ON THE AGENDA: Twentynine Palms City Council, June 10, 2025
Money is on the mind with three budget presentations on a July 1 deadline; Council-funded community events grants are on the chopping block
This upcoming Tuesday, June 10, 2025, the Twentynine Palms City Council will hold a regularly scheduled City Council meeting starting at 6 pm. Residents can attend at 29 Palms City Hall, 6136 Adobe Road, Twentynine Palms, CA 9227. The 245-page agenda packet is linked here and the meetings topics are budget, budget, and budget!
AWARDS, PRESENTATIONS, APPOINTMENTS AND PROCLAMATIONS
The meeting kicks off with a number of local organizations presenting in front of Council and being recognized for their achievements over the past year. This includes the Twentynine Palms High School Boys Baseball Team and the Twentynine Palms Rotary for their Cash for Trash and Recycling Program participation, a presentation by the Friends of Historic Plaza about their seasonal event series, and a presentation by the Youth Council about their past year of activity.
The Youth Council was recently recognized for their work at a City Council meeting in May by California State Senator Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh. The City Council will also be proclaiming June 2025 as LGBTQ+ Pride Month and recognizing Juneteenth Independence Day.
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. At the last City Council meeting, attendees had to wait for two and a half hours to speak, so be prepared. To comment, just pick up a green or gold form at the entry desk, fill it out, and hand it to the Clerk, who usually sits just in front of the Council bench toward the right.
Here's the list of Council email addresses to write if you can't get to the meeting — be sure to email by 2 pm on the date 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, although lately the Mayor has opted to summarize or skip reading emailed comments.
CONSENT CALENDAR
The Consent Calendar consists of routine items usually approved with a single vote. The public is given a chance to make public comment on these items prior to the Council motion. Fill out a comment form if you wish to address any of the items on this meeting’s Consent Calendar.
Items on the Consent Calendar that the council will vote on include approval of a warrant register for $1,648,554.58, changes to wage benefits that City employees receive, a report on the Twentynine Palms Landscaping and Lighting Assessment District 1, and the use of state taxes funds for road improvements.
8. Benefits Policy—Special Compensation
Up for City Council vote is a rewritten Longevity Pay benefit policy for City employees. This new benefit would begin July 1, 2025. Longevity Pay is an additional payment on top of an employee’s salary intended to encourage the retention of experienced workers. The employees who would receive this benefit are those who are currently permanent, full-time and hired before January 1, 2025. The benefit is not applicable to future or recently hired employees.
The Longevity Pay is a one-time, single payment of $500, $1,000, and $1,500 when an employee reaches the milestones of 15, 20, and 25 years respectively of continuously working for the City. Council approved of a longevity pay benefit for City employees in a 2023 meeting but staff have since refined the specific policy to comply with California government code. The benefits policy also outlines the City’s Bilingual Skills Pay, which is already in effect. You can read the text of the policy in full here.
9. Annual Report for the Twentynine Palms Landscaping and Lighting Assessment District No. 1
City staff will present a report regarding work to be done in the Twentynine Palms Landscaping and Lighting Assessment District. The City manages the Landscaping and Lighting of two areas – 1) Historic Plaza, and 2) a tract of land north of El Paseo Road, West of Encelia Avenue, south of Sunnyslope and east of Panorama Avenue. The expected amount the City plans to spend is $7,591 for Historic Plaza and $19,910 on the second tract.
Management of the districts is funded through collecting a property tax enacted by the proclamation of the Lighting and Landscaping Act of 1972. The funds are used for the purposes of improving the district’s common areas, which, per the City staff report, “may include but not be limited to, ground cover, shrubbery, and other landscaping, irrigation equipment, separate water meters, streetlights, drainage structures and the continued maintenance, operation and servicing of those improvements as deemed necessary.”1
Because these amounts will be paid for through collecting a special tax on property owners in the district, this topic is scheduled to return in front of the City Council as a Public Hearing agenda item at the July 22, 2025 City Council meeting.
It should be noted that the entity that funds events at the Historic Plaza, Friends of the Historic Plaza, Twentynine Palms is separate from and not funded by this property tax assessment.
Adopt Resolution 25-__ identifying the project(s) to be funded with SB1 RMRA funding for FY 2025-26
This agenda item will ask the City Council to approve of a list of City streets to be repaved between July 2025 and June 2026. The funds for these projects will come from California Senate Bill 1 (SB1), which disperses funds to California cities from state fuel excise taxes and vehicle registration fees, so these projects effectively don’t impact the City’s finances. SB1 funded projects are included in the City budget under the special revenue funds budget, which is also up for City Council discussion at this same meeting under agenda item 13.
