Our beautiful city is known as the Good Land. Goleta is eight square miles nestled between the Santa Ynez Mountains and Pacific Ocean, offering unparalleled scenic beauty. Goleta is an award-winning, safe, and active community that offers a high-quality life and a vibrant business community. Goleta offers unparalleled scenic beauty with more than 500 acres of city parks, beaches and open space, and distinct neighborhoods. Goleta schools have a reputation for high academic achievement and excellent instruction. Dubbed ‘The Good Land’, Goleta has the warmth and charm of a small town, while also serving as an economic hub of the region, with a long history of entrepreneurialism fueled by innovative graduates from UCSB and the City’s attraction as a desirable place to live.

The City of Goleta’s top priority is maintaining quality of life and public safety of all our residents, while remaining committed to long-term financial stability. As we celebrate our 20^th anniversary as a City, we continue to work to meet the needs of our residents today while also planning to meet future challenges in maintaining and improving the community services with limited resources. Investments are needed in our roads, parks, small businesses, and public safety to protect a bright future for our Goleta.

The City has identified important projects that require additional resources:

• Streets and Roads: The most recent independent road engineers report rated 2/3 of Goleta’s streets and roads as “fair”, “poor”, or “failed”. The City needs additional funding for these street and pothole repairs, which become more expensive to address the longer we wait.
• Aging Infrastructure: Twenty years ago, the City inherited many old buildings from the County, including an aging library and a now 95-year-old community center. Additional resources are needed to repair and upgrade aging local infrastructure to ensure our buildings remain safe.
• Homelessness: Homelessness is a serious problem in cities across California, and Goleta is no exception. Additional funding is necessary to address homelessness and to support those who are at risk of becoming homeless by connecting them with available non-profit and regional organizations providing emergency shelter, food services, and treatment for mental health and addiction.

In addition to the City’s important unfunded projects, Goleta has lost millions of dollars from State takeaways. While City revenues are expected to grow, they will not grow at a pace needed to complete these and other projects and continue providing high quality community services.

To provide additional funding to maintain and expand city services and programs, the City Council is considering placing a local 1 cent sales tax measure (adding a penny to a $1 purchase) on an upcoming ballot. Essential purchases such as groceries and prescription medicine, are exempt from sales tax. Goleta is one of the few cities in the region without its own local, dedicated source of sales tax revenue.

Yes. 100% of all funds raised by a potential measure would stay in Goleta. No funds could be taken away by the State or County, and visitors to Goleta would pay their fair share.

Funding from a potential measure would support essential city services, such as:

• Paving streets, removing potholes, and improving traffic safety
• Addressing homelessness through our Homelessness Strategic Plan
• Keeping public areas safe and clean
• Addressing aging infrastructure with repairs and upgrades to ensure buildings meet modern safety standards
• Preventing brush fires caused by illegal encampments
• Supporting public safety and maintaining rapid 911 response
• Conserving water by increasing use of recycled water to irrigate parks and fields
• Improving access to affordable housing for middle- and working-class families
• Maintaining services for low-income senior citizens and other vulnerable residents
• Helping local businesses rebound and retain the workforce to fill critical jobs
• Supporting and expanding afterschool programs and affordable early childhood/childcare programs

A local funding measure would contain strict fiscal accountability requirements to ensure transparency and public oversight. Mandatory annual independent financial audits and public disclosure of spending would ensure that all funds would remain in Goleta and could not be taken by the County, State or Federal government. These fiscal safeguards would ensure funds are locally controlled and used efficiently, effectively, and as promised.

No. All funds from a local revenue measure would remain in Goleta to support public services for local residents.

Long-term financial stability has always been a high priority for our City. Goleta has been recognized by the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) for Excellence in Financial Reporting for 17 consecutive years. The City tightened its belt in response to COVID-19, including spending cuts, deferral of City improvement projects of $6.8 million, and a temporary hiring freeze. The City has a comprehensive financial strategy focused both on fiscal stability in the short term and economic stability for our community in the long term.

While the City will continue to monitor its finances closely, it is also important to evaluate how we will deliver services in the future and to identify new local revenue sources to protect the quality of life for residents.