Monday, May 19, 2025
The Long Beach City Council discussed the city manager’s proposed $108 million budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year, outlining continued financial recovery while addressing potential challenges ahead.
The proposal was presented during the council’s annual budget hearing on Tuesday, where officials highlighted fiscal progress and detailed key allocations and cost increases.
The budget reflects a 3.8 percent increase in expenses over the previous year while maintaining a conservative financial strategy. The city recently earned a credit rating upgrade from BAA3 to A3, successfully removing itself from the state’s fiscally constrained list.
“This improvement really changes significantly our ability to borrow money and the interest rate in which we receive in order to borrow that money,” City Manager Dan Creighton said. “Which translates over to our residents, less borrowing expenses end up with less cost to the city.”
This progress comes despite significant financial pressures, including a 34 percent surge in property insurance premiums that added approximately $752,000 to the general fund, substantial increases in employee benefits totaling $1.6 million and rising pension contributions. The budget includes a 2.5 percent tax increase. Due to exemptions in the state’s formula, it comes in under the tax cap.
The budget allocates funds across key categories: $27.7 million for employee benefits, nearly $50 million for salaries, $3 million for insurance and $8.7 million in discretionary funds.
To help balance the budget, the city plans to draw $2.7 million from its fund balance, reducing the unallocated reserve to 11 percent of total expenses. City leaders are exploring revenue opportunities through potential projects such as a marina and a west-end parking structure to help offset future tax hikes.
“We typically do not take credit for changes that we implement, even though we know, for instance, the beach park, we made a lot of changes this year that we think will result in a significant increase in revenue,” Creighton said. “We do not show that in the budget. We do not like to put an extra million dollars in there, because there’s no way to prove that it will work yet.”
An addition challenge is making up for a one-time $2.5 million state grant that bolstered last year’s budget, a 3 percent increase in the police union contract and rising insurance and fringe benefit costs. It ensures full funding for police, fire and sanitation services.
“First and foremost, we want to make sure that we continue to provide the level of service that we’re currently used to,” Creighton said. “We want to make sure our police force is strong, our fire department is strong, that everybody’s safe and secure. We want to make sure that our sanitation pickups are what everybody’s used to, and that the community is clean. We want to make sure everything continues to be the shining example of what a community should be on Long Island.”
The public comment period remains open until May 20, with a final budget vote scheduled for that date or a special meeting on May 27. Residents can review the full budget at longbeachny.gov/budget.
