City Council May 5, 2026 Page | 1
CITY OF DUARTE
AGENDA
SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL
CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS
1600 HUNTINGTON DRIVE, DUARTE, CA 91010
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
5:00 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.
Tera Martin Del Campo, Mayor
Samuel Kang, Mayor Pro Tem
Margaret Finlay, Councilmember
Toney Lewis, Councilmember
Vinh Truong, Councilmember
Cesar A. Garcia, 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, City Clerk
ADA ACCESSIBILITY NOTICE:
In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, if you need assistance participating in this meeting, contact the City Manager's office at (626) 357-7931. Notification no later than 1:00 p.m. on the day preceding the meeting will enable the City to make reasonable arrangements to assist your accessibility to this meeting.
Notice:
Any documents distributed by the City/Authorities to a majority of the City Council/Housing Authority/Financing Authority Board less than 24 hours prior to the City Council/Housing Authority/Financing Authority meeting will be made available for public inspection at City Hall, 1600 Huntington Drive, Duarte, CA 91010, during normal business hours, except such documents that relate to closed session items or which are otherwise exempt from disclosure under applicable law.
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Notice:
Duarte City Council meetings are audiotaped for later broadcast. Attendance at the meeting constitutes consent by members of the public to the City's and any third party's use in any media, without compensation or further notice, of audio, video, and/or pictures of meeting attendees.
To access the meeting, log onto https://www.cityofduarte.ca.gov/, then on the homepage, click on the Agendas & Meetings icon then click on the City Council Meeting link.
Public comment:
In-Person: Members of the public may provide in-person comments at the podium in the Council Chamber. Speakers who wish to address the Council must do so by submitting a speaker card prior to the start of the Regular Meeting for all designated public comment periods as listed below. Cards will not be accepted after the start of the meeting without the permission of the presiding chair. Speakers shall be limited to three (3) minutes per person per designated public comment period. At the Mayor’s discretion, the time limit may be shortened to allow all speakers the opportunity to address the City Council.
Written: Members of the public may submit written comment by emailing [email protected], prior to 4:00 p.m. on the day of the meeting. The subject line of your public comment email must contain the Agenda item number or title. Public comments, including personal contact information, are considered public record. Please do not provide any personal information (i.e. phone numbers, addresses, etc.) that you do not want to be published. Comments will be distributed to the City Council and made available for public review.
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 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
City Council May 5, 2026 Page | 3
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 2026/27 Budget Highlights
Recommended Action: Receive and File the budget highlights and discuss and direct staff as neeeded for the preparation of the 2026/27 Budget document that will be brought back for Council action on June 9th.
5. CONTINUATION OF ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
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 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.
6. DISCUSSION AND DIRECTION TO STAFF ON FY 2025-26 BUDGET
7. ADJOURNMENT - TO SCHEDULED REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING
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 (https://www.cityofduarte.ca.gov/) not less than 24 hours prior to the meeting per Government Code 54954.2.
Dated this 30th day of April 2026.
Frances Jimenez
City Clerk
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, 2026, at 5:00 p.m.
The Special Meeting will be for the purpose of holding the Fiscal Year 2026/2027 Budget Workshop. Visit the City website at https://www.cityofduarte.ca.gov/home for all details and agenda.
Dated: April 29, 2026
Frances Jimenez
City Clerk
I, Frances Jimenez City Clerk, hereby certify that the foregoing notice of special meeting was posted on April 29, 2026 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 (https://www.cityofduarte.ca.gov/home) not less than 24 hours prior to the meeting and delivered to each member of the Duarte City Council.
Frances Jimenez
City Clerk
AGENDA REPORT
Agenda Item: 4.A.
MEETING DATE: May 5, 2026
TO: Mayor and Members of the City Council
FROM: Kristen Petersen, Director of Administrative Services SUBJECT: Fiscal Year 2026/27 Budget Workshop 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 2026/27 Budget document that will be brought back for Council action on June 9th
FISCAL IMPACT: There is no fiscal impact at this time
STRATEGIC PLAN
IMPACT: There is no strategic plan impact associated with this item
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 5pm.
