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Early Direction for the Fiscal Year 2024-25 Budget <br />April 2, 2024 <br />Page 12 <br />4 <br />1 <br />5 <br />8 <br />Staff expects to propose a balanced budget for FY 2024-25, which may result in <br />reduced spending for one or more of the programs listed above. Staff welcomes City <br />Council input regarding programs that should be considered for reduction. <br />Opioid Settlement Money <br />To date, the City has received $1.75 million of opioid settlement money. The City has <br />also received an invoice for attorney’s fees of $248,208 to be paid from the settlement <br />money, and the City used $1 million of this money to help purchase the Carnegie <br />Shelter, leaving a balance of $0.5 million. The City will continue to receive settlement <br />payments of at least $400,000 annually through 2039. The money is highly restricted to <br />specific opioid-related expenditures. <br />Currently, staff is planning to purchase naloxone for first responders to use and <br />distribute once the state no longer provides it to local government for free. The City’s <br />Homeless Services Division Manager has indicated that we have a need for securing <br />beds at College Hospital or Phoenix House for homeless individuals who want to <br />detoxify from Fentanyl. The process of detoxification is very difficult and is best done <br />with hospital rehabilitation. <br />Shall staff explore the feasibility of using this funding for medical treatment for homeless <br />individuals with an addiction to Fentanyl who wish to detoxify? <br />Gas Tax <br />The City receives allocations from the state Highway Users Tax Account (HUTA, <br />commonly known as Gas Tax) and the Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Account <br />(RMRA). Both HUTA and RMRA are cents-per-gallon taxes. Therefore, if consumption <br />decreases, so does the City’s revenue allocations. <br />The City expects to receive $15.8 million from these allocations in the current fiscal <br />year. Next fiscal year, the estimate from the League of California Cities is $16.5 million <br />or 4.4% more overall. The increase is short-lived. <br />The California Legislative Analyst Office (LAO) released a report in December 2023 <br />regarding the impact of California’s climate policies (e.g. mandating more electric <br />vehicles) on transportation funding such as HUTA and RMRA. The report states: “Most <br />significantly, policies aimed at increasing the adoption of ZEVs will decrease the <br />consumption of gasoline and diesel fuels, and consequently reduce the associated tax <br />revenues that currently support the state’s transportation system.” The report goes on to <br />estimate state transportation revenues will decrease by 31% over the next decade, and <br />recommends the California Legislature develop a long-term plan.