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The Pleasanton City Council is set to review the city’s midyear budget report for the 2023-24 fiscal year and adopt a resolution that accepts city staff’s recommended adjustments to the budget during Tuesday’s council meeting.
These adjustments to the budget include increases and decreases in the city’s general Fund, enterprise funds, special revenue funds and capital projects funds, according to the staff report.
“Included in the recommended mid-year budget are adjustments based on current information and projections related to various tax revenues, along with more up-to-date funding need analysis for various expenditure budget items since the adoption of the (fiscal year) 2023-24 budget,” the staff report states.
According to the report, the city follows a three-step operating budget process that begins with a two-year budget being approved by the council — the last budget was approved on June 6, 2023 — which then is followed by a midterm budget and adjustments to that midterm budget being adopted.
Tuesday’s report is the midyear budget report for the first year of the 2023-24 budget that comes with those recommendations.
The recommended changes will mainly affect the General Fund, Water Enterprise Fund, Sewer Fund, Golf Fund and Internal Services Fund. Other areas that will also be affected are the Special Revenue Funds and Capital Projects Funds.
The report states that general fund revenues are estimated to see a net increase of $13,000 based on revised projections and changes in various taxes. The fund’s expenditures are also projected to increase by $9,000
“Staff recommends increasing revenue and expenditure totals by $13,000 and $9,000, respectively,” the staff report states. “As a result of these changes, staff expects the General Fund will have a $8,000 surplus.”
However, according to the report, the largest proposed expenditure adjustments will be seen in utility and professional services.
“Costs for electricity, water, and recycled water are all projected to increase more than previously estimated (based on rate increases along with more up-to-date usage projections),” according to the staff report.
Non-utility budget adjustments will also be seen in regards to the Community Development Department; the city manager’s office; the Information Technology Department and the Library and Recreation Department budget.
There will also be an increased adjustment of $113,000 to the police department budget that includes adding money for criminal investigation expenses and safety equipment. However, there will also be an offset reduction to the crossing guard contract, temporary agency and the animal shelter budget.
Another decrease adjustment will be to the contract services budget in the Public Works Department.
The City Council meeting is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Tuesday (Feb. 20). The full agenda can be accessed here.
In other business:
* During the consent calendar, which are items considered routine in nature and are typically approved by a single vote, the council will be set to approve an affordable housing agreement with the developer looking to demolish the Tri-Valley Inn & Suites in order to build a 42-unit residential development.
The motel property at 2025 Santa Rita Road, owned by Pete Patel and KDP Corp., was among 19 sites included in Pleasanton’s certified Pleasanton’s 2023-2031 Housing Element to accommodate the city’s mandated Regional Housing Needs Allocation tally of 5,965 new housing units — 2,758 of which are targeted toward lower-income households.
Back in October, the city’s zoning administrator approved the design review for City Ventures proposed Harmony Condominiums project, which would be located where the single-story motel currently stands on Santa Rita Road, between Valley and Mohr avenues.
The plans for the development include seven three-story buildings of market-rate “townhome-style condominiums” ranging in size from approximately 1,400 to 2,150 square feet; garages in each townhome that will be able to fit two cars; and three guest parking spaces within the project’s interior streets.
The project’s vesting tentative tract map was approved on Nov. 8 but a big aspect of the project is how per the city’s municipal code, the residential development requires the council’s approval of an affordable housing agreement in order to comply with the city’s Inclusionary Zoning Ordinance (IZO).
“The approved development includes more than 15 units, and condominiums are considered a multi-family development pursuant to the definitions included in the Inclusionary Zoning Ordinance,” the staff report states. “Therefore, the approved development is generally subject to a 15 percent affordability requirement for very low and low-income households.”
However, the IZO includes provisions for ways to comply with the affordability requirements by having the developer pay a fee, which is the Affordable Housing Agreement.
“Historically, the city has taken a flexible approach to negotiating how residential projects meet their affordable housing requirement; in some cases, most frequently for lower-density single-family ownership projects, the city has allowed payment of affordable housing fees rather than on-site construction,” according to the staff report.
The total payment City Ventures will be paying the city is about $2.1 million, according to the staff report.
* As part of the public hearing portion of the meeting, the council will be discussing two recommendations to reorganize the Civic Arts, Human Services, Library, and Parks and Recreation commissions.
The two organizational changes to the commissions that the council will weigh in on will include removing various commissioners, reducing meeting frequency and changing the average action items each year.
“To better align with the city’s organizational structure, streamline opportunities for community input and engagement, and increase efficiency for the commission and committee members as well as supporting staff members, in February 2023 the City Council voted to create an ad-hoc subcommittee … to discuss commission and committee restructure and bring recommendations forward for consideration,” the staff report states.
* As part of the consent calendar, the city staff will be asking the council to authorize a grant application for $15,300,000 in U.S. Department of Transportation Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity grant funds for the Interstate 680 at Sunol Boulevard Interchange Modernization Project.
The project — which has a total design and construction cost of about $31 million that includes an anticipated $26.5 million in future construction costs — aims to reconstruct the westbound to southbound I-680 loop ramp to allow for two lanes to enter the southbound freeway.
