Martinez Unified Budget Woes Continue as More Painful Cuts Loom in 2025

School district seeks applicants for board vacancy; city pursues emergency repairs to Marina from recent storm; PD nears full staffing; Alhambra Hills opening; council gets into holiday spirit

Note to readers: Barring any major news developments, this will be the final post of Martinez News and Views for 2024. Thanks again to all my readers for your support (financial and otherwise) over the past year. I’m glad that so many have found this newsletter to be a valuable resource, and I hope to continue to grow it and make it even more valuable in 2025. Best wishes to all of you and your loved ones during this holiday season.

The Martinez Unified School District Board of Trustees closed out 2024 largely where it started in terms of the district’s budget and overall financial picture: It was as dreary as the winter weather outside during the Dec. 18 school board meeting.

As the district prepared to break for the holidays, Chief Business Official Andy Cannon — as he has all year — had to play the role of budget grinch. In a nutshell, district expenditures continue to outpace revenues, forcing MUSD to eat through its reserves at a rapid rate and necessitating more painful cuts in 2025.

“We have to get on top of our deficit somehow and make some reductions,” Cannon told the board during his first interim budget update for the 2024-25 fiscal year.

MUSD, which is already anticipating having to make $1.92 million in budget cuts for the 2025-26 fiscal year, is dealing with a perfect storm of harsh budget realities that have made climbing out of its budget hole increasingly difficult. Significant staff pay increases (totaling 25% over three years) to address hiring challenges amid inflation and the area’s high cost of living have boosted district spending, along with a sharp rise in contracted services needed to provide special education services to the district’s disabled student population. But district enrollment, though finally stabilizing this year, fell precipitously during and following the pandemic, eating into attendance-based revenues from the state’s schools funding formula (which trustees Courtney Masella-O’Brien and Anne Horack Martin decried as fundamentally unfair and punitive during the board discussion Monday).

To add more salt to the budget wound, a quirk in Average Daily Attendance (ADA) funding that averages ADA over a three-year period means that although the district’s enrollment and attendance numbers have ticked up slightly, its attendance-based funding has continued to decline. And the enrollment upswing is expected to be short-lived.

Although the district saw its enrollment increase by 16 students this school year to a total of 3,800 (the first enrollment gain since 2019-2020), Cannon said MUSD is anticipating an overall decline of 60 students over the next three years.

Revenue from the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) that comprises a lion’s share of the district’s budget has fallen by over $1.2 million (or 2.7%) this year, coming in at $44.28 million. The district’s LCFF revenue is not expected to reach 2023-24 levels again until the 2026-27 school year, according to district budget projections.

The district’s deficit spending is expected to continue over the next few years, though at a lower level as MUSD makes additional operating reductions. MUSD anticipates spending $5.1 million more than it takes in this fiscal year, followed by deficits of $2.9 million in 2025-26 and nearly $2 million in 2026-27. MUSD will continue to need to tap reserves to make up the shortfalls, and on its current trajectory, the district’s general fund reserve amount will exceed the 3% minimum requirement by only $16,000 in 2026-27.

Although tax receipts at the state level have improved recently, Cannon said there is no way to know how much, if any, of that money will trickle down to districts. Another uncertainty is that the district has resumed collective bargaining negotiations this year with its teachers and classified unions, though given the extent of the budget deficits and dwindling reserves, it’s clear that the hefty raises handed out in recent years are a thing of the past for the time being.

Superintendent Helen Rossi said the district is planning to test pilot a new “Saturday School” program in the spring that will given students a chance make up for days missed to absences. If successful, the program could help boost the district’s ADA numbers, and therefore its revenues. The program would be voluntary and focused on academics.

Board members also debated the degree to which the district should encourage families to boost attendance by getting their students to school more often, balancing the need to avoid preventable absences such as family trips without creating a culture that promotes going to school when sick.

Masella-O’Brien summed up the general feeling about Cannon’s budget reports this year: “You always give a really good informational report and, unfortunately lately, you’ve also had to bring down the mood in the room.”

The district’s next budget update will come in March.

MUSD seeks candidates to fill board vacancy

As expected, the MUSD board on Monday agreed to fill its Area 3 vacancy with a provisional appointment for the final two years of the term. The seat became vacant when incumbent Yazmin Llamas was elected to the Contra Costa County Board of Education in November.

Applicants for the seat must reside in Area 3, which is shown in the attached map: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1h6T1BsoCruIMW58oHf_93kM4256Odm9E&ll=38.0052120410661%2C-122.11316150000002&z=16

The deadline for applicants to apply is 4 p.m. on Jan. 17. The application packet can be found at the following link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QR0PlDCz4FSfHluJWlg0W1PTSz07uFfJ/view

Qualified applicants will be invited to an interview with the school board during an open meeting on Jan. 27. Following the interviews, the board is expected to vote on appointing one of the candidates to the seat. The seat will be up for election in 2026.

