Manteca is facing a taxing situation.

That was the clear, underlining message, of city department head after city department head during Wednesday’s annual City Council budget goal workshop conducted at the Manteca Transit Center.

It is why City Manager Toni Lundgren, acting on previous council direction, is laying the groundwork for a sales tax measure on the Nov. 5 ballot.

The work includes polling to get a clear understanding of what potential voters would expect from a sales tax including the level of restrictions they would require in how money is spent in order to garner adequate support.

Lundgren said a polling of the community’s tax temperament would be conducted in May and April.

At the same time, the city is continuing its efforts to inform residents of the financial challenges the city has when it comes to delivering needed and desired services within current revenue constraints.

Should the city not place a tax measure on the 2024 ballot, they will not be able to do so until 2026.

That is because state law only allows tax measures to appear on ballots in years there are general elections.

Even if there was a measure on the ballot in 2024 and it was approved, there would be a time lag of a year or two before adequate funding was collected to be able to hire personnel or start funding things such as additional street maintenance beyond what current revenue allows.

The council has no legal power to raise sales tax, although they can place a measure on the ballot for voters to decide.

Department heads presented a long laundry list of needs and amenities.

The needs, much of which had been repeatedly noted in previous budget workshops of the past several years, will not be possible to address without additional revenue.

The bottom line was not one of a city unable to function due to inadequate funding.

Instead, it was emphasizing that insufficient revenue was keeping the city from making headway against backlogged basic needs and staffing and/or meet a growing list of desired “wants” citizens repeatedly tell the city leader Manteca needs.

The list ranged from the need for more police personnel beyond what the city will be able to pay for in the upcoming based on current revenue and the inability of the city to adequately expand quality of life amenities to  establishing a sixth fire station that needs nine firefighters for 24./7 coverage.

There was only $10,777 to spare after the current $67.8 million general fund budget was originally adopted in June of 2023.

Department heads at the time identified a pressing need for 30 new city workers. The budget funded only 16.

Pressing capital expenditure requests of $14.2 million to replace items such as aging vehicles, equipment almost worn out, and outdated emergency communication systems were made but  only $10 million was funded.

A closer look showed the remaining $8.6 million in one-time federal COVID relief funds was covering all of the capital expenditures coming from the general fund.

Without that infusion, the city would have not been able to launch its stepped up in-house street maintenance program that required purchasing costly equipment and undertake a number of other endeavors during the current budget year.

Ongoing staffing needs are also a problem.

As an example, it costs $181,000 to put an additional police officer on the streets when it comes to basic salary — no overtime — and benefits.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com