City Council May 5, 2025 Page | 1
CITY OF DUARTE
AGENDA
SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL
CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS
1600 HUNTINGTON DRIVE, DUARTE, CA 91010
Monday, May 5, 2025
4:00 PM
MISSION STATEMENT
With integrity and transparency, the City of Duarte provides exemplary public services in a caring and fiscally responsible manner with a commitment to our community’s future.
Cesar A. Garcia, Mayor
Tera Martin Del Campo, Mayor Pro Tem
Margaret Finlay, Councilmember
Samuel Kang, Councilmember
Toney Lewis, Councilmember
Vinh Truong, Councilmember
Martin Calderon, Councilmember
City/Authority Staff:
Brian Villalobos, City Manager
Kristen Petersen, Assistant City Manager and Director of Administrative Services Craig Hensley, Director of Community Development
Manuel Enriquez, Director of Parks and Recreation
Larry Breceda, Director of Public Safety Services
Thai Viet Phan, City Attorney
Frances Jimenez, Interim City Clerk
1. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL
A. Special Meeting Notice
2. BUDGET OVERVIEW
a) City Manager Remarks
b) Budget Process
3. ORAL COMMUNICATION - ITEMS LISTED ON THIS AGENDA
Any person wishing to speak on any items listed on this special meeting agenda, may do so at this time. The opportunity to speak is on a first come, first served basis. Each person may speak once for no more than 3 minutes for all Oral Communications at
City Council May 5, 2025 Page | 2
this time. Public comments may be submitted by emailing [email protected], prior to 4:00 p.m. on the day of the meeting. Under the Brown Act, members of the City Council and staff can respond only with a brief reply to issues raised in Oral Communications, and no action on such matters may take place at this meeting.
4. BUDGET DISCUSSION
a) General Funds
b) Other City Funds
A. Fiscal Year 2025/26 Budget Highlights
Recommended Action: Receive and File the budget highlights and discuss and direct staff as neeeded for the preparation of the 2025/26 Budget document that will be brought back for Council action on June 11th.
5. DISCUSSION AND DIRECTION TO STAFF ON FY 2025-26 BUDGET
6. ADJOURNMENT
AFFIDAVIT OF POSTING
I hereby certify under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California, that the foregoing Agenda was posted at the following locations: City Hall – 1600 Huntington Drive, Duarte Public Safety Department – 1042 Huntington Drive, Duarte Library – 1301 Buena Vista Street, and the City of Duarte website (www.accessduarte.com) not less than 24 hours prior to the meeting per Government Code 54954.2.
Dated this 1st of May 2025.
Frances Jimenez
Interim City Clerk
1 NOTICE AND CALL OF SPECIAL MEETING OF THE
CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DUARTE
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the majority of the City Council have called for a special meeting of the City Council of the City of Duarte to be held in the City Council Chambers on Tuesday, May 5, 2025, at 4:00 p.m.
The Special Meeting will be for the purpose of holding the Fiscal Year 2025/2026 Budget Workshop. Visit the City website at https://www.accessduarte.com/home for all details and agenda.
Dated: May 1, 2025
Frances Jimenez
Interim City Clerk
I, Frances Jimenez, Interim City Clerk, hereby certify that the foregoing notice of special meeting was posted on May 1, 2025 at the following locations: City Hall – 1600 Huntington Drive Avenue, Duarte Public Safety Department – 1042 Huntington Drive, Duarte Library – 1301 Buena Vista Street, and the City of Duarte website (www.accessduarte.com) not less than 24 hours prior to the meeting and delivered to each member of the Duarte City Council.
Frances Jimenez
Interim City Clerk
AGENDA REPORT
MEETING DATE: May 5, 2025
TO: Mayor and Members of the City Council
FROM: Kristen Petersen, Director of Administrative Services SUBJECT: Fiscal Year 2025/26 Budget Highlights
RECOMMENDATION: It is recommended that the City Council receive and file the budget highlights and discuss and direct staff as needed for the preparation of the 2025/26 Budget document that will be brought back for Council action on June 10th.
FISCAL IMPACT: No fiscal impact at this time
BACKGROUND
This report contains highlights of the budget recommendations for the upcoming fiscal year. It is provided as background information for the City Council budget workshop, which is scheduled to begin Tuesday, May 5th at 4pm.
Staff has endeavored to make this report on highlights brief, however every effort has been made to identify any issues or changes in the budget that the Council might find of interest.