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 2026/27 General Fund budget, as recommended, includes a deficit of $3.6 million. This means that expenditures are expected to exceed revenues by that amount. However, included in this total is the Duarte Park Phase II project, which is a $4.5 million expense. Given that the Duarte Park Phase II project is a one-time capital project, if we were to remove it from the analysis and only considered operating expenses, the budget would be in a surplus of approximately $900,000.
If this budget were approved as recommended, Unassigned General Fund balance at year-end of 2026/27 would be projected to be $28.1 million, which covers 93% of the current year General Fund expenses, but covers 110% of expenses if the one time Duarte Park Phase II project was not part of the analysis.
Total General Fund revenues for 2026/27 are projected to be $26.6 million, which is $2 million less than the 2025/26 estimated revenues. Noteworthy revenue issues are as follows:
2 • As discussed at the 20205/26 Mid-Year budget review, the City received more than $5.7 million in plan check and building permit fees related to projects at the City of Hope, Vallarta Market and the Crestfield development. In fiscal year 2026/27, we are projecting a more average year of $2.5 million, explaining the majority of the reduced revenue projection. • On the positive side we are projecting a five percent increase in the ongoing revenue categories of Property and Sales Tax revenues. This is a more conservative increase assumption than prior years, but still generates more than $650,000 in new revenues.
Total General Fund expenditures are projected to be $30.2 million. This is $2.9 million more than 2025/26 estimated expenditures. However, as noted above this includes $4.5 million for the Duarte Park Phase II project, so all other expenditures would total $25.7 million which is $1.6 million less than 2025/26 expenditures. Noteworthy General Fund expenditure issues are as follows:
• The City Manager’s budget includes $100,000 needed for the election services of the November 2026 Council election.
• The LA County Sheriff’s Contract for fiscal year 2026/27 includes an estimated annual cost increase of 2.5% and liability surcharge of 14.5% (1.5% increase from 13%), resulting in a $177,000 increase in the Public Safety budget.
• The recommended 2026/27 budget for Community Development includes $1 million less than the current year budget, largely due to the fact that we are projecting less plan check and building permit activity and therefore less building department service costs. • The Parks and Recreation Department budget includes $400,000 for the replacement of the south yard modular office building. Based on the discussions at the recent Capital Improvement Plan Workshop, the proposed budget for the Parks and Recreation Department includes $4.5 million for the construction of the Duarte Park Renovation Phase 2 (Playground, Dog Park, basketball courts). Another $273,000 is included in the Park Development fund.
Please note that the Duarte Park parking lot was also discussed at the CIP workshop, but was not included in the budget as additional discussion of design, construction and timing was needed to clarify Council direction. We would also like to have additional discussion about returning to a seasonal closure of the pool in order to reduce costs and extend the life of the pool until we can secure funding for the much needed pool renovation project. • Several items of interest should be noted in the Administrative Services budget. As the insurance industry continues to become more challenging, the City’s liability insurance through California JPIA increased by more than $130,000, while workers compensation insurance went down by $27,000. This year includes an increase of approximately $160,000 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 will be funded in 2026/27 as discussed at the CIP workshop.
• $430,000 has been allocated from the Gas Tax fund for the Huntington Drive at Las Lomas traffic signal.
3 • SB1 funds will be used to fund $600,000 in the annual street rehabilitation project based on the City’s pavement management plan.
• Measure R will fund $200,000 in annual sidewalk repairs and $140,000 in annual street slurry street maintenance.
• The Watson Recreation Trail improvement project was approved by Council at the April 14th meeting. Total project costs are projected to be $1.8 million with $400,000 coming from Measure M funds and the balance reimbursed by a Federal Appropriation grant. Please note Council’s request to look at additional lighting for the Trail will be returning to Council in a separate workshop at the end of May, once lighting options, design and costs are gathered.
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 2026/27 Budget document that will be brought back for Council action on June 9th.
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