Gonzales approves a $38.3 million budget for the current fiscal year.

Gonzales City Council unanimously approved the city’s 2026-2027 annual budget on Aug. 17.

Councilmembers Lorraine Worthy and Scott Funk were absent from the meeting.

The budget for this fiscal year is $38.3 million, almost 17 percent more than the previous year. The city appropriated $8.1 million from the general fund and it covers 71 percent of the city’s staff. A total of $3.5 million is for police; $1 million for the fire department; and $1.1 million for public works.

Half of the budget is for capital improvement projects.

The current budget maintains the city’s core operations and ongoing projects, including the Industrial Wastewater Facility’s expansion, the Dennis and Janice Caprara Community Center Complex and efforts to increase housing.

Measure K, a 0.5-percent transactions and use tax voters approved in 2014 for community services, including sports, after-school programs and senior services, will provide $875,000 to the budget. More than half, $480,000, is to maintain the fire department.

Measure X, a 0.5-percent sales tax approved in 2021, provides $875,000 as well; $433,356 is to pay off the debt for the community center.

The council approved a balanced budget, but Gonzales will need additional revenue sources in the future to keep the services it currently provides, wrote Gonzales City Manager Carmen Gil in an Aug. 17 staff report.

“The city will need to continue to look for revenue sources to offset rising costs, as well as plan for much-needed infrastructure maintenance,” Gil told the council on Aug. 17. 

Two future sources of revenue the city is eyeing are an expansion of the Gonzales Agricultural Business Industrial Park once the new wastewater plant is completed and upcoming housing developments. The city is currently appealing its Vista Lucia application at the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) of Monterey County. This housing project includes annexing 771 acres of agricultural land northeast to Gonzales and will build 3,498 homes over a span of 30 years.