City Council Sets New Budget Goals

San Luis Obispo City Council members set their goals for the next 2-year budget cycle, after going to the public for its thoughts on how the budget should be spent.
According to a news release from the city manager, the Top-4 goals are: housing, multi-modal transportation, climate action, and fiscal sustainability and responsibility.
It also named “Downtown vitality” as another important goal, said City Manager Katy Lichtig. The goals were settled upon at a special meeting held Jan. 28 at the City/County Library. The council had also held a well-attended public workshop Jan. 10 wherein citizens gave their input into the budget priorities.
The goals will carry into the 2017-18 budget and set the stage for the 2018-19 budget, though the goals and priorities will be revisited next year before the budget is written for that second year.
At the Jan. 28 meeting, the Council addressed several options, then deliberated before taking action.
“The workshop is one of several important steps the Council takes in creating a budget,” Lichtig said, “including a review of work plans associated with the priorities [on April 18] and a preliminary Financial Plan presentation on May 15.”
The City also had an online survey that had more than 1,200 responses with some 2,000 total residents offering their opinions either online or at the Jan. 10 workshop.
“The Council was able to use this feedback and their sense of what is important to the community to arrive at these priorities,” Lichtig said. “I’m pleased that so many individuals are engaged in the process, which really shows how much people care about our community.”
As to the goals, under “Housing,” the goal is to increase building of “all housing types designed to be economically accessible to the area workforce and low and very low-income residents, through increased density and proximity to transportation corridors in alignment with the Climate Action Plan.”
Under “Transportation,” the goal is to implement the “Bicycle Master Plan,” addressing pedestrian safety issues and the so-called “Short-Range Transit Plan.”
The “Climate Change” goal follows the political philosophy of the new Mayor Heidi Harmon, who is a climate change activist. The goal intends to implement the City’s “Climate Action Plan,” which was a requirement from the State to write and adopt.
The goal is to make SLO a “net-zero carbon city,” through cost-effective measures “including implementation of a sustainability coordinator and formation of a Green Team.”
The fiscal sustainability and responsibility goal revolves around implementing the City’s “Fiscal Responsibility Philosophy,” focusing on economic development and responsibilities, unfunded liabilities with regards to employee pension obligations, and “infrastructure financing,” or borrowing money for needed infrastructure improvements.
As for Downtown, the goal is to “continue to improve safety, infrastructure investment, and maintenance in the Downtown and support Downtown Association’s proposal to consider a Downtown improvement district.”
Such a district would involve property owners agreeing to tax themselves to pay for maintaining infrastructure in the Downtown business district.
The budget schedule calls for one more council workshop in early June, with adoption of the 2-year budget expected on June 20. More information on the City’s budget process is available on the City website, see: www.slocity.org.