Monterey council adopts financial updates, authorizes sea‑level grant application and approves sewer charge collection

The Monterey City Council on a unanimous roll call approved a package of fiscal and planning actions, including the city’s annual appropriation limit, a revised investment policy and authorization to apply for a state sea‑level‑rise adaptation grant, and adopted sewer service charge collection on the property‑tax roll for fiscal year 2026–27.

Finance director Rafella King told the council the city’s appropriation limit (the so‑called Gann limit) was calculated using state factors and is approximately $183 million for the fiscal year, based on an estimated $100 million in taxable revenue. After a brief public comment period with no speakers, council moved and recorded unanimous votes to adopt the appropriation limit and to approve a minor update to the investment policy; the latter reflects a state change extending commercial paper term limits from 270 to 397 days and a sunset change through 2031.

Council then authorized staff to submit an application to the California Ocean Protection Council for a Senate Bill 1 sea‑level‑rise adaptation grant. City staff said the funding would support the second phase of the city’s local coastal program work — adaptation planning and project‑level designs — and would not pay for physical construction. Staff noted the grant application deadline is June 26 and that separate state law (SB272) requires local coastal programs to address sea‑level rise by Jan. 1, 2034.

At a separate public hearing, environmental regulations analyst Carl Fritzer explained the procedure for tabulating written protests about collecting sewer charges on the property‑tax roll and said a majority protest would require more than 50% of affected parcels to object. The city clerk reported four timely protests had been received — well below the majority threshold — and council voted unanimously to adopt the resolution authorizing collection of sewer charges on the tax roll for FY 2026–27.

Some members of the public expressed concerns about notice and ease of participation in the protest process. Local resident Rick Hoyer told the council that publishing notices in the Monterey Herald misses many residents and that direct billing is clearer for property owners than a line item on a tax bill.

What happens next: staff will proceed with the adopted collection approach and the city will continue its planning work on sea‑level‑rise adaptation while pursuing outside grant funding.