The following is a submission from the City of Santa Monica. Image from Juan Matute
The Santa Monica City Council Saturday established an Economic Development Ad Hoc Subcommittee and appointed Mayor Lana Negrete, Councilmember Jesse Zwick and Councilmember Barry Snell as part of a strategic effort to address the city’s budget deficit.
The creation of the subcommittee was part of a budget workshop at which council gave direction for the preparation of the Fiscal Year 2025-27 Biennial Operating Budget, which covers city finances from July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2027.
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, which had significant impacts on the city’s revenues, the city has been drawing from its reserves to balance the budget. For the upcoming biennial budget cycle, staff have identified the city’s ongoing financial challenges as a structural deficit and proposed a more aggressive focus on generating revenues.
At Saturday’s workshop, the City Council gave direction for a biennial budget approach that:
- curbs all discretionary expenditure growth and looks at opportunities for cost savings, efficiencies and reprioritizing of current work
- emphasizes a focus on added revenue generating opportunities and prioritizes economic development to strengthen the local economy and bring long-term stability to the city’s budget
- uses city reserves to balance the budget for this budget cycle
- allocates revenues from voter-approved Measure K to increased services and programs focused on safe streets and public safety
As part of the budget process, the council also moved to streamline the city’s strategic priorities to more intentionally focus on three core concepts:
- Economic opportunity and growth
- Clean streets and safe neighborhoods
- Affordable, livable and secure housing for all
The council also stressed that it remains committed to the city’s key values of furthering racial justice, equity and social diversity as well as sustainable practices — ingrained in all city programs, initiatives and policies.
The council priorities will be further defined as part of the budget process.
Finally, at Saturday’s workshop, council also adopted federal and state legislative platforms. The draft platform, which the council approved with some adjustments, can be found here.
For more information on the budget workshop, read the full staff report and view the presentation, or read a summary here. Listen to the audio of the full workshop here.
The City Council will review the proposed biennial budget at a study session on May 27, with final adoption set for June 24.
For more on the city budget process, visit santamonica.gov/santa-monica-budget.