Emergency storm damage repairs for marina

The City Council on Wednesday authorized emergency repairs to the Martinez Marina from a storm that hit Dec. 13 and 14 and included wind speeds of approximately 57 mph. The council vote allows the city manager to enter into contracts for repairs without using competitive bidding procedures, “in order to take immediate action to preserve or repair a public facility to protect public safety.”

Among the facilities damaged by the storm were public boat floating docks; the gangway from the parking lot to docks B, C, D and E; the guest dock gangway; slip dock fingers; float supports; a trash enclosure; dock boards; and a large amount of driftwood and debris that needs to be cleared. In addition, F3 Marina, which will be taking over marina operations on Jan. 1, identified further damage based on images provided by the city and recommended a professional assessment to address safety concerns and gauge the full extent of the damage.

There was no estimate given for how much the repairs might cost.

Other tidbits

• Police Chief Andrew White told the council that the Police Department is on pace to have all authorized positions filled by January, a big milestone after years of chronic staffing shortages that impacted police services. The department is also working on “overhiring” for two positions, so that officers are available to fill in immediately when others go on leave for various reasons. The loss of officers to leave has exacerbated the department’s staffing crisis beyond the effects of general turnover and attrition.

• City Manager Michael Chandler updated the council on plans to fully open the Alhambra Hills open space to the public, saying plans are currently for a ribbon cutting and formal opening the first weekend in February. The city began offering docent-led tours of Alhambra Hills last year.

• The council held a study session on Wednesday to discuss its compliance with a new state law mandating “daylighting” to improve pedestrian and motorist safety by restricting the parking and stopping of vehicles at certain intersections with marked or unmarked crosswalks. The effect of the new law will be to reduce parking spaces in the downtown and other areas of the city in order to improve visibility by motorists and pedestrians at intersections. The city has been painting curbs red in high-priority areas, such as those near parks, schools and medical facilities. White said the police department will be focusing on education efforts around the new law from January to March, followed by issuing warnings to violators from April to June and citations starting in July (citations will be issued only for spaces clearly marked through painted curbs or signs as not permitted for parking). The city also will be placing bags over meters in downtown spaces no longer allowed for parking under the new law. More information on the new law can be found at the following link: https://legistarweb-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/attachment/pdf/3041375/Parking_Presentation.pdf

• The council also discussed plans for a broader parking infrastructure effort in the downtown next year that will potentially incorporate new technologies, such as automatic license plate readers and retrofitted meters, and programs to address persistent frustrations by business owners and residents. A virtual community meeting is planned for Jan. 30 to discuss initial recommendations and solicit feedback, followed by a council study session on the topic Feb. 19.

• Mayor Brianne Zorn said the city had received 28 applications for the new Diversity and Cultural Commission, which will consist of seven seats and two alternates (one seat is reserved for someone who lives outside city limits but within the city’s “sphere of influence”). A four-person selection panel led by Zorn and Councilman Satinder Malhi will select commission members early next year.

• The council welcomed Martinez Olympian Jewel Roemer to the council chamber Wednesday as Mayor Zorn presented her with a proclamation declaring Dec. 18 “Jewel Roemer Appreciation Day.” Roemer, who grew up in the Alhambra Valley and attends Stanford University, played for the U.S. women’s water polo team at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Roemer scored five goals during the tournament for Team USA, which narrowly missed out on a medal with heartbreaking one-goal losses to Australia in the semifinals and the Netherlands in the bronze-medal match. “This is amazing,” Roemer said upon receiving the proclamation. “My family’s here, I grew up here, we still live here. I love Martinez.”

Olympian Jewel Roemer receives the “Jewel Roemer Appreciation Day” proclamation from council members, from left, Jay Howard, Greg Young, Mayor Brianne Zorn, Satinder S. Malhi and Debbie McKillop.

• The council and city staff got into the holiday spirit for the final meeting of 2024, with the chamber decked out with festive decorations, which Zorn credited to City Clerk Kat Galileo, including stockings for each council member hung from the dais with care. Council members donned their favorite holiday sweaters and other garb, but police Chief White might have stolen the show as he arrived for the meeting dressed as “Cousin Eddie” from the iconic holiday film, “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.” (To everyone’s relief, “Cousin Eddie” didn’t bring his beloved pet Rottweiler “Snots” to the council chamber).

  

  Police Chief Andrew White poses as “Cousin Eddie” from “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.”

  And finally …

  The council adjourned Wednesday’s meeting in memory of longtime resident Bill Nichols, who died recently. A former parks supervisor at the Martinez Regional Shoreline, Nichols became well-known for his nature photographs that he routinely posted on Martinez social media sites. Also a Vietnam War veteran, Nichols was featured in a 2014 interview for the Martinez Oral History Project. It can be viewed at the following link: