Downey approves $112 million budget

Downey Police and Fire Departments participate in the Touch a Truck event held last month. The city will once again spend a majority of its upcoming budget on public safety. (City of Downey photo)

DOWNEY - Downey City Council on Wednesday unanimously approved its spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year.

The overall city-wide Fiscal Year 2022/23 budget for all funds is $262,452,415, split between a $112 million general fund and $150.4 million in all other funds. This represents an increase of over $33.5 million (or 14.63%) from FY 2021/22.

Downey’s general fund revenues and expenditures for FY 2022/23 are $103,326,555 and $112,022,207 respectively.

Revenues – a majority of which (around 72%) come from property, sales, and utility user taxes - are projected to increase by over 10% from the previous fiscal year.

Expenditures also saw a projected increase by 20%. They include capital infrastructure needs using revenues from a one-time real property sale of over $13 million the city received in FY 2021/22.

As in previous years, Downey will spend primarily on its police and fire departments, spending over $41.8 million and $26 million respectively, or around 65% of the total budget.

The city is also preparing for potential special elections in November and March, setting aside $350,000, or $175,000 each.

Over $90 million will be spent on capital improvement projects, including $47.7 million on streets. Street projects will be funded partly (over 40%) by Measure M and R bond funds, in the amount of $19,375,000.

It is estimated that general fund reserves will reach a total of $31,240,903 by fiscal year’s end.