DISCUSSION/ANALYSIS
General Fund
The 2025/26 General Fund budget, as recommended, includes a deficit of $845,400. This means that expenditures are expected to exceed revenues by that amount. The primary impact on the budget is $1.27 million in carryover projects which were discussed at the CIP workshop. If this budget were approved as recommended, Unassigned General Fund balance at year-end of 2025/26 would be $21.67 million, which covers 99% of General Fund expenses.
Total General Fund revenues for 2025/26 are projected to be $25 million, which is $688,000 more than the 2024/25 estimated revenues. Noteworthy revenue issues are as follows:
• On the positive side Building Permits and Plan Check Fees are expected to increase by $100,000 and $450,000 respectively due to the construction of a medium sized City of Hope building. MVLF funds are projected to come in at $209,000 more than 2024/25, which is a modest 2% increase.
Agenda Item: 4.A.
2 • On the down side, we are projecting that we will have $168,000 less in grant funds than last fiscal year due to less Tobacco grant funds and the end of the one-time grant awarded by Senator Rubio.
Total General Fund expenditures are projected to be $25.8 million. This is $936,000 less than 2024/25 estimated expenditures. Noteworthy General Fund expenditure issues are as follows:
• The City Manager’s budget $137,000 less because it does not include election costs that were needed this last year for the election services of the November 2024 Council election and the completion of the majority of the strategic plan process. • The LA County Sheriff’s Contract for fiscal year 2025/26 includes an estimated annual cost increase of 4.5% and liability surcharge of 13%, resulting in a $300,000 increase in the Public Safety budget.
• The recommended 2025/26 budget for Community Development includes $1.4 million less than the current year budget, largely due to the fact that we are projecting that the majority of the Huntington Drive landscape median project will be completed before June 30, 2025. We have included $540,000 for the final completion, which is projected to be completed at the beginning of 2025/26.
• Based on the discussions at the Capital Improvement Plan Workshop, the proposed budget for the Parks and Recreation Department includes $260,000 for hiring a consultant to prepare the construction drawings for the next phase of the Duarte Park Renovation Phase 2. If construction plans are completed in 2025/26, Council could consider funding construction in 2026/27.
• The Facilities budget includes several carryover projects, such as the completion of the City Hall building façade and the City Yard electrical upgrades. But as discussed at the CIP workshop, it also includes some new projects, such as the replacement of the roof at the Teen Center, flooring in the Royal Oaks Park building, the resurfacing of the Futsal/Pickleball courts at Duarte Sports Park, a new ADA entry door for the Community Center and a new boxing ring for the Teen Center.
• The Administrative Services budget includes an increase of approximately $200,000 for the CalPERS retirement unfunded liability payments, which is based on the most recent CalPERS actuarial study.
Other Funds
The following projects are highlights for City funds other than the General Fund that were delayed from 2024/25 and will be funded in 2025/26 as discussed at the CIP workshop. • $115,000 has been allocated from the Gas Tax fund to continue the Traffic Study and PS&E for Huntington Drive from City limit to City limit. This will provide the information needed for the City to go out to bid for the massive Huntington Drive street rehabilitation project needed in subsequent years.
• The Watson Recreation Trail improvements are expected to move forward in 2025/26, so we have allocated $1.6 from the Federal Appropriation grant. • $1.3 million of Measure M grant and special development funds will be carried over for the completion of the Highland Promenade project.
New projects that are funded by Other funds are highlighted below.
3 • $1 million in SB1 and Measure R for the 25/26 Annual Street Rehabilitation project • $210,000 in Gas Tax and Measure R for the 25/26 Annual Street Maintenance projects • $150,000 in Measure R for the 25/26 Annual Concrete Repair Project • $151,000 in CDBG and Bike/Ped funds for the 25/26 Annual ADA Ramp Project • $1.25 million in Rule 20A credits for undergrounding utilities along a section of Huntington Drive
• $175,000 in Gas Tax and Measure M funds for the installation of a traffic signal at Kelwill and Buena Vista
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the City Council receive and file the budget highlights and discuss and direct staff as needed for the preparation of the 2025/26 Budget document that will be brought back for Council action on June 10th.
FISCAL IMPACT
No fiscal impact at this time.
Fiscal Review: Reviewed and Approved:
Kristen Petersen Brian Villalobos
Assistant City Manager/ City Manager
Director of Administrative Services