VISTA — The Vista City Council reviewed the status of its Proposition L sales tax reserves last week, and council members said they would like to renew focus on the Vista Sports Park Community Center project that was proposed when the tax was first introduced.
The half-cent Prop L sales tax took effect in 2007 after being approved by Vista voters and will sunset in 2037. The tax currently generates around $12 million annually, with $7.7 million going toward debt service.
At the time the tax was proposed, the city said it would be used for major capital projects including construction of the Vista Civic Center, fire stations 5 and 6, Vista Sports Park, and the Moonlight Amphitheatre Field House, as well as the Fire Station 1 rebuild. The city also proposed using the tax to fund emergency services and road repairs.
At the City Council’s June 10 meeting, staff said the city’s use of Prop L funds has been fully aligned with their intended purpose, but that increased facility maintenance needs have drained more money from the Prop L reserves than in prior years.
Reserves decreased from $20.5 million at the end of the 2024-25 fiscal year to $17 million at the closeout of the 2025-26 fiscal year, which staff said marked a “significant downturn.”
“Over time, capital assets do need obviously servicing, repair, and component replacements. In the last three years, approximately $12.9 million has been allocated to fund this capital asset renewal and preservation,” said City Finance Director Mike Sylvia.
In 2025-26, Vista leaders withdrew $6.6 million from the reserves for various projects including $3.5 million for deferred maintenance at the Wave Waterpark, $1.15 million for a fire station alerting system, $500,000 for Vista Sports Park lighting upgrades, and $650,000 for roof replacement at the Moonlight Amphitheatre.
Another major recent project was the Fire Station 3 reconstruction, which used $4 million in Prop L funds. Despite these costs, Prop L sales tax revenue has also gotten a boost in recent years due to inflation and the addition of sales tax on online sales. Vista has refinanced the Prop L bonds twice to achieve $33 million in debt service savings.
Councilmember Jeff Fox said he supported the city’s ongoing funding for facility upkeep.
“I think that to me, the best use of the funds would be to guarantee the full life of them. I know that’s one thing that we’ve seen with the Wave and some other projects, is that we built these great projects without having any kind of maintenance budget available,” Fox said.
Vista also allocates $1.2 million annually from the Prop L reserves for fire departments’ salaries.
The city projects an ending Prop L reserve balance of $64.5 million when the tax sunsets in 2037. Vista’s use of the sales tax is overseen by the Sales Tax Oversight Committee, and the city completes annual audits.
Sports Park community center
During the council’s discussion, Councilmember Corinna Contreras asked why the city has not followed through on a community center that was planned as part of the Vista Sports Park project off Bobier Drive.
City Manager John Conley said the city scaled back the planned 20,000-square-foot community center due to concerns that it would not fit within the larger sports park budget when it was built in 2010.
“A decision was made to defer that [the community center] to a later date. There’s a pad next to the parking lot that was reserved for that, and that’s just something we’ve never revisited, frankly,” Conley said.
Contreras said the city should resume efforts for the community center to fulfill its promise to voters.
“I would like to put that on the agenda to revisit because I think we’ve gotten to that later date, and seeing that we have funds in the Prop L reserve, I do think that we need to follow through on our commitment to create a community center in District 1,” she said.
Other council members agreed.
“I think honoring the promises that were made to taxpayers when they adopted it is the most important thing,” said Mayor John Franklin.
