Third-Quarter Budget Update Shows Rent Stabilization Spending Below Plan

The Pasadena Rental Housing Board is scheduled to receive a third-quarter budget update April 16 showing the Rent Stabilization Department spending below its revised fiscal 2026 budget while taking in far more revenue than it has spent so far this year. The report says current expenditure trends indicate the department remains financially stable and has enough appropriations to support operations through the rest of the fiscal year.

For Pasadena renters, landlords and businesses that follow the city’s rent-control system, the update offers an early read on whether the department’s staffing, hearings, registration and enforcement operations are keeping pace with the money collected through rental housing fees. The staff report says that, as of April 1, 2026, the department had $3,094,511 in actual spending against a Pasadena Rental Housing Board revised budget of $5,190,468, with an end-of-year projection of $4,246,192. Revenue as of the same date totaled $6,735,869, including $6,624,890 in rental housing fees and $110,979 in late fees, though the report notes late fees are not retained by the department.

The biggest favorable variances are in personnel and services and supplies. The department is authorized for 20 full-time positions, and three positions were still unfilled at the end of the third quarter: Program Coordinator II, Housing Counselor and Customer Service Representative. Staff said those vacancies were intentionally held open earlier in the fiscal year while revenue performance was monitored. After updated registration data showed enough revenue to support operations and vacant positions, the department began recruitment for the Program Coordinator II and Housing Counselor jobs. According to the report, the Housing Counselor position was filled April 6, 2026, and the Program Coordinator II recruitment was in subject matter expert review and estimated to be filled by the end of the fiscal year.

The report also says two additional vacancies at the end of the quarter generated personnel savings: Executive Assistant and Customer Service Rep. Staff said interviews for the Executive Assistant post were scheduled for mid-April, while an internal Customer Service Rep had assumed an acting Housing Counselor role to cover an employee on extended leave, leaving that original position unfilled. Another reason for the personnel variance, the report says, is the gap between budgeted compensation and actual compensation when newer hires joined the department after the prior budget cycle. Personnel spending stood at $1,831,565 as of April 1 against a budget of $3,256,738, leaving 44% available.

Services and supplies were also tracking below budget because the department entered fiscal 2026 in a negative cash position and limited discretionary spending until its finances improved. The report cites reduced use of the contracted hearing officer, postponed outreach promotional items and delayed procurement of a preferred document management system for petitions and hearings. It also says the department obtained docketing software for the petitions and hearings division at a better-than-expected price of about $6,000. At the same time, staff cautioned that some individual lines have already exceeded or are expected to exceed appropriations, including PayPal merchant transaction fees, which reached $113,000 against an $86,000 allocation, along with office lease costs, language translation services and printing expenses tied in part to longer agenda packets resulting from board appeals to hearing officer decisions.

The update breaks the budget picture into three major categories. Personnel had actual spending of $1,831,565 and an end-of-year projection of $2,578,961. Services and supplies had actual spending of $661,957 and a projected year-end total of $930,033. Internal services, which include the city’s cost allocation plan and information technology support, had actual spending of $600,989 and were projected to finish at the full $737,198 budgeted amount. Separately, the report says the rental housing fee also supports a Deputy City Attorney position dedicated entirely to rent stabilization at a City Attorney’s Office expense of $182,991, which is not part of the department budget.

The board is not being asked to adopt changes in this item; staff describes the report as informational only. Even so, the update is scheduled to give the board and the public a clearer sense of whether spending discipline earlier in the year has left the department on stable footing as it fills vacancies, expands hearings activity and continues operating under Measure H.

The Pasadena Rental Housing Board is scheduled to meet at 6:00 P.M. on April 16, 2026 in Council Chamber, Pasadena City Hall 100 North Garfield Avenue, Room S249. For more information call (626) 744-7311 or visit https://www.cityofpasadena.net/commissions/agendas/.