Where every dollar goes.
The City of Salinas adopted a $284.99M budget for fiscal year 2025–26. Here’s the full breakdown — operating vs capital, revenue sources, departmental spending, the two sales-tax measures, staffing, and the six-year capital plan. Every figure cited from the city’s published budget documents.
- $285M Total budget, FY 25–26
- +10.0% Year-over-year change
- 660.5 Authorized FTEs (+10.5 YoY)
- 68.5% Personnel share of budget
The big split
Roughly 90¢ of every budget dollar funds operating costs: salaries, programs, services. The other 10¢ funds the Capital Improvement Program — streets, buildings, parks, equipment.
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Where the money comes from
Sales tax is the single largest source of general-fund revenue — Measures E and G together account for roughly a third of every general-fund dollar.
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Where it goes
Police and fire combined consume more than half of every general-fund dollar. The rest funds public works, library and community services, parks, and the small departments that keep the city running.
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The sales tax measures
Salinas voters layered two sales-tax measures on top of the state base rate: Measure E (0.5%, approved 2005) and Measure G (1.0%, approved 2014). Together they bring in about $52M a year. Measure G’s extension is on the November 2026 ballot — see the cheat sheet.
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Who’s on staff
The city is authorized to employ 660.5 full-time-equivalent staff this fiscal year — up 10.5 from last year. Public-safety roles (police, fire, dispatch) account for roughly half.
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Capital improvements
The $29.35M Capital Improvement Program funds streets, facilities, parks, water, and equipment. The six-year projection adds up to $129.59M — most of it from grant and impact-fee sources, not the general fund.
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Reserves and debt
The General Fund started the year in the red (−$9.1M) and is forecast to end at −$5.0M — an improvement. Measure G is accumulating reserves; Measure E is drawing them down. Outstanding bond debt is also part of the picture.
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Per resident
Salinas’ population is 161,039. Divide each big number by the population and the budget starts to look human-scaled.
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How we made this
Every figure on this page traces back to a specific page in the City of Salinas’s adopted budget documents.
All charts are drawn from the City of Salinas FY 2025–26 Adopted Operating Budget and the FY 2025–26 Adopted Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Budget. Where the budget reports figures differently in different exhibits, we use the source cited under the relevant chart.
The “General Funds” charts combine three funds the city itself reports together: the General Fund (1000), Measure E (1100), and Measure G (1200). Together they make up the city’s primary discretionary spending pool.
Per-resident calculations use the population of 161,039 reported by the city (U.S. Census Bureau, January 1, 2024; Operating Budget pp. 22, 53, 64).
Found an error? Email tips@transparentsalinas.org.