Officials: State of Goleta is rosy

By ERIC LINDBERG — June 6, 2009

Despite touching on the economic woes that have been striking at the coffers of municipalities throughout the state, Goleta city leaders painted a glowing portrait of the young city during yesterday’s second annual State of the City address and said its future remains bright.

“State of the city?” Mayor Roger Aceves said. “I think we’re doing a doggone good job.”

From slow, steady housing and commercial development to community improvements such as a new park and plans for a new fire station, city officials said the “Good Land” has never been better.

But there’s no doubting the toll that the faltering economy is having on the 7-year-old municipality. Compared to $15.5 million in revenues last budget cycle, city leaders are working with only $14 million this time around.

“As a whole, we’re off 10 percent,” City Manager Dan Singer said. “That’s not easy to stomach.”

He noted, however, that the Goleta City Council is expected to pass a balanced budget with no reliance on reserves and a minimized loss of services.

“We’ve been forced, of course, to reduce our spending to bring us back into balance,” he said.

Due to strong and stable housing values, property tax revenues are expected to grow slightly. Sales taxes are down between 12 and 15 percent — not an unusual figure for the current economic situation — and the city’s bed tax revenue stream is expected to remain static.

Speaking to future sales tax projections, Singer said there are strong indications that revenues are leveling off and should remain at current levels for the coming year — a trend he credited to the new presence of electronics giant Best Buy.

Sales taxes have been stronger than neighboring communities and the state as a whole, largely due to several big-box stores, a regional shopping center and UC Santa Barbara student spending.

“You don’t see boarded-up buildings in Goleta,” Singer boasted.

Looking further into the future, he said the revenue picture appears rosier in other areas, including a bump in the much-derided revenue neutrality agreement between the city and the County of Santa Barbara.

“We will see somewhere in the range of a 25 to 40 percent increase in our revenue structure,” Singer said.

Three new hotels are expected to bring in more bed taxes after being completed, and the city has approximately $70 million in capital projects on deck.

“There are tough times out there, and we’re not immune to that, but the future of Goleta is bright,” Singer said.

After running down a list of major accomplishments in the past year — including the construction of Armitos Park and the completion of the Sumida Gardens apartment complex — Aceves said the city has been overhauling the old model of “government as the provider of all things.”

Instead, he said city officials have been seeking out community partners and collaborators to work hand in hand with.

“We have seen a great deal of success with this partnership approach,” he said.

Aceves cited the donation of half a million dollars from Camino Real Marketplace for a community resources deputy, in addition to storefront space for a law enforcement substation at the shopping center.

In another example of a public-private partnership, the Orfalea Foundation is providing $298,000 to the city to bolster its public information and community disaster preparedness campaign.

“It is the start of something exciting,” Aceves said, adding later, “Instead of going it alone, the city of Goleta has looked to the community for new alliances, new partnerships and new ways of doing business. The results speak for themselves.”

The second annual address, held this year at the Elks Lodge by the Goleta Chamber of Commerce, will be aired on Goleta’s access station, Channel 19, on Thursdays and Fridays at 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. during the next few months.

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Boarded up Hotels? : 6/7/2009

Three new hotels without the new intersections to support them.... is not great news. Sorry to rain on a great parade - because this really IS the good land, but obviously we have differing reasons for thinking so! Also - no boarded up buildings but what about the derelict ex-FedEx sign on Hollister near Los Carneros? It makes the block look like a slum..... Still as long as that's the least of our worries, it is still far better than crowded SB.

ruralwannabe

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Sweet Success : 6/9/2009

It was embarrassing, for Santa Barbara who had reps at the event, to see how much better Goleta was in so many ways. Higher incomes, higher revenues, higher population demographics (education, professions, etc…) all conspired to make Goleta’s snobby neighbor look like Oxnard’s poor cousin. As far as “ruralwannabe” above, you ever consider that the “bury your head in the sand” approach to traffic mitigation might be the reason intersections are so bad? For 30 years south coast residence have nixed widening roads, adding roads or improving traffic circulation under the lunatic policy of “don’t build it and they won’t come”. But come they have and now we have close to $300 million in traffic mitigation backlogged. For Goleta that is about $130 million and most of that is due to UCSB and their relentless policy of growth without mitigation. You can’t blame them though really because they are honoring the “bury your head in the sand” and “don’t build it and they won’t come” philosophy of the population here. If you want rural, get out of the city.

AN50

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Ugly Hollister is Santa Barbara's jurisdiction : 6/9/2009

Hollister between Los Carnoeros and (appx.) Fairview is City of Santa Barbara. How about SB adding sidewalks and such along this stretch.

getgoing

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