La Quinta reports 2020-21 revenues $8.7M over projection during early months of pandemic
La Quinta closed its fiscal year 2020-21 on Tuesday with nearly $8.7 million more in general fund revenues than originally expected when the budget was adopted in June 2020.
Most of that added income is from sales, hotel transient occupancy and property taxes, which together account for about $6.64 million of the additional revenue, Finance Director Claudia Martinez told council members Tuesday during a presentation of the final report.
In addition to the added revenue, expenditures, including carryovers from fiscal year 2019-20 into 2020-21, were $19.5 million under budget. Of that savings, $14.6 million is being carried over to the current 2021-22 budget for capital improvements and operations, while $7.5 million was allocated to Measure G reserves, Martinez said.
Voter-approved Measure G raised the city’s sales tax by 1 percentage point to 8.75% in 2017. Those funds are separated out each year to be used in part on police costs and capital improvements with the rest put into a special reserve fund. The Financial Advisory Commission has oversight of Measure G funds.
“Despite the hardships that we have endured throughout the year, we were able to end the year with strong reserves, revenues exceeding budgetary projections and expenditure savings across all departments,” Martinez said.
The 2020-21 budget was adopted in June 2020, at a time in the pandemic when shops and restaurants were closed or operating with limited service under state orders to help slow the spread of COVID-19. Major events that draw tourism to the valley were canceled, impacting revenues for cities across the valley.
At that time, the city was looking at a near $3 million deficit that was met with staff layoffs and furloughs and a wage freeze, the tightening of expenditures in every department and reprioritizing of capital improvement projects, plus the use of more Measure G funds to help cover rising police costs.
The council ultimately adopted a general fund budget that projected $51.05 in revenue and $47.91 million in expenditures plus $3.13 million in Measure G revenue put into reserves, leaving a $9,200 surplus.
The final 2020-21 budget presented to the council on Tuesday, Martinez said, shows the general fund is “fiscally resilient, with strong reserves, revenues exceeding budgetary projections and expenditure savings.”
As La Quinta continues to recover from the impacts of the pandemic, staff will closely monitor unforeseeable economic conditions, she said.
In February, Martinez said she will be back with a mid-year update for the current fiscal year budget.
In hearing the report, council members praised staff for their prudent spending and thanked residents again for passing Measure G.
Staff has done “an incredible job” of holding the line throughout the year, Councilmember John Pena said.
“Not only our council is proud of them, but our city can be proud of them for the manner in which they responded to these uncharted waters,” Pena said.
Mayor Linda Evans said even when short-staffed in a lot of areas the work didn’t stop, which is a testament to the commitment of staff and the management team.
“This is just an outstanding report all the way through,” Evans said.
Desert Sun reporter Sherry Barkas covers the cities of La Quinta, Indian Wells, Rancho Mirage and Palm Desert. She can be reached at sherry.barkas@thedesertsun.com. Follow her on Twitter @TDSsherryBarkas
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: La Quinta reports 2020-21 revenues $8.7M over projection
