Morgan Hill city leaders have set their sights on 2028 as the target election date for a potential new revenue measure, stepping back from any possibility of asking voters for more money as soon as this November.
The decision came during a council discussion of the city’s long-term fiscal sustainability, during which City Manager Christina Turner and Finance Director Dat Nguyen walked the council through the state of the General Fund, projected shortfalls and options for closing a structural deficit that is expected to worsen over time.
“Based on where we’re at, our current economic conditions, our general fund reserve is not expected to drop below our minimum reserve level of 15% until fiscal year 2029-30,” Turner explained during the April 1 regular city council meeting. “As such, significant service reductions are not recommended at this time.”
The city manager emphasised that while the situation is not urgent, placing any new revenue measures on the ballot is a process that requires lead time for polling, legal work and community outreach. To place a measure on the 2026 ballot would require immediate action by the council, something the majority agreed they were not prepared to do.
“There’s really no time to try to get this figured out,” said Mayor Mark Turner. “There’s still greater conversations that we need to have to decide whether or not we’re going to do a tax measure, and if so, what is that tax measure? We’re not going to get that done by the timeframe needed for 2026.”
Targeting 2028 gives staff more time to conduct the necessary preliminary work, including a community poll to gauge voter appetite for different types of measures and conducting community outreach and education.
“If this council was looking for us to look into the feasibility of doing a measure this year, that’s something we’d need to act on quickly,” the mayor told the council. “There are a lot of steps that need to take place.”
While he expressed support for the longer runway, the mayor urged his colleagues not to let the conversation drag.
“I just want to make sure that we don’t keep kicking this down through to the next meeting,” he said. “I still feel strongly about a public safety revenue measure, and I want to make sure we don’t keep deferring this conversation. At some point we need to narrow the options down.”
Not all council members were fully on board with the 2028 framing. Councilmember Yvonne Martinez Beltrán pushed back on the idea that the city doesn’t have enough time to produce the ballot measure, noting that the council has been aware of the problem for ample time.
“We’ve been talking about this for over a year,” she said. “To say that it comes down to being about time just doesn’t really measure up. My worry is, I’ve been on this council for a while and I know what the polling has been, and I see where it is now for a tax revenue measure, and that’s what makes me so nervous.”
The budget conversation will continue with the formal release of the draft recommended budget on May 1, followed by a presentation to the city council on May 6. The city will host a town hall meeting on the budget May 16, though the time and place have not yet been announced.
Calvin Nuttall is a Morgan Hill-based freelance reporter.
