The Santa Clarita City Council’s Budget Committee is meeting Tuesday to discuss an update on the city’s spending plan for the next fiscal year, which starts July 1.
The Santa Clarita City Council Budget Committee includes Mayor Laurene Weste and Mayor Pro Tem Patsy Ayala.
Last year, the city adopted a budget that came out to just over one-third of a billion dollars, $344 million. The city’s general fund revenue was projected to come in at $152.7 million in June, and a December mid-year budget adjustment added about $5 million to that.
The preliminary estimates in this year’s forecast so far have called for $154.8 million in city revenue, a 1.4% increase in this year’s budget, while expenditures are expected to total $154.5 million, according to a presentation from City Manager Ken Striplin in February.
Striplin previously mentioned the city uses a variety of local, regional, national and global forecasts in order to put together the city’s budget picture, which also looks at factors such as whether the Fed plans to cut the interest rate.
Striplin consistently touts the city’s conservative spending philosophy during its budget meetings, a number of tenets all designed to make the city collect more revenue than it spends, and the interest-rate impacts are one example.
Some of the forecasts Striplin mentioned in January considered consecutive cuts to the Federal Reserve’s interest rate, which is a major economic indicator.
The Federal Reserve’s interest rate controls bank lending rates, meaning that theoretically, more money would be available, and spending could increase.
During the local forecast, Striplin indicated that might be too aggressive of a prediction — and as it turns out, military operations overseas have prompted a Fed philosophy similar to one Striplin referenced earlier in the year — a “wait-and-see” approach, according to JP Morgan’s website.
“While the Middle East conflict has sent energy prices soaring, the Federal Reserve (Fed) opted to keep interest rates steady at 3.5% to 3.75% at its last meeting in March,” according to the JP Morgan website. “Chairman Jerome Powell acknowledged the economic risks posed by the conflict but also highlighted the committee’s preference for a ‘wait-and-see’ approach.”
JP Morgan is now expecting the rate to hold at the next meeting, according to an April 17 post.
The publicly posted agenda for Tuesday’s Budget Committee meeting does not have any agenda posted beyond “Discussion of the proposed 2026-27 annual budget.”
The city’s Budget Committee meeting is open to the public and scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Carl Boyer Room at Santa Clarita City Hall, 23920 Valencia Blvd.
