Arvin city leaders are searching for solutions to a $1.4 million budget deficit, with a potential sales tax increase among the options under consideration.
City Manager Jeff Jones says the financial crisis has been months in the making, and the pressure to find answers is mounting.
"It's been very challenging. It's not a happy time. I did not I would not expect to speed us in this triple shock position, but here we are, and we're working as hard as we can," Jones said.
The deficit came to light several weeks ago during a city council meeting. Jones says the city expanded services during a strong five-year stretch but is now being forced to scale back.
"Had a good five year run through COVID, we expanded services, but now that we're facing this triple shock, we're having to claw back and go back to a level, that's basically back to 2019, 2020," Jones said.
Council members are still debating how to close the gap. One option being discussed informally is placing a sales tax measure on the ballot.
"They are discussing perhaps putting a measure on the ballot to raise the sales tax. This has been discussed informally, so I wouldn't go out there and say Arvin is going to raise its sales tax. This is something that the systematizes will eventually have to decide," Jones said.
Not everyone is on board with that approach. Esteban Pineda Aguilar, who has lived in Arvin for 30 years, worries a tax increase would hurt residents who are already stretched thin.
"But if they raise taxes, prices will go up and we're back to where we are," Pineda Aguilar said. "What we make is only to survive."
Jones confirmed the city is also pursuing savings through attrition — leaving positions unfilled when employees depart rather than hiring replacements.
"When somebody leaves and you haven't filled that position, you either absorb those duties or do without those duties. And I say, with do, without those duties, we're still maintaining all vital city services. We still have a police force that's active, we still have public works that are active, so there's I wouldn't say there's been a cut to any city services It's just been we haven't hired people that have left," Jones said.
When asked about the city's reserve funds, Jones declined to share specifics.
"Are you okay with talking about how much is in the reserve or no? No, no, not not really. Because the reason I say it is because it's all accounting and it's really hard, it's really hard to project. You You're dealing with trying to do real time numbers and it's really hard to project that," Jones said.
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