PUBLIC HEARINGS
11. Amended to the Master Citywide User Fee Schedule for FY 2025-26
For City Council review is an updated list of fees charged by the City that if approved would begin July 1, 2025. All fees were increased 2.5% the exception of Solar Energy fees, Sewer fee, Development Impact fees (DIF), and State/County mandated fees. DIF, which is charged to property owners based upon square footage of proposed structures, was increased 2.78%. The staff report states that these are inflation adjustments.
Additionally, Business License reprinting fees are dropping 40%, and Private Swim Party fees at Luckie Park pool are changing. Two new party size options are being added: a $146 hourly charge for parties of 101 to 150 persons and $165 hourly charge for parties of 151 to 200. The full list of fees for 2025 to 2026 is available here.
Budgets, Budgets, Budgets
The next three agenda items are proposed budgets for the fiscal years of 2025-26 and 2026-27. The City Council must approve these budgets before the beginning of the 2025-26 fiscal year, which begins July 1, 2025. There is one more regularly scheduled City Council meeting on June 24, 2025 before the deadline.
12. Presentation of the Proposed Two-Year General Fund Budget for Fiscal Year 2025-26 & 2026-27
The draft for the two-year budget for the General fund is linked here. This budget includes costs for staff, contracting law enforcement with the Sheriff’s office, the pension system, the city attorney, community events, paying for non-profit services and more. A draft budget was first presented at the May 13 City Council meeting. Despite what the staff report states, strategic priorities to guide the budget still have yet to have been voted on or discussed by City Council, but the report states that the budget was made in line with the priority of “financial sustainability”. City staff expect revenue over the next two years to decrease, due to the current uncertain and volatile national economic outlook.
There are a couple of notable changes in the city’s budget for the upcoming 2025-26 and 2026-27 fiscal years compared to 2024-25, which ends June 30, 2025. The budget for City Council shows an increase of 23% in 2025-26 and another 24% in the 2026-27 financial year. The staff report states that the increase is in anticipation of a possible change in the stipend amount that Council members receive, which currently sits at $465 a month and could rise to as much as $950 a month. Council members haven’t had a raise since 2002. For comparison, the Yucca Town City Council members are currently compensated at the maximum of $950 a month. We were unable to pencil out the stipends relative to the budgeted amounts however — it’s possible that Council expense accounts and travel are also in the Council budget line item. City staff are planning to bring the stipend increase to a public hearing in the fall.
The budget for City administration is rising 7.2% in 2025-26 and 3.9% in 2026-27. The staff report states that this increase is due rising labor costs. There will be across-the-board salary increases for City employees thanks to a Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) pay increase that was approved by City Council in 2023. That increase will be 2.5% this year and 3% in the 2026-27 fiscal year. This budget also accounts for the longevity pay benefit, covered in agenda item 8 of this meeting, which will begin on July 1, 2025.
One-time funding in the 2025-26 fiscal year of $16,000 will be reserved for crisis communication services. In the 2026-27 fiscal year, the city is bookmarking $15,000 for a 40th anniversary celebration for Twentynine Palms.
Finally, this budget shows an update approved by City Council at the May 13 meeting that transfers $31,000 from support for the unhoused to code enforcement expenditures. Although this current fiscal year’s budget has $50,000 reserved for homeless services, that category is proposed to drop back down to $25,000 next year, which is how much there was budgeted for homeless services prior to the 2024-25 year. The extra $25,000 this past year represented a grant to the non-profit Molding Hearts for unhoused services, but the organization currently faces a delinquency for failing to register with the California Department of Justice. At the May 13 City Council meeting, Councilmember Scott advocated to keep the homeless services budget at $50,000.
The $50,000 budget for grants for community events is being dissolved and reallocated between three categories: $25,000 for non-profits providing community services, $20,000 to Parks & Rec, and $5,000 to the Public Arts Advisor Committee (PAAC). This reallocation may be due to requests for funding made at the May 27 City Council pre-meeting workshop, which saw non-profits giving presentations in hopes of being awarded funding. Nonprofits with community service projects asked for a total of $73,000 in funding, $23,000 more than what was available.2
13. Proposed Two-Year Special Revenue Funds Budget for FY 2025-26 & 2026-27
This budget item consists of special projects funded through accounts that restrict the monies to their dedicated use. For example, this budget includes two earlier agenda items: 9, the Twentynine Palms Landscaping and Lighting Assessment and 10, road projects being funded through SB1. Other projects in this budget include the construction of a bike path along Hatch/Sullivan, planning a city-wide Channel Trail, and resurfacing ball courts.
