary rates is really impressive. It's literally half.
I know that means that we have to do more with less, and I think that we have quite capable staff in the room to do that,
and I want to thank them, the department heads especially, for lining everybody out and getting all this information together.
it is not an easy task, as you can see from what we were witnessing tonight.
I am right there with you, ms. Rocha. I would rather take some things off the list,
then add to the list. Staff, hear that. I am not going to try to add stuff to the list.
I'm a big list maker, by the way. Anyway, thank you very much and I am happy to support the mayor's motion with a second.
>> ms. Acosta. >> thank you. First, thanks to staff.
thanks to all the staff, not just the ones presenting here today and not just the department heads,
but everybody who is tightening their belts and looking
closely at how we can be very conservative in our estimates,
but also very disciplined in our work so that we are as efficient and effective as possible.
I know that a lot of background work went into this and I'm super grateful for
the overall understanding of what is happening macroeconomically.
thank you for doing that as well as going all the way down
to the very granular staff work that we do every day to serve the people.
thank you again. I agree with council member shin that our predecessors here on
this council also have set the tone in terms of being very disciplined,
and carlsbad is known for being a well managed city.
we could try to take the credit, but it's really everybody's work together.
it's a team. The strategic plan really helped. I want to thank the city, the staff,
and council members for putting together the strategic plan with its five points,
and our community vision. The community vision process over 10 years ago,
really helped us put together our values as a community, what we want to see,
and to help fund the things that we care most about, but to also not get distracted by other things that might come before us.
the values, the vision, and the strategic plan have really guided our funding,
and I'm glad that we have that. I agree, I know it's usually a five-year process that
we renew a strategic plan in the business world, and I think that's the plan here too.
the quote from our old city manager was be brilliant at the basics.
I wrote it down when I heard it, but I just wanted to underscore that that is something that we are known for,
and I'm so proud to see the budget that we have here, the draft budget.
I do want to hear from the community more. We've got that community workshop coming up on thursday.
I welcome people to show up and to continue emailing and weighing in on the budget because it's
not just the people right here making the decision. This is a community effort, and we need to hear from you.
I want to make sure that everybody knows that they still have an opportunity to weigh in before we finalize anything. Thank you.
>> ms. Bhat-patel. >> thank you. I think you've heard a lot of positive feedback,
and I want to add to that and just say, thank you so much for just putting it all together to everyone involved.
I know that it takes a lot of work and we see it in really a short time frame.
it seems like it's been a long time, but you all have been working on this for months. I just really want to say thank you for putting it all together and bringing
it before us and making our city the best city possible. In terms of the next steps,
really looking forward to hearing from the community, I think the community workshop will be telling
in terms of what the community wants to see, and of course, we'll allow for us to hopefully hone in on some more of
our feedback when this comes back to us on the 17th next month.
the strategic plan and just seeing the things that have been done in the past few years.
then obviously as we continue to move forward, what's going to be prioritized, I think is really critical,
and I appreciate how much time and effort is going into making sure that we're actually hitting those milestones and really moving it along,
and I know we have our online database that folks can check to see how things are moving along as well,
which I think is really important. Speaking of the digital transformation I think is so amazing.
I know, since the time I've joined, just being able to say that we're moving forward into
a more non-archaic way of
doing things is going to help our staff a lot in terms of time and just moving things along.
just some of the things, some of the highlights, obviously, adding folks to our police department to be able to
continue to provide the level of public safety folks expect in our community.
adding a few things to the fire department, especially the ladder truck,
I know is something that's extremely critical. The sunday hours at the library was something that we had heard from the community.
I just want to thank you all. Those are obviously just a few highlights of the things that we heard, but obviously there are so many different things that are being done within
the community that I know the community really is thankful for, including myself, obviously.
I just want to say thank you. Other than that, I'm looking forward to supporting the resolutions to move forward.
>> thank you, kevin, for saying that I was on the council for
a long time and that I contributed to the conservative nature of the council.
but thank you for giving me credit for it, but I don't deserve it. I've got to tell you that even though I've been on the council for about 17 years,
the councils long before me, who put this city together, made it the way it is,
the plan to bring in the tax base from very diversified tax base.
I got to say the way I look at it is
grandma and grandpa saved and put together a great city.
now we are the grandchildren who are inheriting it, and now it's our job to make sure we don't mess that up.
I do want to mention the people who were here long before I was and did a great job laying out the city.
for many many years, I think it was probably a record for our stability of our council.
we had ray patchett as our city manager for I'm guessing 23 years or something like that.
bud lewis was the mayor for 30 years, I'm not sure.
it was just a ridiculous long time. Ann kolchin was our vice mayor for 32 years.
julie nigard was on the council forever, and matt hall was on the council forever.
I don't want to insult them by saying they're my grandmothers and grandpas, but they understand what I'm trying to say that they've
done all the hard work and it's now our job to make sure we protect it.
thank you. We just get to say yes and no.
you guys have spent literally hundreds of hours and then bring it to us for one hour presentation,
and then we give a thumbs up or thumbs down. You guys deserve the credit, not us,
and I appreciate all the work you and your staff have done. But I do want to now bring up a second motion.
but first, let's take care of the first motion, the adding $75,000 to the parks and rec one time money,
and then we can look at future years, see if it's necessary, or if we have the money to do it.
that's my motion, 75,000 one time parks and rec. >> for the third time, second.
