City Releases Proposed Budget for Fiscal Year 2023-24
Morro Bay, CA – Interim City Manager Greg Carpenter released the City’s Proposed Fiscal Year (FY) 2023-24 Operating and Capital Budget, which funds all City services and capital projects from July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024. The budget makes key investments in operations, City staff, capital improvements, and paying down pension liabilities, while also preserving healthy financial reserves to weather future emergencies and economic downturns. City Council and the community will review the proposed budget at two public meetings, on May 23 and May 24, and budget adoption is scheduled for June 13.
Members of the community can view the budget in digital and printable PDF format below:
The proposed FY 2023-24 expenditure budget of $56.1 million includes $36.6 million for operations and $19.5 million for 31 capital projects (net of interfund transfers). The budget funds the following: the operational departments which provide core services to our community, including police, fire, water, sewer, parks, roads, recreation, community development, code enforcement, and harbor; the supporting administrative services such as human resources, information technology, and finance; and 31 capital projects to improve our shared built environment. A portion of the capital funding will go toward efforts to repair infrastructure damaged by the winter storms.
The budget also funds efforts to achieve the Strategic Planning goals established by the City Council of: Improving public infrastructure, Achieving economic vitality, Addressing housing needs and homelessness response, and Improving community engagement.
The City has largely recovered from the economic impacts of the pandemic although recent events related to storm damage, and ongoing global and national events have negatively impacted our financial situation. The City’s major revenue sources, particularly those tied to discretionary spending and tourism, had shown strong signs of recovery to pre-pandemic levels but are now flattening. Measure E, passed by Morro Bay voters in 2020, continues to support the City's ability to deliver core public safety services and make progress toward addressing infrastructure needs, though infrastructure needs continue to exceed funds available.
Given macroeconomic uncertainty on the horizon and expenditure growth outpacing revenue growth, the City’s strong financial reserves in all its funds (totaling over $14 million citywide) would help the City weather a future emergency or recession. This budget also includes $1 million investment into a pension trust fund to help lower our overall pension liability.
Lastly, the FY 2023-24 is presented in an interactive web-based format to make it easier for community members to track their investment in the City. To learn more about the Budget, please visit: https://www.morro-bay.ca.us/827/Budget.
