The Fort Bragg City Council held a special budget workshop last week, with presentations from City Manager Isaac Whippy and department heads.
The city’s General Fund revenue for the upcoming fiscal year is projected at $12,238,552. Expenses are just a bit lower, leaving the city with a surplus of $46,335. Last year’s surplus is expected to be $370,000, half of which will be invested in a trust that acts as a cushion for fluctuations in CALPERS, in case the retirement fund fails to perform to expectations. One of the city’s top budget priorities is to invest in the trust, which currently contains $2.5 million. After adopting a balanced budget, the other four priorities are to fund litigation and emergency reserves, and to maintain the current level of service and provide COLAs for staff.
The city also has a few special funds, from special taxes, fees and asset forfeiture. There are capital project funds for particular projects, and three enterprise funds, for water, wastewater and the CV Starr Center.
In 2016, city voters approved a measure to increase Fort Bragg’s transient occupancy tax from 10% to 12%, and to devote half of that to marketing the town as a tourist destination. Funding for the purpose is down 3%, or $260,000. The city is working with the Visit Fort Bragg committee to co-sponsor more municipal events, like cultural festivals, block parties, and, this year, a mountain bike race.
Sales tax was also buoyed by a 2018 Supreme Court decision that allowed states to require online retailers to collect sales tax from out-of-state shoppers.
Though there was an initial surge in ToT following the local measure, revenues from it and sales tax have gone down 5-10% year over year since then.
While this year’s budget is barely balanced, Whippy told the council that he does expect deficits in the next 3-4 years, as sources of income dwindle and expenses go up. “Revenue…has grown, but it just hasn’t kept up with the rising costs,” he said, adding that temporary post-covid spike has now subsided. “If we don’t find additional revenue, we’ll have to cut programs or make service cuts,” he added. “That’s just the reality…that’s why we build up our reserves.” Whippy is projecting revenue of $15.4 million in Fiscal Year 2025, with expenses of $16.84 million.
The operational budget for next year includes $15,000 in election expenses, in case the City Council decides to place a measure on the ballot to raise more special taxes. In 2023, a half-cent sales tax to improve the streets passed with over 81% of the vote. It generated a little over $1.1 million dollars this year and is expected to bring in about the same next year. The city is planning to spend $2.5 million to fix the streets in the upcoming fiscal year.
Director of Public Works John Smith reported on the six divisions within his department, with a particular emphasis on water and wastewater. A few of the top priorities for the upcoming year are finishing the rehabilitation of the water treatment plant and replacing the raw water lines, continuing work on floating desalination, and beginning the installation of solar panels on the raw water reservoir.
These projects carry a high price tag, with the water treatment plant likely to cost $11.9 million and the raw water lines calling for $9.3 million. The city’s five-year capital improvement plan comes out to $161 million, with an investment of $36.8 million planned for next year. Much of that is grant-funded, with water and wastewater coming from grants and the city’s enterprise funds, rather than the general fund. Smith said the majority of the planned capital projects are going through his department, with $146 million over five years and $21 million for the upcoming year. Within that, water is a major focus. “Mostly we’re focused on water, obviously,” he reported. “We really want to get some water security,” which is “a pain in the neck during a drought.” He added that he is “seeing some light” with the project to build new reservoirs, adding that “it’s really important.” He expressed optimism about funding sources, citing FEMA, CalOES and HUD among others, informing the council that he believes grantors “like to work with Fort Bragg.”
The police department budget is $5.85 million, a 7% increase from last year. However, there is a $285,000 salary savings, due to five vacant positions. Grant funding for two code enforcement positions has dried up. The city is recruiting for the five officers, and will review plans to hire a school resource officer at mid-year budget review. The school district would pay 70% of the SRO’s salary. The school district is also serving as the city’s emergency operations center, and the city and county are negotiating the acquisition of the Veterans Memorial Hall to use as an EOC. The CV Starr Center’s phase III design includes plans to be used as an evacuation center at some point.
Last night’s Fort Bragg City Council agenda included releasing a request for proposals for designing the new reservoirs, approving a grant application to the Bureau of Reclamation for designing the reservoirs, and amending the amount that will be needed for the raw water line replacement.
Embezzlement? Incompetence? Remember when the city was going to resurface a bunch of our crumbling roads in FB this year? Sent out notices to everyone in town prior to the work. Then all they did was hastily patchwork fill a bunch of potholes. The town’s roads are almost as lumpy as they were pre-fix, and they are even uglier now. The potholes will be back after another winter or two. It was a complete waste of money, and probably something fishy is going on behind the scenes. And now the adulterous Norvell trots off to an even bigger salary as a county supe
And yet there are still folks out there trying to change the name of Fort Bragg. Sounds expensive
“If we don’t find additional revenue, we’ll have to cut programs or make service cuts”.
Tell that to the dunderheads on the council, especially Norvell, who has stymied the development of the mill site because GP would not give the property to him for free. Let’s also highlight those in the community who resist any form of economic development suffering under the delusion that they won’t be impacted by a stagnating economy. Looks like the time is coming when they will feel the consequences.