Budget & Finances
Sound fiscal management is essential for our community's future—it ensures we deliver strong services without overburdening residents. My approach includes complete transparency in budget processes and spending, prioritizing essential services while being mindful of taxpayer dollars, building and maintaining healthy reserve funds, seeking diverse revenue sources to reduce the tax burden, making data-driven decisions on investments, and long-term financial planning for sustainability. Every dollar spent should provide clear value to our residents, with controlled growth generating new revenue (fees, commercial taxes) to fund roads, safety, and infrastructure—while protecting tourism and attracting jobs that benefit everyone.
My plan focuses on growing revenue responsibly through smart choices, efficiency, and balance—always aiming for lower taxes overall: • Welcome commercial projects aggressively for sales tax boosts, while finding creative sources (e.g., grants, partnerships) beyond residential. • Support reviewing and cutting fees where it attracts the right growth/businesses—making Hollister competitive without losing standards. • Review department efficiency citywide—identifying waste, streamlining operations, and doing better with existing resources to free up funds. • Grow revenue stronger through controlled development (impact fees, property/sales taxes from new homes/jobs) to cover services—without raising taxes on current residents or killing tourism (e.g., better rally planning to ensure positives outweigh costs). • Build healthy reserves (target at least 15% of annual expenses for rainy days, we currently have LESS THAN 1% with no target at all) and long-term planning (e.g., data-driven investments tied to Housing Element projections and infrastructure needs).