Balanced budget adopted

On June 6, the Tehachapi City Council approved a balanced $33.3 million budget for fiscal year 2022-23.

The approved budget also addressed subsequent fiscal years through 2026-27. The budget includes all operating funds within the City including the General Fund, enterprise funds such as Water, Sewer, Airport, Transit and Refuse and capital project funds.

Unfunded mandates coming from Sacramento, inflation and increased fire services costs from the County of Kern creates challenges for the city in the coming years. The fire cost increase by the County of Kern alone will be 202% by the 2026/27 budget year.

The city council and staff continue to listen to what the citizens of the city of Tehachapi expect from city provided services and how to maintain those needs, identifying revenue sources while watching all expenditures. The City of Tehachapi takes a very proactive approach at long term vision to identify future needs of our infrastructure and maintaining our public safety for our community.

With the enterprise funds of Water and Sewer providing a valuable service to customers, those departments also have healthy reserves to allow for emergency repairs and future expansions.

The City’s entire budget presentation is available for review at http://www.LiveUpTehachapi.com/.