Just as you might create a budget for your personal finances, the City Council sets a budget that is a complex document with revenues, expenditures and line-item balance sheets. Beyond the spreadsheets, is also a statement of the Council’s goals and priorities for the community in the coming years. This current two-year budget is no exception in that it demonstrates Goleta’s fiscal health and long-term stability, project priorities, levels of service, and Council initiatives.

Below are highlights of some of the many initiatives the two-year budget provides for:
• An earmark of half a million dollars toward additional street maintenance—above usual funding levels;
• An increase in police funding by an additional $785,000 over the next two years (this, unfortunately, still resulted in the reduction of two full-time positions with potentially further reductions in the 2012-2013 budget year due to excessive cost increases);
• Making close to $170,000 of ongoing support commitments to other community organizations, including Girsh Park, the Goleta Valley Historical Society, an afterschool Junior High School program, and the Safe Route to Schools education program;
• $20,000 from Measure A monies for school crossing guards around our elementary schools;
• One-time technology allocations which will provide for the replacement of an obsolete phone system at City Hall, upgraded financial system software, and a permit tracking system to better serve the public;
• The addition of some new personnel in the area of street maintenance, the planning and permitting counter, and the City Attorney’s department to enhance services to our community;
• And notably, over $35 million in various Capital Improvement Projects. As a whole, while the budget was a challenging one for the City Council, involving many difficult decisions, the City continues its history of stable and sound fiscal planning while maximizing services to our community.

To view a complete and comprehensive copy of the City’s adopted budget, go to
www.CityofGoleta.org.