18 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY june 15-21, 2023 www.montereycountyweekly.com ers, with restaurants, drinks, retail and an outdoor stage. “For a small community, there are a lot of projects that are happening right now,” Hunter says. Marina Marina is a small but growing city—“a city in huge transition,” says District 2 City Councilmember Kathy Biala. This means new development and big future projects, most of which must be funded through Marina’s three main revenue sources: sales tax, property tax and transient occupancy tax (TOT). Some of the big investments Biala sees on the horizon include ongoing blight removal at the former Fort Ord (per Biala, the city has an estimated $15 million still to do); ongoing expenditures on legal services related to the conditionally approved Cal Am desal plant—the city has an annual budget of $2 million dedicated to groundwater litigation; and investment in permanent infrastructure for city facilities currently operating out of portable structures like City Hall, the police station, senior center and more. This last item is estimated to cost $53 million— far more than the city can manage to raise by putting away money each year. Instead, Marina plans to fund that construction with a $50 million bond measure. Despite the big investments needed and the projects ahead (and the rising costs of all these projects), Biala says “overall, our city has done phenomenally well”—boasting an AA credit rating according to an independent auditor. City Council is also working with a new process for prioritizing city projects—from new riding mowers for Public Works to presenting designs for the new sports and aquatic center and developing a sidewalk improvement plan. Instead of reintroducing preferred projects each year, the council made a master list of 126 proposed projects. Next, each councilmember ranked their preferences, from #1 to #126 and checked this against the lists of other council members to come up with agreed-upon priorities. After this, Marina’s city manager will come up with a smaller list of “which [projects] can feasibly be attended to” in the coming budget cycle. Projects that don’t make the cut for this coming fiscal year will remain on the master list—the goal is to introduce some continuity in the process of deciding how to spend city funds. “We’re trying to really have a systemic way of dealing with our ever-changing budget priorities,” Biala says. Greenfield With the July 1 deadline approaching, the city of Greenfield is still working to balance its budget. City Manager Paul Wood told the City Council on June 1 the city has three main priorities: provide a safe environment for residents, diversify the economy for long-term sustainability, and increase residents’ lifestyle options. “It’s really about, what do we do to make sure that we’ve got enough revenue to provide the services that we’re providing?” Wood said. There is good news: City staff is predicting up to an 8-percent increase in property taxes for the upcoming fiscal year. Plus, “We currently have $27 million in cash and investments,” Wood said. “That’s a really good bit of saving that prior administrations and councils have done.” The Greenfield Police Department is requesting funds for a school resource officer (to be split 50/50 with the school district) in a city that is facing a high rate of teen arrests; in January and February alone, nearly 30 youth under age 18 were arrested on various charges. Many residents have voiced a lack of recreational programs in the city and a need for more diversity of sports they can participate in. The city is also starting a Youth Council and an internship program, modeled on the neighboring cities of Gonzales and Soledad, to engage young people in civic life. Police Chief Guillermo Mixer believes funding a school resource officer will increase public safety: “We want to have a bigger impact and be more visible and have a bigger footprint within the schools,” Mixer says. Greenfield is working to modernize its wastewater treatment plant; update software to improve City Hall operations; and restore and clean up athletic fields and parks. Wood also wants to move forward with long-term projects such as a community center, downtown revitalization and low-cost, high-internet access. City officials are also working on a rental assistance program, emergency food and shelter program and expanded digital literacy among seniors. Pacific Grove America’s Last Hometown is also a tourist town, and relies on three primary revenue sources that reflect that split: property tax; hotel tax, or transient occupancy tax; and sales tax. After a Covid-era dip in some of those, the revenue outlook is relatively rosy. Property tax revenue was not negatively impacted by the pandemic, and went up 6-percent last year. “TOT took a huge hit at the start of the pandemic. We have seen that recover since then,” City Manager Ben Harvey says. And sales tax is back to pre-pandemic times, and estimated to generate nearly $6 million in the coming fiscal year, thanks largely to Measure A, a half-cent increase approved by voters in 2022. (Technically, it was actually approved twice by voters, but on its first go-round as Measure L, the State Department of Finance discovered a discrepancy in the language and it was never enacted.) Part of the rosy outlook comes thanks to new hotel rooms coming to P.G. A 102-room Kimpton hotel, located behind the Holman Building, is expected to generate $1 million in tax revenue from combined TOT, property tax and sales tax once it opens. “The big revenue hope the city has is we anticipate a big hotel breaking ground this year,” City Manager Ben Harvey says. While another, bigger hotel concept, approved for the American Tin Cannery, is tied up in litigation, Harvey sees the revenue as critical. “We’re bullish on both hotel projects because they’re very important to the future of our town,” he says. Another potential revenue hope is cannabis; analysts believe one dispensary could generate up to $400,000 annually in taxes. But first City Council would have to give that direction. Where council has already given direction is in establishing priority areas, which should be reflected in the budget. This year, those priorities are recreation; infrastructure; affordable housing; and environmental stewardship. “Any money that might not be used for a prior obligation first and foremost goes toward fulfilling those goals,” Harvey says. That appears in the 202324 budget as $170,000 in funds for recreation staff positions and over $4 million for one-time capital projects, including a last-minute boost from City Council during budget hearings in June. King City There was a time just a few years ago that King City was looking at the prospect of bankruptcy. Two years ago, for the first time in 18 years, the city had a positive fund balance, generating more revenue than it spent in its general fund; last year came its first reserves in 19 years. This year city officials are forecasting to end the year with over $2 million in reserves. “We’ve come a long way,” says City Manager Steve Adams. “That’s the good news. The challenge is because we had 20 years of financial hardship, we have a lot of deferred maintenance.” To that end, the next budget includes one-time capital projects. Projects are small and large, and include a restroom upgrade at City Park, water fountain replacements, new sidewalks and bulb-outs in downtown, a sewer line replacement on Lynn Street, painting City Hall and installing an access road to the wastewater treatment plant at San Lorenzo Park. “Each year we spend a lot of time prioritizing and trying to focus on key areas, instead of trying to do everything,” Adams says. Those areas include violence prevention and this budget includes a full-time school resource officer within the King City Police Department, to be funded jointly with local school districts. The small city has gotten out from under debt by selling off some cityowned property and going all out on applying for grants, while also investing in downtown in an effort to create more economic activity. There have also been some failed efforts to create revenue, but King City voters can “The data we’re looking at is a deceleration of growth.”
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