MINUTES
CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING
CITY OF MONTEREY
Wednesday, August 27, 2025
4:00 PM
COUNCIL CHAMBER, 580 PACIFIC ST.
MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA
Councilmembers
Present: Barber, Garcia, Rasch, Smith, Williamson
Absent: None
City Staff
Present:
City Manager, Assistant City Manager, City Attorney, Finance Director, Community Development Director, Police Chief, Fire Chief, Library & Museums Director, Public Works Director, City Clerk, Recreation Manager, Acting Assistant Fire Chief, Harbormaster, Streets and Utilities Operations Manager, Streets and Operations Supervisor, Street Maintenance Leadworker
AFTERNOON SESSION (4:00 p.m.)
Call to Order
Mayor Williamson called the meeting to order at 4:01 p.m. City Clerk Klein called the roll with the Council present as indicated above.
Pledge of Allegiance
Councilmember Smith led the Pledge.
Afternoon Session
Public Appearance
1. Receive Presentation on Potential Strategies to Reduce the City's $10 million Structural (Annual) Budget Deficit (Not a Project Under CEQA Article 20, Section 15378 and Under General Rule Article 5, Section 15061)
Action: Received presentation, discussed
City Manager Uslar, Finance Director King, and Assistant City Manager Rojanasathira gave the staff presentation and answered Councilmembers' questions.
Public comment was received from: Bob Evans, who requested that in the future the public be provided the same cards the Council was receiving to conduct the budget balancing exercise; Dennis Duke, who spoke in support of a tax increase and in opposition to reducing the Neighborhood and Community Improvement Program ("NCIP") allocation; Demetrius Kastros, who recommended an increase to the Transient Occupancy Tax ("TOT") and using interim staff to save money, and said that if City properties are sold they should be sold to entities that will generate revenue in the future; Robert Walker, who spoke in favor of modifying visitor accommodation facility ("VAF") regulations and allowing private citizens to conduct short-term rentals with regulation; Noa Daniels, of Access Media Productions ("AMP"), who spoke in opposition to changing the City's government access provider; Hans Jannasch of the NCIP City Council Minutes August 27, 2025
2 Committee, who spoke in opposition to cutting the NCIP allocation, but recommended letting the committee go through the backlog and find projects to cut; Curt Tipton of the NCIP Committee, who spoke in favor of increasing the sales tax, and in opposition to cutting NCIP funding and placing a bond measure on the ballot at the next election; Uwe Grobecker, who spoke in favor of limiting CalPERS retiree health benefits to the minimum required by law going forward, and of raising parking fees for tourists and consolidating the parking fund into the general fund; Shay Balesteri of General Employees of Monterey ("GEM"), who noted that vacant positions were often used to benefit the budget and said it was nothing new, and asked that the City avoid contracting out work when City staff was trained and ready to perform the same work; Kevin Dayton of Monterey Peninsula Chamber of Commerce, who said economic growth would generate revenue, and encouraged the creation of new businesses and expansion of existing businesses, such as on the North Fremont Street business corridor; Tom Reeves, who asked for more specifics on how vacancy taxes and first responder fees would work, and spoke in favor of parking revenue increases especially in the Cannery Row area; Lori Mazzuca, who spoke in support of reducing vacant staff positions, pausing or shifting non-core programs, and requiring payments in lieu of taxes (PILOTs), and in opposition to defunding NCIP, modifying VAF regulations, and selling City properties; and Esther Malkin, who spoke in favor of PILOTs, citing fairness and the need for additional revenue, and said that if more housing could be developed it would help attract new businesses and diversify City revenues.
The Council discussed the matter briefly. Regarding the potential to use existing attrition to gain salary savings, it was requested that staff carefully evaluate the true costs of using outside contractors in place of City employees. It was requested to include in future budget books the total general fund revenues generated by visitors, and generated by locals. Regarding the potential to sell underutilized property, it was requested to provide the Council and public with a specific list of properties under consideration. Regarding the potential of adjusting the rent for the Monterey Bay Aquarium lease, interest was expressed and it was requested to learn more details about how such an arrangement would work with regard to timelines and legal considerations. Regarding the potential of adjusting VAF regulations, more specifics were requested such as what properties would be considered for adjustment. Regarding the potential to increase parking fees, interest was expressed. Regarding reappropriation of NCIP funds, it was stated that any defunding or stopping of projects should be decided by the NCIP Committee. It was stated that the problems facing the City were significant and went above and beyond the $10M under discussion, and it was stated that all cards were on the table both literally and figuratively speaking, in that anything that was not a "yes" was a "maybe" that could be looked at and tweaked to work better.
Adjournment
The Council adjourned at 5:59 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted, Approved,
Clementine Bonner Klein Tyller Williamson
City Clerk Mayor