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City CFO Robert Cortinas made a presentation at the March 17 Work Session under item 2, indicating the City is projecting a total budget deficit of $29.2 million over the next four fiscal years, beginning with $9.4 million in FY 2026.
His presentation is based on annual property tax growth of 4.8% and sales tax growth of 4.0%, without a recession or fiscal disaster (such as a major trade war with Mexico). Depending upon multiple variables, including federal policies, the actual deficit figures could be far worse.
See the March 17 podcast by Aaron Montes of KTEP.
Cortinas’ projections include the issuance of more than $400 million in bond debt but do not include potential expenditures for a deck plaza or other future capital improvement projects that Renard Johnson cited during his mayoral campaign.
Johnson defeated Brian Kennedy this past December in large part because of his explicit promise to lower our property tax, which Cortinas has already shown is all but impossible.
We can already predict that when the City adopts a budget for FY 2026 in August, Johnson will preside over a substantial property tax increase, breaking his primary campaign promise, and then blame others for the outcome.
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