City Council Approves Nearly $900 Million Budget Monday

After several weeks of public hearings, the Pasadena City Council on Monday adopted a nearly $900 million operating budget for fiscal year 2022.

The Housing, Public Health and Human Resources made presentations before reports were made for the offices of the City Clerk, City Attorney and the City Manager.

“Each year our residents want more and more services with less resources sometimes to do that. I think the City manager and the staff have done an excellent job bringing us this budget,” said Councilmember Steve Madison.

The proposed operating budget — including city-affiliated agencies and capital improvement projects — tops out at $897.8 million, exactly $20 million more than the last fiscal year’s adopted budget.

The budget was passed as economic and fiscal questions still remain.

The city is maintaining a flat budget with services kept level and contractual obligations honored.

According to the report, absent a few proposed enhancements, departments have managed to keep their budgets relatively stable. The budget will continue to evolve as funding from the American Rescue Plan Act is committed and the local economy returns closer to normal, according to the report.

The recommended Fiscal Year 2022 operating budget includes $286.7 million in appropriations from the general fund.

A total of 14.85 fewer full-time employees are proposed in the budget plan.

The Fire and Public Health departments identified adjustments to their original submissions of the recommended FY 2022 Operating Budget.

The Fire Department seeks to reclassify an existing Fire Inspector position as the new classification of Deputy Fire Marshal. The additional costs associated with the proposed reclassification will be absorbed in the department’s operating budget.

The Health Department recommended revenues and appropriations be increased by $494,962 in the Public Health Fund, as the department was recently awarded an immunization grant from the California Department of Public Health to help prevent and control vaccine-preventable diseases, specifically COVID-19.

The total grant award was $1.1 through fiscal year 2024. The grant will support four new, limited-term positions that will increase the total Full Time Equivalents (FTE) in the Public Health Fund by 3.0 FTEs. This includes a community services representative III (1 FTE), licensed vocational nurse (1 FTE), public health nurse (0.5 FTE), and a part-time licensed vocational nurse (0.5 FTE)

The city charter requires that the annual operating budget be submitted to the City Council on or before the third Monday in May.

As expected, the impacts of COVID-19 will affect the budget, which assumes that the city’s general fund will be needed to fund $10 million of the $12.5 million annual debt service obligation associated with the Rose Bowl, with the Rose Bowl Operating Co. making up the remaining $2.5 million.

The Rose Bowl lost millions of dollars in revenues when the iconic stadium was forced to close during the pandemic.

The city has already received $26 million from the American Rescue Plan Act.