Finance Committee to Weigh Budget Shifts, New Taxes and a Youth Internship Grant

The Pasadena Finance Committee will turn to the city’s finances on several fronts June 22, weighing a $300,000 youth internship grant, millions of dollars in budget adjustments, and a menu of potential new taxes that could land on the November 2026 ballot.

As a committee of the City Council, the Finance Committee can only make recommendations; the City Council would retain final authority over every action item on the agenda. Two of the five items are informational and carry no vote.

The committee is scheduled to consider recommending that the City Council accept a $300,000 grant from International Trade Education Programs, doing business as EXP, to fund a summer internship program and to amend the city manager’s Fiscal Year 2026 operating budget to recognize and appropriate the money. If the City Council ultimately approves it, the program would provide paid internships to approximately 150 youth, offering up to 80 hours of work experience each, according to the staff report. The Foothill Workforce Development Board would administer the program as employer of record, and staff said there would be no impact to the General Fund.

The committee also is scheduled to consider recommending a series of amendments to the Fiscal Year 2027 Capital Improvement Program budget, for a net increase of $500,000. The Department of Public Works would shift $2,264,523 from nine completed or inactive projects, plus $232,400 in private capital, into the citywide street resurfacing and ADA improvement program, raising that work’s Fiscal Year 2027 appropriation to about $11.1 million. The Department of Transportation would move $7,171,250 in Metro Active Transport grant funds to the Pasadena Rose Bowl Multimodal Olympic Route, which would support walking and biking access between the Metro A Line Memorial Park Station and the Rose Bowl for the 2028 Olympic Games, and $300,000 each to fully fund pedestrian hybrid beacons at Lake Avenue and Elizabeth Street and at Lincoln Avenue and Toolen Place. The package also would add a $500,000 Lower Arroyo Park Planning and Feasibility Study, funded by a Measure A grant, covering roughly 37 acres of city-owned open space in the Lower Arroyo Seco corridor.

A third item would recommend amending the Fiscal Year 2026 operating budget by a net $8,056,000. The largest pieces are $3,100,000 from the General Fund for outside legal services, which the City Attorney/City Prosecutor Department says is needed given a high volume of litigation, and $511,000 for fleet maintenance, repair and replacement for the Pasadena Police Department. Other adjustments include a $75,000 transfer for encampment cleanup, $50,108 for two library grants, $64,000 for two clean-air vehicles, $2,625,000 of a $5 million CalHome Program award, and $4,381,000 in year-end housing-fund reconciliations. In total, staff said the changes would raise appropriations by $10,806,108, offset by $2,750,108 in revenue.

The committee is scheduled to receive an informational quarterly investment report for the period ending March 31, showing about $1.15 billion in total funds under management, including a Pooled Investment Portfolio valued at $831,765,745. The report states the portfolio is in compliance with the state Government Code and city policy, with an earnings rate of 4.01 percent as of April, and includes an economic summary and, at the City Council’s request, a review of banking regulations adopted after the 2008 financial crisis.

Finally, the committee is scheduled to discuss a menu of potential new taxes and other revenue sources, some of which could reach the November 2026 ballot — an option that would require action by early August. Estimates include a 0.25 percent use tax at about $11 million annually and a parcel tax exceeding $20 million that could fund fire service or streets, along with non-tax options such as freeway billboards and paid parking in the Arroyo. The presentation is a discussion item with no recommended action, and the City Council would retain final authority over any revenue measure.

The Finance Committee is scheduled to meet at 3 p.m. on Monday, June 22, in the Pasadena City Hall Council Chamber, Room S249, in Pasadena. For more information call (626) 744-7311 or visit https://www.cityofpasadena.net/commissions/agendas/.