2026-27 Culver City Budget timeline released

Culver City has laid out the timeline for its new budget process this year, which is scheduled to conclude publicly on June 8 with the adoption of the 2026-27 fiscal year budget.

In a news release Sunday, the city outlined the remaining timeline for the formulation of the 2026-27 Culver City Budget, which started at Monday night’s City Council meeting. The schedule for the yearly budget cycle has been relatively consistent in years past, but a change in the city's approach has necessitated an overhaul.

Some aspects of the old budget process — most notably the series of Departmental Work Plan presentations — are being eliminated in this new budget process. The new approach is centered around a set of priorities established with community feedback to determine where money should be allocated.

What is the new process?

City Manager Odis Jones has introduced a different approach to the budget process defined by the Government Finance Officers’ Association (GFOA) as “priority-based budgeting.” This process establishes priorities for the city through deliberation informed by community feedback and uses those priorities to shape Culver City’s budget.

The results of this process can significantly differ from the trajectory established in previous years. The traditional budgeting approach uses the previous year's budget as a base, leading to mostly incremental changes.

While a budget that dramatically deviates from the 2025-26 fiscal year is in the cards, there are consequences that could accompany significant shifts in the city’s financial allocations. Approximately 72% of the 2025-26 budget for the Culver City Police Department — the department most discussed in relation to budget cuts — is tied directly to personnel costs, such as salaries and retirement benefits.

How are these priorities established?

One of the first and most important pieces of the process is establishing the strategic priorities that will guide. Jones hosted several community conversations earlier this year to both introduce himself to the community and provide a venue for them to express their ideas about where money should and should not be allocated.

A Strategic Planning Retreat was held on Valentine’s Day, where Culver City Councilmembers and leaders of city departments came together with several consultants to develop their own priorities, using previously gathered resident feedback as a guide.

A series of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) will help gauge whether the city is achieving the goals associated with the strategic priorities. The indicators will include measurable metrics for the city to assess its success.

Key Dates and Milestones (times and locations subject to change)

Monday, April 27 @ 7 p.m. - City Council Meeting at City Hall or YouTube

Strategic Planning Retreat report

A report presenting the results of the Strategic Planning Retreat has been prepared with the help of firm Gorman Partners, LLC, the first document to structure the information and priorities gathered from an eight hour meeting held on Valentine’s Day.

It serves as a general summary of the meeting, which was intended to kickstart conversations among city leadership about its specific priorities for the upcoming fiscal year and beyond.

Ratification of City Council Strategic Priorities and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Ratifying the strategic priorities and the KPIs that determine whether the city is successful in achieving what is outlined in the Strategic Planning Retreat is a key piece of guiding the remainder of the priority-based budgeting process. These indicators will be measurable with data, allowing city staff to directly measure progress towards achieving the budget's Strategic Priorities.

An online dashboard will be created to help residents track these KPIs and the city’s progress towards achieving them. A timeline for implementing this dashboard is already being planned internally, Jones explained, and it will be presented to the council at a later date.

Approval of Culver City Public Finance Authority Board actions

Culver City established the Culver City Public Finance Authority Board at its previous meeting, and Monday night saw the official approval of the bonds to be issued by this body along with other logistical pieces necessary for the city's new Public Finance Authority to function.

On top of the $36,900,000 in bonds originally recommended by Jones and city consultants, the council voted Monday night to issue additional bonds adding $3,000,000 to the net proceeds.

The intent of this addition is to bolster funding for "safe street" and "complete street" projects. Jones' proposal already allocated $3,500,000 to streets as a whole, but several residents shared concerns Monday about the lack of specific focus on improving micromobility and transit conditions on Culver City streets.

Monday, May 11 @ 7 p.m. – City Council Meeting at City Hall or on YouTube

Delivery of the Proposed Budget and Budget Overview Presentation

The Proposed Budget is the first document released to the public with financial figures and projections for the upcoming fiscal year. These documents may be available for public viewing as early as Friday, May 8, when the agenda for that meeting is released.

The Budget will also be made available to the public on the City's website.

Wednesday, May 13 @ 6:30 p.m. - Culver West Alexander Park / Saturday, May 16 @ 1:30 p.m. – Culver City Senior Center

"Let’s Talk Budget, Culver City" - Community Conversation on Budget Input

This conversation series is the formal way the city gathers information on its priorities. Jones held a similar series of conversations at parks and public spaces across Culver City to introduce himself and the priority-based budgeting process to residents.

Several "Let’s Talk Budget, Culver City" events have already been held, during which Jones has focused more on introducing the specifics of the new budget process.

Week of May 18

City staff to compile and summarize public feedback from Community Conversations

On top of the conversations held the previous week, staff also has information compiled from several preliminary community conversation events that serve as the foundation of the city’s understanding of resident priorities.

Tuesday, May 26 @ 7 p.m. – City Council Meeting at City Hall or on YouTube

Discussion of the Proposed Budget

Council meetings are traditionally held on Mondays, but city offices will be closed on May 25 in celebration of Memorial Day.

Public Hearings to present and consider the adoption of User Fee and Refuse Rate updates

The city updated its User Fees to reflect costs for the services they are attached to. As part of last year's update, city staff committed to reevaluating these increases after a year, and one increase was particularly upsetting to several residents.

Fees for hosting block parties were significantly increased, leading to complaints at several community conversations. Reviewing and potentially modifying Block Party fees is one of the actions expected to be considered as part of these updates, explicitly based on community feedback.

Week of June 3

Staff to compile and reconcile the City Council’s budget direction

Monday, June 8 @ 7 p.m. – City Council Meeting at City Hall or on YouTube

Public Hearing for Budget Adoption

This will be the final opportunity for the public to comment on the budget before it is adopted.

Tuesday, June 9

Staff to compile any final Council-approved budget adjustments

The 2026-27 fiscal year budget will go into effect on July 1, following the end of the 2025-26 fiscal year on June 30.