12 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY MAY 29-JUNE 4, 2025 www.montereycountynow.com After every expense was tallied and weighed against projected revenues, the City of Carmel was still facing a $5 million deficit. Was it time, city leaders asked themselves in a special budget workshop on May 21, to make some tough choices? With healthy reserves of over $40 million, the city could take the money from there and call it square for 20252026. Or, they could implement a hiring freeze and cut funds for tourism marketing, citywide mail delivery and other expenses. The council chose the former, directing city staff to bring a balanced budget back on June 3. The $5 million deficit was largely driven by needed capital improvement projects, Finance Manager Jayme Fields told councilmembers, including unfinished projects from the 2024-2025 budget year like paving, shoreline infrastructure repairs and a coastal engineering study projecting needs due to sea level rise. Nine potential new projects to add or replace vehicles rounded out the list. Another list of 30 potential projects were presented by staff, many due to deferred maintenance. Sales, property and transient-occupancy taxes comprise 82 percent of the city’s projected $34.9 million in revenues. Tax revenue had been trending upward in recent years, Fields said, “but the growth is slowing.” While other cities were seeing decreases, she said Carmel had not felt the impact yet. The housing market is softening, sales tax is expected to stagnate and TOT could decrease slightly, by 2 percent, she said. The proposed 2025-2026 budget “reflects uncertainty and instability.” In the past year the council had made changes to budget policy, including committing to spending only 90 percent of revenue and putting the remaining 10 percent into capital improvements; this year’s proposed budget reflects spending 91.6 percent of revenues. Mayor Dale Byrne suggested they live with that, and push the 90-percent goal to next year. Before giving direction, the council debated whether to make cuts—$180,000 for Visit Carmel and $339,400 for See Monterey for tourism marketing were at the top of the list. In the end there was general agreement that the city sees a return on investment in the form of tax revenue, so they set that aside. They also nixed the idea of a hiring freeze for now. There was a push from residents and business leaders to focus on bumping up revenues. Hotelier Mark Stillwell said the city should incentivize hotel owners to upgrade aging rooms as a way of increasing TOT revenue. One of his recently renovated hotels had seen a $100,000 increase in TOT flowing toward city coffers. Former councilmember Karen Ferlito urged the council to double parking in-lieu fees, paid into a city fund by businesses when they cannot provide onsite parking. She also advocated charging for parking and increased weekend parking enforcement. Byrne mentioned data estimating that the city could be losing up to $1 million in sales tax revenue due to people staying away because they are not able to find parking. Squeeze Play Facing a $5 million deficit and deferred maintenance, Carmel leaders consider belt tightening. By Pam Marino Carmel City Council is set to vote on the city’s 2025-26 budget on June 3, dipping into reserves—with the direction to city staff to look at cuts starting the year after. NEWS “The growth is slowing.” DANIEL DREIFUSS Voted Monterey County’s Best Antique Shop ’24 ♦ 3 Card Poker ♠ Century 21st No Bust Black Jack ♣ Texas Hold’em ♥ Baccarat FULL BAR! BLACKJACK BONUS POINTS PAYS UP TO $20,000 SMALL TOWN BIG PAYOUTS! 1-800-Gambler • Gega-003846, Gega-Gega-003703, Gega-000889 Gega-000891 Gega-002838 The Marina Club Casino ensures the safety and security of all guests and team members at all times, while providing exceptional service. 204 Carmel Ave. Marina 831-384-0925 casinomonterey.com ♠ ♣ ♥ ♦ Just minutes from Downtown Monterey Where Monterey Comes To Play
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjAzNjQ1NQ==