The El Cajon City Council voted to increase the city’s annual budget by $7 million to cover the costs to update the sewer system and perform maintenance on city streets.
The majority of the additional funds will be used for planned road resurfacing projects using $6 million in TransNet funding from the local half-cent sales tax for transportation projects first approved by voters in 1988. That money will be split between two city street maintenance projects, one focused on an overlay of new pavement and one for a slurry seal.
The street repair budget is extra funding as the city has “expanded an existing project so that we are managing one contract rather than several, saving funds,” City Manager Graham Mitchell said via email.
Funding from TransNet also adds an additional $750,000 for the Oakdale Alameda Street Beautification Project, a project paid for with a $5 million Clean California Local Grant to create a native landscape with a tree canopy and build efficient irrigation systems, waste and recycling bins, themed sidewalks and crosswalks, storm drain waste filters and decorative pedestrian scale street lighting.
Staff said TransNet funding does not impact the city’s general fund balance as it is ed for in a different and separate fund.
The increased budget included an additional $300,000 to complete El Cajon’s sewer master plan, for a total budget amendment of $7,050,000. Additionally, Tuesday’s vote authorized the spending of $35,351 for software to track city employee time and attendance and $40,000 for sports field netting at Wells Park to prevent balls from going into the yards of neighboring homes.
The decision to add the $7 million in funding was made during a unanimous vote Tuesday following a fiscal 2024 first quarter report presentation that included a preliminary look at how the city’s general fund was impacted by the fiscal 2023 budget.
In 2023, the city had $95,019,294 in revenue, which was 5.4 percent higher than was budgeted for the year. The city originally expected to spend $8,791,015 of its reserve fund, but since it also spent 5.6 percent less money than planned the general fund increased by $1,699,710.
Clay Schoen, El Cajon director of finance, said that the general fund is expected to close at $62.3 million when ing is done for the year, which is about 68 percent of the city’s annual expenditures.
