By Andrew Alonzo | aalonzo@claremont-courier.com

Tuesday’s Claremont City Council meeting began with a special 5 p.m. presentation of the city’s proposed 2024-2026 operating and capital improvement budget.

Directors of the city’s various departments such as administrative services, community development, community services, financial services, human services, and police outlined their biannual funding breakdowns, proposed costs and revenues. Unsurprisingly, much of the city’s departments will stay operational due to revenue generated by the general fund and the trend is projected to continue throughout the fiscal years of 2024-2025 and 2025-2026.

The Courier will report on specifics in next week’s edition.

During the 6:30 p.m. council meeting it moved to adopt the proposed and heavily itemized budget document and fielded questions from colleagues and community members.

The council also held a public hearing regarding the levy of a proposed assessment within the landscape and lighting district for the fiscal year of 2024-2025 to pay for the cost and expenses of operating and maintaining streets. By the end, the council also accepted an engineer’s report prepared by Willdan Financial Services and approved a resolution to authorize a 3.357% increase to the LLD’s assessment cost per assessment unit during the next fiscal year. In accordance with consumer price index data, the assessment per AU will increase to $219.31 in the next fiscal year. Mayor pro tem Corey Calaycay cast the lone no vote.

Finally, the body approved three resolutions that greenlit the general election race for City Council. Districts 1 and 5 are on the ballot in November.