A record-breaking budget of $165,030,995 was presented to the Los Banos City Council during the June 3 meeting as the city mapped out growth, new projects and 21 new positions. Even with that, the city will have a 10% surplus on the books.
Finance Director Minnie Moreno explained the proposed 2026-2027 budget, which balances $165 million in expenses with $122 million in revenues through a combination of additional funding streams, grants and one-time project funding.
“This year’s capital (investment) program is one of the largest we’ve requested,” Moreno said. City staff recommended spending $71.03 million on projects, including $10 million for Fire Station Four and its Emergency Operations Center, $8.96 million on water and sewer projects, $8.35 million for roads and $8.0 million to turn the police annex into a design services center.
The city will also proposes spending $4.5 million to trial a full-scale water filtration system to remove naturally occurring but carcinogenic chromium-six from city drinking water.
According to Moreno, the budget creates 21 new positions, including an assistant city attorney, a fire captain, two firefighters, a police sergeant dedicated to traffic enforcement and a new code-enforcement officer and several other jobs.
“We want to move this city forward and take a lot of action,” said Mayor Michael Amabile. More important is the action be done right. He noted that Los Banos’ maintains reserves of 30%, which is considered substantial among California cities.
“We’re not in the business of saving, we’re in the business of providing services,” said Moreno.
Councilmember Refugio Llamas echoed the mayor: “The idea is to ensure that our residents are receiving adequate services in a timely manner.”
The council will conduct a public hearing on the budget’s final adoption during its June 17 meeting. In other action, the city council raised Landscape and Lighting District fees by 5 to 10 percent, discussed making the treasurer an appointed position, and approved new agenda formatting. There are 18 landscape and lighting districts in the city, said city engineer James Cozzad, each created to pay for the lighting and landscaping maintenance. Many districts have relied on other funds to cover costs. Cozzad said districts formed in the late 1980s and 1990s were given a much smaller assessment rate and in some cases annual increases were limited to 5%. That has led to some financial problems.
Fee increase are needed to help districts “climb out of the hole,” said Public Works Director William Via. The increases will result in an additional $20 to $30 each year for most homeowners, according to Amabile.
City Attorney Mary Lerner reported that many cities now appoint rather than elect their treasurers. The duties are complex and require time, training and education to perform. Lerner explained that cities cannot require specific education or training for any elected position. Lucy Lawrence, the current treasurer, explained that even with her decades of banking experience she sometimes struggles to grasp all facets of the city’s budgeting. Finance Director Moreno said that she handles many of the duties assigned to the treasurer. But Llamas expressed reservations: “The people have spoken on this,” he said. In March 2024, some 62% Los Banos voters rejected a measure to make the city clerk and treasurer appointed jobs rather than elected.
Mayor Pro-Tem Deborah Lewis disagreed, saying the public would be more accepting of change since there has been significant turnover in the city council since 2024. The council will review a draft of the ballot measure at its June 17 meeting. The new agenda format is needed to comply with the state’s remote-participation requirements under SB 707, said City Manager Nirorn Than. The most significant change will be changing the time limit for public speakers from the current 5 minutes to 3. After much discussion, the council decided to bar remote participants from turning on their cameras to protect viewers from those who might display obscene images.