[laughter] >> please vote. That passes unanimously.
the next one is the cip budget is part of this budget planning,
and includes money for the kelly drive complete streets project.
this includes a roundabout at the corner of park and kelly.
I've received a lot of negative comments on it,
and I don't think I've received one positive one. I've driven it myself.
I wasn't a fan. I would like to bring this back as part of
the june 17th budget as maybe the consideration of taking that out of the budget. That's my motion.
>> just for clarification, you're asking to bring it back with other options? >> yes. Hopefully, the other option will be
bringing it back to just a normal intersection. >> second.
>> I've got it. Discussion. >> I have a question. Are you just making a motion on this one thing?
are you making the motion for a different?
>> just to bring back the kelly park intersection as part of the cip project to be
reconsidered or at least brought up and discussed before
we approve the budget before the 17th. Yes.
>> if I'm understanding correctly, I think it sounds like you'd like to take
this particular cip item as a separate item prior to adopting the full budget on the 17th, is that?
>> thank you for wording it better than I did.
>> to clarify, it sounds like it'll be brought back to us prior to the budget.
we'll have the full consideration of if it ends up changing in scope, what the costs would be and what the change in costs would be.
>> the action might even be to direct staff deposit and to come back with some additional options that may be a lesser profile project.
>> may I just ask, will there be notice sent to
folks in and around that area so that they're aware that that's happening? >> yes.
>> great. Thank you. >> shin. >> can we just make sure that we have a traffic study, collisions,
and just see what that report is because I wasn't here when it was all in this, just to get it back again so I can review it again. Thank you.
>> we have a motion and a second. Please vote. Passes unanimously.
ms. Bhat-patel, motions? >> yes. Move adoption of all resolutions in agenda item 11.
>> second. >> please vote.
I think I messed it up. Please re-vote.
passes unanimously on my third try. Thank you, guys.
that brings us to the conclusion of our agendized items.
mr. Shin, comments. >> I got nothing for you guys.
>> ms. Burkholder. >> I have a long one. For over 10 years, the vacant stag in lion pub has been a blight on
the community and an eye sore for those heading to the beach on tamarac or the i5.
the last few years, frequent calls were made to code enforcement and pd about homelessness,
graffiti and trash on the property. I also received calls about this eye sore and
reached out to staff to see what could be done. Staff, working with the property owner and multiple agencies,
secured the required clearances to have the building demolished. With the building gone, the community is safer and the area looks much better.
I wanted to quickly say thank you to all of those involved in this effort,
including staff from code enforcement, police, building, and planning.
your efforts have removed a dangerous public nuisance from the community,
and we are all better forward. I know, looking at the map,
district 1 has a lot of need. Thank you for your patience and your continued excellent work.
>> do you know if there's a plan for something or is it just to demolish it for now? >> everybody asks me that? No. [laughter]
>> no plan yet? >> it has go through the coastal commission and nobody wants to deal with that, sir. >> thank you. Ms. Acosta.
>> thanks. This thursday, I have the san diego county water authority meeting all day,
and as usual, you can watch it online, or you can go down to san diego county water authority offices in carne mesa.
but we start at 9:00 a.m. I'm on two committees, the administrative and finance committee and the lpo,
which is legislative and public outreach committee, and I will be chairing that committee this thursday. Thanks.
>> ms. Bhat-patel. >> thank you. We had our nctd board meeting last week where I was able to thankfully
raise awareness on some public safety concerns that folks have brought up regarding the village at grade crossing.
we will be continuing to work on that at the nctd level,
and I just wanted to make sure that everyone was aware that that is something that I've been working on.
on saturday, actually, along with council member shin and council member burkholder,
we had the privilege to join the carlsbad police department for the peace officers memorial run.
this week upcoming, I know we have a couple of
different things I'm sure that the mayor is going to cover with regards to where we'll be.
but other than that, I hope you have a good memorial day weekend.
>> for the announcement for council is thursday, may 22nd,
2025 at 4:00 p.m. Is the anniversary event for jalada love 10th anniversary.
that will be 300 carlsbad village drive in carlsbad. Thursday, may 22nd, 2025,
05:30-6:30 is changemaker's project gallery,
that's at valley middle school, 1645 magnolia avenue in carlsbad.
thursday june 3rd, 2025 from 4:00 p.m-6:00 p.m is connect summer social event at the carlsbad flower fields,
5704 paseo del norte in carlsbad. City manager.
>> thank you. I just want to thank counsel for their patience this evening. It was a lot of information.
it's important information, and I'm glad we were able to get through all of it with you. We will share the exact same presentation with the public at the workshop on thursday,
which I encourage residents to come. I just want to thank not only the finance and budget team,
but the analysts and the staff and each of the departments who have helped work on this.
the process begins almost immediately after the previous budget is approved, and it's a long, multi month process.
my thanks to many of the people that are here and to your analysts as well. Thank you.
>> city attorney. >> nothing, thank you. >> city clerk. >> nothing.
>> we're adjourned.