ON THE AGENDA: Twentynine Palms City Council, Tuesday, June 23, 2026
A pension savings plan, a road project wrapped up, and the sales tax clock ticking down
The June 23 City Council agenda is a busy and varied one. The Council will take steps toward shoring up the City's pension fund, formalize the November election, wrap up a road sealing project, and, with an August 7 state deadline looming, will move closer to placing the proposed 1% sales tax measure on the ballot. The full agenda is here. The meeting begins at 6 pm at City Hall, 6136 Adobe Road.
PUBLIC COMMENT
You can comment on agenda items and issues important to you at every City Council meeting. Comments on agenda items take place during discussion of that item, while comments on non-agenda items take place near the end of the meeting. The Brown Act prevents Council from commenting on non-agenda items. To comment, just pick up a form at the entry desk, fill it out, and hand it to the Clerk, who usually sits just in front of the Council dais toward the right.
Council email addresses and public comment information can be found on our resources page. Be sure to email prior to 2 pm on the day of the meeting so they have time to read your email prior to discussion. You can also copy the clerk at cvillescas@29palms.org and ask that your letter be made part of the public record.
AWARDS AND PRESENTATIONS
The evening opens with two presentations. First, the Cash for Trash program will honor Twentynine Palms High School’s Impact/Host Club and Explorer Scouts Post 509 for their recycling efforts. Second, Groundwork Arts will give an update on the City Tile Mural Project at Freedom Plaza. In February, Rhonda Coleman outlined the project before Council, who had many thoughts about where the mural should be placed. (They have since gotten input from residents through an online survey.) We reported on that discussion here.
CONSENT CALENDAR
The Consent Calendar consists of items usually approved with a single vote. The public can comment on these before the Council votes. Fill out a comment form at the meeting, or send an email in advance.
This meeting’s Consent Calendar includes meeting minutes from June 9, plus two notable items:
Item 5 — Hatch Road and Sullivan Road Bike Path Project: The City is asking to extend the contract with HRGreen Pacific for this bike path project by one year, since the current contract expires June 30, 2026. No new money is being requested and the extension just keeps the project alive while work continues. The staff report doesn’t note why the extension is needed.
A little background: At its June 11, 2024, meeting, Council approved funds for a Hatch Road and Sullivan Road Bike Path. Per the staff report, this is an east-west corridor located south of Twentynine Palms Highway (SR-62) on Sullivan Road and Hatch Road. It will include 2.1 miles of paved shoulders to provide bike lanes and a pedestrian walking area. It is being paid for with $518,930.50 from a state fund.
Item 6: Sidewalk at Ace Hardware (5152 Adobe Road): The Council will consider a reimbursement agreement for new sidewalks, curbs, and gutters along the front of the Ace Hardware property on Adobe Road. This is a standard arrangement where the City pays back a property owner for installing public infrastructure on their frontage.
DISCUSSION AND POTENTIAL ACTION ITEMS
Item 7: An Aggressive Strategy to Save City Pensions
This is the most financially complex item on the agenda, and it will have a big impact on the City’s long-term budget health.
Like most cities in California, the City provides retirement benefits to employees through CalPERS, California’s state pension system. (Sheriff’s deputies, although funded by the City, receive pensions through San Bernardino County.) Over the past several years, the City’s pension debt, which is the gap between what it has saved and what it owes retirees, has grown. As of 2024, that gap stood at $2.4 million, and the funded ratio (how much of the pension is covered) had dropped to 89.4%. That means the City is on the hook for more money each year, and those payments are growing faster than City revenues.
To get ahead of this problem, staff recommends opening a dedicated savings account called a Section 115 Pension Trust managed by a company called Public Agency Retirement Services (PARS). The idea is to set aside money now, invest it, and use those funds later to smooth out the City’s required pension payments. Think of it as a rainy day fund specifically for pension bills.
The initial deposit would come from an unexpected source: the City’s separate retiree medical benefits fund (called the OPEB Trust) is currently overfunded by about 40%, sitting at roughly $3 million for a liability of only $2.2 million. Staff plans to pull $231,525.70 back from that account and redirect it into the new pension savings account. An additional $200,000 has already been budgeted for FY 2026-27 for the same purpose.
The Council is also being asked to choose an investment strategy for these funds. Staff recommends a Balanced-Strategic Blend, which PARS describes as more aggressive than the strategy used for the medical benefits account. (The full presentation from PARS is here.) The reasoning: since the City won’t need to tap this pension account anytime soon, it can afford to take on more investment risk in pursuit of better long-term returns.
If this aggressive investment strategy makes you feel uneasy, apparently this approach is common among California cities and hundreds of public agencies use similar trusts through PARS or CalPERS. However, once money goes into this type of trust, it’s locked in; it can only ever be used for pension purposes.1 And $231,000 is a small start against a $2.4 million liability. The more important question is whether the City has a plan to keep contributing over time. The staff report acknowledges budget constraints but doesn’t lay out a long-term funding commitment.
