VISTA — The Vista City Council unanimously approved a balanced two-year operating budget for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 fiscal years and reviewed the status of ongoing capital improvement projects throughout the city last week.
On June 10, Vista leaders formally adopted a total operating budget of $180 million for the 2025-26 fiscal year, which begins on July 1, and $186 million for the 2026-27 fiscal year. The operating budget, which includes the General Fund, is adopted separately from the capital improvement project (CIP) budget.
The City Council approved the budget without discussion, following previous workshops and budget discussions in May. City staff said the two-year budget reflects a conservative economic outlook, with revenues predicted to be sufficient to support city services while also accounting for ongoing challenges, such as inflation.
“Assumptions are based on stable, though modest, growth in core revenues such as property tax and sales tax. The City continues to emphasize conservative forecasting and maintains healthy reserve levels to guard against revenue volatility or unforeseen economic disruptions,” the city’s budget document states.
The 2025-26 budget anticipates $126 million in General Fund revenue and $124.5 million in General Fund expenditures. Over half of the General Fund dollars, approximately 55%, are allocated to law enforcement and fire services, with projected costs around $5 million higher than those of the previous year.
Vista contracts with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department for law enforcement services, at the anticipated cost of $30.9 million in the upcoming year and $32 million the following year. Costs for fire department services are budgeted at $38.6 million in 2025-26 and $40.6 million in 2026-27.
The next-largest spending categories are transfers to other accounts and subsidies at 13%, general government costs at around 9.4%, public works and engineering at 8.2%, community services at 7.5%, and community development at 5.3%.
Tax revenue, including from property tax and sales tax, makes up around two-thirds of total General Fund revenue. Property tax revenue is projected to increase over the next two years, from $37.8 million in the current year to $39.5 million in the following year.
Vista also receives revenue from general sales tax and the half-cent sales tax Measure L, both of which are also expected to show modest growth in the next two years.
The city’s 7% cannabis sales tax, passed under Measure Z, has been a major boost to the budget in recent years. The tax generated $6 million in revenue this year but is expected to decline gradually over the next two years, with approximately $5.5 million in revenue anticipated in both years.
“Uncertainty remains about long-term revenue stability, particularly due to the potential for additional jurisdictions approving medical or adult-use cannabis businesses,” the city’s budget document states.
To promote fiscal responsibility, Vista established a policy that limits the annual use of cannabis tax revenues to no more than $4.5 million for ongoing expenses. The council designates the leftover revenue toward special projects at the end of the year.
Another boost to city revenues, particularly for the fire department, has been ambulance fees, which are assessed to individuals who require emergency medical service transport and are reimbursed through Medicare, Medi-Cal, private insurance, and direct payments.
The transport fee for an ambulance ride is $3,629 — more than double what it cost in 2017 — in addition to a mileage fee of $27 per mile. Individuals are also assessed a first responder fee of $981 if an advanced life support fire engine arrives on the scene and a first responder performs an assessment.
These fees are expected to bring in approximately $4.7 million in revenue each of the next two years and serve as a significant contributor to the fire department’s revenue.
CIP budget
In addition to the operating budget, the City Council also reviewed street, sewer and facility projects in the two-year CIP budget, which covers the 2024-25 and 2025-26 fiscal years and was adopted last summer.
During this mid-cycle review, the city increased the 2025-26 CIP budget by $5.6 million to account for additional projects and adjust costs for existing projects, for a total budget of $27.2 million.
“Different than the operating budget, capital project budgets remain active until the project is complete. Of the nearly 70 projects expected to be carried forward into the next fiscal year, 15 have recommended appropriation adjustments,” said Budget Manager Sara Taylor.
New projects include a new road median project along East Vista Way, three sewer replacement projects, and the replacement of fire station exhaust extraction systems and alerting systems at five of the city’s six fire stations.
“These systems consist of lights, sirens, voice announcements and scrolling video alerts, and are critical for timely and effective emergency response. The upgrades will ensure reliability and sufficiency,” Taylor said of the fire station alerting systems.
Staff also provided a review of capital projects completed over the past year. At Brengle Terrace Park, the city converted two tennis courts into eight pickleball courts and completed resurfacing. Additionally, tennis, pickleball, and basketball courts were resurfaced at Thibodo and Luz Duran parks.
Councilmember Corinna Contreras said that residents have been advocating for a community center at Luz Duran, and she would like to see the city set aside funds for this purpose in the future.
Vista also completed senior center improvements, remodeled one of the sheriff substations, and installed solar panels at the Vista Civic Center, which now generate around half of the building’s electricity.
At the Wave Waterpark, the city also replastered the lazy river and the roof of one of the structures. In the coming years, the waterpark faces millions of dollars in needed repairs to keep it operational.
During a budget discussion in May, Councilmember Jeff Fox noted that surplus revenues in the coming years will likely need to go toward the Wave and other projects.
“It looks like there’s some money available in there, but it probably is already accounted for. I just want to make sure we’re clear on that before we start figuring out what to do with the extra money,” Fox said at the council’s May 13 meeting.
Phase 2 of Vista’s Townsite Complete Streets Plan was also completed this past year, installing 2,882 linear feet of new sidewalks, 23 ADA ramps and two pedestrian signals along North Santa Fe. Other street projects include:
- installation of 43 speed humps throughout the city
- rehabilitation of 8.5 lane miles of arterial streets along Sycamore Avenue and East Vista Way
- installation of 3,129 linear feet of sidewalks and ADA ramps to fill in gaps along Nevada and Lemon avenues
The city has appropriated $8.3 million toward street projects for the 2024-25 fiscal year, with $6.4 million set aside for the upcoming fiscal year.
A total of $10.8 million is being set aside in the upcoming year for Vista sewer projects, including payments to the Encina Wastewater Authority, with which Vista contracts for sewage treatment, and Buena Sanitation District projects.
