Budget Portal
Where your local tax dollars come from, and where they go.
City of Santa Cruz
Adopted budget, FY 2027 (July 1, 2026 – June 30, 2027)
Adopted by City Council Resolution NS-30,673.
Total planned spending, all funds
$460.7M
Includes utilities, capital projects and internal service funds.
General Fund
$170.0M
Tax dollars for police, fire, parks, planning and administration.
FY 2027 Operating Expenditures by Department – Primary General Fund, p. 2
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Where the General Fund's money comes from
Total $170.0M
- Sales taxes$35.2M (20.7%)
- Property tax$32.4M (19.1%)
- Miscellaneous (grants, fines, transfers)$28.9M (17.0%)
- Service fees (development, recreation)$20.8M (12.2%)
- Utility taxes$17.5M (10.3%)
- Lodging occupancy tax (hotels, short-term rentals)$16.2M (9.5%)
- Other taxes (business license, franchise, other)$12.5M (7.4%)
- Investments and rents$6.3M (3.7%)
Source: FY 2027 Budget in Brief, p. 3
Where the General Fund's money goes, by department
Total $170.0M
- Police$42.0M (24.7%)
- Fire$29.7M (17.5%)
- City Manager (includes economic development)$22.1M (13.0%)
- Parks and Recreation$21.0M (12.3%)
- Public Works$15.6M (9.2%)
- Community Development$10.5M (6.2%)
- Information Technology$8.1M (4.7%)
- Non-departmental (debt payments and transfers)$7.5M (4.4%)
- Finance$5.6M (3.3%)
- Library$3.3M (1.9%)
- Human Resources$3.0M (1.7%)
- City Council$1.0M (0.6%)
- City Attorney$642K (0.4%)
Source: FY 2027 Operating Expenditures by Department – Primary General Fund, p. 1–2
Citywide operating spending, by fund
Total $393.4M
- General Fund$170.0M (43.2%)
- Other funds (non-primary general funds)$80.0M (20.3%)
- Water$57.2M (14.5%)
- Wastewater$31.9M (8.1%)
- Refuse recovery$30.6M (7.8%)
- Special revenue (e.g. gas tax, affordable housing)$12.4M (3.2%)
- Parking$9.5M (2.4%)
- Storm water$1.8M (0.5%)
Rounded to the nearest $0.1 million in the source. Total $393.4M.Source: FY 2027 Budget in Brief, p. 2
Good to know
- Of every $1,000 in property tax paid in the city, the City of Santa Cruz receives about $162. Most property tax goes to local schools. FY 2027 Budget in Brief, p. 3
- On a $100 taxable purchase, $9.75 is collected in sales tax, and the City receives $2.25 of it. Most goes to the State of California. FY 2027 Budget in Brief, p. 3
- Across all funds, planned spending ($460.7M) is $36.8M more than projected revenue ($424.0M). Most of that gap ($38.6M) is in the City's major enterprise funds, which are services paid for by user fees, such as water. FY 2027 Consolidated Financial Schedule, p. 3
Notes on the numbers
- The City's documents give slightly different General Fund spending totals: $169,962,307 in the department schedule and $169,756,993 in the Consolidated Financial Schedule. We show the department schedule, which the Budget in Brief also uses.
- The Budget in Brief's department summary (page 5) leaves out the City Attorney ($641,500) and counts about $250,000 of debt payments twice, so its lines do not add up to its total. We use the full department schedule instead.
Every figure is taken from City of Santa Cruz's own budget documents and was checked against the source page on 2026-09-22. All of this budget's documents