City staff first presented this budget to Council members at the May 27 meeting. In the 2025-26 fiscal year, staff recommends a transfer of $160,000 out of the general fund to the special revenue funds. The staff report states this is needed for cashflow during the construction of capital projects covered by reimbursement-based grants, meaning the City needs to spend the money before they receive grant funding. $25,000 will also be set aside to buy a street sweeper. The staff report states, “The City is allowed to reimburse the General fund for administrative costs incurred in carrying out the activities of the Gas Tax Fund, Measure I Fund, and Successor Agency Fund. The administrative allowance and related transfers out of the Gas Tax Fund and Measure I Fund for FY 2025-26 is $10,000 each, and $26K from the Successor Agency Fund.”
14. Proposed Two-Year Budget: Project Phoenix Funds and Sewer Fund - FY 2025-26 & 2026-27
The last budget the City Council needs to get passed this month is the Project Phoenix Funds and Sewer Fund accounts, which City staff presented a rough explanation of at the last City Council meeting. Project Phoenix funds are reserved to support downtown redevelopment. About $185,000 in unused project money is still available, with remaining allocations being $108,900 for store improvements, $29,300 for street furniture, $24,600 for multi-purpose facility fixtures, $15,000 for public art at Freedom Plaza, and $7,500 for contracting the engineering of a crosswalk.
The sewer fund accounts for the City’s management of a limited sewer service to businesses in the vicinity of Freedom Plaza. This includes the construction of a new package treatment plant, which is expected to be completed by September 2026. This project is expected to cost $2.2 million, which will be covered by grant money except for $524,000 being supplied from the City’s general fund.
A long overdue but much discussed project is the USGS Study of Twentynine Palms’ local water to assess if septic permeation is a threat to groundwater sources and if a citywide sewage system is needed. Another $100,000 is needed to finish funding the project.
The City currently operates the sewer service at a deficit, and staff recommends that $70,000 be transferred to the sewer fund from the City’s general funds to subsidize operations during the 2025-26 fiscal year.
You can find the full text of the Project Phoenix Funds and Sewer Fund Two-Year Budget here.
DISCUSSION AND POTENTIAL ACTION ITEMS
15. Five-Year Strategic Plan Update
City staff began developing a Five-Year Strategic Plan this year, kicking off with two workshops in April 2025: an overview of City departments and a brainstorming session. This agenda item is an informational presentation—staff plan to represent a first draft of the plan at the next City Council meeting on June 24, 2025, then a final draft in July 2025.
Since April, the City has released a strategic planning survey, which the Desert Trumpet has previously reported on in our coverage of the May 13 City Council meeting. Usage of the survey by Desert Trumpet reporters revealed difficulties in filling it out, such as inappropriate input fields for survey questions, poor wording, unclear deadline, and lengthiness.
In the survey summary supplied by City staff, linked here, only 103 responses were completed out of the 263 started, meaning only 39% of participants finished the survey. The low response rate may be due to poor City promotion: it was MIA at City Hall, though the City did send an email out to subscribers and made one Facebook and Instagram post.
FUTURE COUNCIL INITIATED ITEMS
1. Discussion on the General Plan Update.
2. Shade structures around Freedom Plaza and a possible art fixture with "Freedom Plaza" announcing the location.
3. Discussion on abandoned homes in the community.
4. Discussion on reorganizing the Homeless and Housing Committee.
5. Discussion on partnering with the Boys and Girls Club.
6. Discussion on reviewing policies for non-profits who receive funding from the City.
7. Discussion of a policy regulating the use of City Attorney resources.
8. Discussion on Reach Out Yucca Valley.
9. Discussion on exploring a partnership with Jamboree for affordable housing.
10. Maintained Roads vs. Non-Maintained Roads
11. Discussion on exploring a partnership with Neighborhood Partnership Housing Services (NPHS) for an owner-occupied rehab program.
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.
Feel free to share this article!
Are you subscribed?
Furthermore, the report directs people with an interest in project details with the following instructions: “Plans and specifications for the improvements are those prepared by Pope and Associates, Landscape Architects, dated August 5, 2004 and are held at the Clerk of the City of Twentynine Palms. All interested persons are referred to that report for a full and detailed description of the improvement, the boundaries of the assessment district and the proposed assessment upon assessable lots and parcels of land within the assessment district.”
Project funding requested by the Hope Center, Girls on the Run, Ready4Reading Book Club, Reach Out Morongo Basin, and the 29 Palms Community Food Pantry at the May 27 2025 City Council Meeting.
Thanks for this detailed report! 😄