San Bruno passes 2024-25 budget

The city’s $4.85 million budget deficit for the 2024-25 fiscal year — predominantly caused by a lack of vehicle license fee revenue and personnel cost increases, Pegueros said — was addressed with use of one-time revenue funds. 

A long-term budget forecast emphasized unknown variables in the city’s financial future, although midpoint estimates showed the deficit growing to $18 million by 2034. 

Worst-case scenarios suggested a budget deficit of nearly $50 million in that time without VLF revenue, while a best-case scenario offered a surplus of $30 million should San Bruno sales and cannabis tax increase. 

“I can almost say with certainty this forecast is incorrect. Forecasts are highly dependent on things we cannot predict or anticipate,” Pegueros said at the June 11 meeting. 

Of San Bruno’s revenue, 71% comes from taxation, including property, sales and hotel tax. Over 50% of its expenditures will go to maintaining police and fire services. 

City Manager Alex McIntryre said the city was anticipating a “stabilizing future.” 

“It is a balanced budget. It is a budget which is funding your important services. It is a budget that anticipates certain economic hiccups in the future,” he said at the approval meeting June 25. 

Concerns were raised by Councilmember Marty Medina around the new downtown parking meter program, which has created controversy among residents who find it cumbersome and overly expensive. 

“I have the belief that any excess money from the program should be reinvested into the downtown area,” he said. “Where do the funds from a citation that’s issued downtown for parking [go]? Currently it’s my understanding it doesn’t go into the parking fund, it goes into the general fund. My feeling on that is it’s not appropriate.” 

Funds from citations of all kinds go into the general fund, Police Chief Ryan Johansen said, and it would be highly challenging to bifurcate only citations issued by contractor LAZ for metered parking enforcement into a different fund. 

The city is investing a significant amount of money into refurbishing downtown, McIntyre said — likely more than is in the current parking fund, which holds revenue generated by the program. 

Medina also broached the question of funding for a bevy of other community needs, including big belly trash cans for downtown, street lights, traffic calming, speed humps and more cameras. 

Other councilmembers, as well as McIntyre, said the topic of reallocating funding for different community needs would be more productive during a future budget amendment session. 

“I really think we need to give this budget a chance to sink in,” Vice Mayor Michael Salazar said. “Let’s see how it plays out, let’s see how the economy treats us, and then we can come back and revisit some of those.” 

The city is retaining a $10.9 million contingency reserve it hopes to boost to $15.9 million at the end of the fiscal year, a budget stabilization reserve of $13.8 million that should remain stable, and current $9.6 million one-time use revenue reserve that will likely be at $2 million by the end of the fiscal year, Pegueros said on June 11.