Item 8: Road Sealing Project Officially Finished
The 2026 Chip Seal Project is done. Pavement Coating Co. completed the work for a total of $308,460.28, and staff is recommending Council formally accept it and file a Notice of Completion. This is a routine closing step required before any retained contractor funds can be released. (The Desert Trumpet covered more about chip sealing in our report on the December 16, 2025 Planning Commission meeting.)
Item 9: The November Election Will Now Be Official (Almost)
Council will vote on a resolution officially calling the November 3, 2026, General Municipal Election. Seats in Districts 3, 4, and 5 will be on the ballot. The resolution also requests that the City’s municipal election be consolidated with the statewide General Election, a standard move that saves money on election administration by sharing the cost with the County.
Districts 3 (Mintz), 4 (Scott), and 5 (Wright) are up for election. The nomination period for candidates begins July 13, 2026 and ends on August 6, 2026. Contact City Clerk Cindy Villescas for details and check out our article on How to Run for City and Town Council for general guidelines.
Items 12 and 13: Budget Revisions for the Current Fiscal Year
Item 12 covers Special Revenue Funds, Capital Projects Funds, and the Successor Agency Fund. Item 13 covers the Project Phoenix Funds and the Enterprise Fund (sewer operations), which includes a $70,000 transfer from the General Fund to help cover sewer operating costs, plus $25,000 for a new sewer rate study. We looked in-depth at these revisions in our April 27, 2026 City Council recap.
We also noted in our June 21, 2026, coverage of the May 19, 2026, County Board of Supervisors meeting that the City of Twentynine Palms had allowed the county contract for downtown sewer and septic maintenance to lapse on March 31. Will there be a discussion of the budget implications of the delayed contract renewal?
Item 14: The Sales Tax Measure Moves Closer to the Ballot
If you’ve been following the City’s push for a 1% local sales tax on the November ballot, this is the meeting where it moves forward. At the June 9 meeting, Council directed staff to proceed and indicated that a formal vote on ballot language would return June 23.
As the staff report noted, and this has come up repeatedly in City Council meetings, Twentynine Palms faces a growing budget gap. Expenses are rising faster than revenues, which remain flat or are declining. Without new funding, the city may have to cut services like road maintenance, parks, law enforcement, and support of the animal shelter.
Nearby cities like Yucca Valley and Palm Desert have passed sales tax measures to address similar problems. The city is now considering a 1% sales tax measure. Per the staff report:
Starting in 2023, the City of Twentynine Palms conducted two scientific surveys to gather community input from residents about key issues, City priorities, and possible future funding considerations. Additionally, the City conducted extensive outreach through one-on-one conversations and started a comprehensive and multi-channel engagement strategy….These efforts achieved a total of 184,000 impressions, 13,455 clicks, with a click-through rate of 7.31%, along with 41,726 post engagements. Following that first mailer, a second mailer was sent to residents reporting back what was heard in the survey and outlining the next steps.
Results, the staff report says, showed strong community input, helping the City Council decide whether to move forward with a 2026 ballot measure.
The ballot measure is estimated to raise about $2 million a year. As a general tax, it requires only a simple majority to pass. It also means the money would go to the General Fund with no legally binding requirement to spend it on any specific service.
The state deadline to place a measure on the November ballot is August 7. A Council vote to finalize ballot language is targeted for July 28, so June 23 is a key step in that timeline.
The City Council meeting will also include reviewing future council-initiated items and the City Manager’s report.
This explainer from the Libertarian Reason Foundation provides a background on the pros and cons of using this investment approach.
Hi, new subscribers! Desert Trumpet understands you might not be interested in all of our coverage. That’s why it’s divided into separate newsletters allowing you to opt out of reporting that’s not important to you. For instance, you may want our Education news but not City Hall 29.
Here’s how to opt out: go to your Substack settings, scroll down to “subscriptions,” and select “Edit” for the Desert Trumpet. Simply uncheck the box next to the newsletters you don’t want to receive in your email inbox. You’ll still be able to access all coverage online if you change your mind.
Thanks to you, Desert Trumpet met our $10,000 paid subscription goal!!!
Not a paid subscriber yet? Did you know that paid subscribers receive discounts on our DT Social events and invites to DT Front Porch, intimate discussions featuring local officials and notable residents?
Upgrade to a $50+ paid subscription for a 10% discount.
Upgrade to $100+ for a 25% discount.
Sustaining subscribers at the $250+ level and above receive complementary tickets.
Leave your thoughts in the comments below. Please note that we do not allow anonymous comments. Please be sure your first and last name is on your profile prior to commenting. Anonymous comments will be deleted.
This coverage is free - please share!