Overview
San Luis Obispo’s adopted FY 2025-26 budget totals $217.6 million in the first year of the 2025-27 Financial Plan, including a $117.6 million General Fund. The plan’s stated priorities are housing and homelessness solutions, climate action and resiliency, community and neighborhood safety, sustainable transportation, and a high quality of life. Within the General Fund budget, tax and franchise revenue of $105,593,017 dominates, led by sales tax of $55,470,441 and property tax of $25,944,966. The same meeting adopted water rate increases of 5.5% per year and sewer rate increases of 6.5% per year for FY 2025-26 and FY 2026-27.
Sources: City of San Luis Obispo, June 17 council meeting recap; City of San Luis Obispo, Fourth Quarter Financial Report (Year-End), FY 2024-25.
At a glance — FY 2025-26 adopted
Sources: City of San Luis Obispo, June 17 council meeting recap; City of San Luis Obispo, FY 2024-25 year-end report.
General Fund, FY 2025-26 budget
General Fund revenue budget: tax and franchise revenue of $105,593,017 plus user fees of $9,968,947 plus general government revenue of $1,669,077 equals $117,231,041 — exact using the stated subtotals. The tax components sum exactly to $105,593,017; the user-fee components sum to $9,968,948, which is $1 above the stated $9,968,947 subtotal.
| Sales tax | $55,470,441 |
| Property tax | $25,944,966 |
| Transient occupancy tax | $11,099,705 |
| Utility user tax | $6,605,306 |
| Business tax | $3,230,170 |
| Franchise fees | $2,242,429 |
| Cannabis tax | $1,000,000 |
| Tax & franchise revenue subtotal | $105,593,017 |
| Development review fees | $4,606,812 |
| Parks & recreation fees | $2,280,283 |
| Fire fees | $1,759,183 |
| Police fees | $690,200 |
| Business licenses | $632,470 |
| User fees subtotal (components sum to $9,968,948) | $9,968,947 |
| General government revenue | $1,669,077 |
| Total General Fund revenue budget | $117,231,041 |
General Fund expenditures by department, FY 2025-26 budget (funds available column). The components sum to $99,959,402, which is $1 below the stated total of $99,959,403.
| Police | $25,600,253 |
| Public Works | $19,022,753 |
| Fire | $18,108,272 |
| Administration & IT | $11,752,023 |
| Community Development (CDD) | $9,059,766 |
| Parks & Recreation | $6,231,512 |
| Finance | $2,850,096 |
| Non-Departmental | $2,399,772 |
| Human Resources | $2,061,730 |
| City Attorney | $1,863,615 |
| CSG Administration | $614,367 |
| Utilities | $395,243 |
| Total (components sum to $99,959,402) | $99,959,403 |
Prior year: FY 2024-25 year-end (preliminary)
The same year-end report gives preliminary FY 2024-25 General Fund results, explicitly subject to change until the audit is complete: revenue actual $126,675,868 against a budget of $127,702,817 (unfavorable variance $1,026,950), and operating expenditure actual $93,584,065 against a budget of $99,015,163 (savings $5,431,097), for a net favorable variance of $4,404,147. The estimated ending fund balance was $47.4 million, of which $4.1 million was unassigned; $28.7 million was committed and assigned and $14.6 million reserved. These are preliminary figures, not audited results, and are shown for context only.
Source: City of San Luis Obispo, Fourth Quarter Financial Report (Year-End), FY 2024-25.
Elected officials
No council members are named in the cited recap or year-end report, so none are listed here rather than supplied from another source. The city manager named in the recap is Whitney McDonald.
| City Manager (named in recap) | Whitney McDonald |
Source: City of San Luis Obispo, June 17 council meeting recap.
Sources & notes
- Sources used: City of San Luis Obispo, June 17 council meeting recap (adoption totals). Council recap. City of San Luis Obispo, Fourth Quarter Financial Report (Year-End), FY 2024-25 (General Fund tables with FY 2025-26 budget columns). Year-end report.
- Sum checks: tax components exact ($105,593,017); revenue total exact using stated subtotals ($117,231,041); user-fee components $1 above stated subtotal (disclosed); department components $1 below stated total (disclosed).
- What is not claimed: the full 2025-27 Financial Plan PDF was not text-retrieved, so no all-funds fund breakdown, enterprise-fund detail, or capital plan detail is shown; the recap’s rounded $117.6 million General Fund total is not forced to equal the table’s $117,231,041 revenue budget; FY 2024-25 results are preliminary, not audited; no outstanding-debt total is shown from these documents.
- Jurisdiction palette: no verified San Luis Obispo palette was on file, so this page uses the neutral Hometown Numbers dark-glass theme rather than a city color.