by Garth Meyer
Redondo Beach has a new city budget, after a back-and-forth, four hour public hearing Tuesday night, with pickleball in Aviation Park making the cut, as well as a week’s free parking at Riviera Village during Christmas.
In the end, the budget was balanced at $131 million, with no tapping of reserves, in contrast to last year.
The final, fiscal 2026-27 document originated with City Councilmen Zein Obagi, Jr., and Scott Behrendt, who competed with another budget proposal by Councilmembers Paige Kaluderovic and Chadwick Castle.
Brad Waller, the councils’ fifth representative, was the deciding vote both pairs sought.
Waller worked his options to save the free Riviera Village holiday parking, which Kaluderovic and Castle wanted to eliminate in these leaner times. Waller also advocated to keep new street event usage fees down. The Super Bowl Sunday 10k/5k fee which has been $37,000, would have gone up to $70,000. Waller convinced his colleagues to limit it to $47,000.
Obagi. Jr. made a case that this year was not a time to go tight with the budget, instead it was a time to invest in one-time expenses that create more revenue in the long term.
Kaluderovic focused on no more reserve spending.
“Everything comes at a cost, and it speaks to our priorities,” she said. “First, we must repay the $3.5 million from last year.”
Referring to Measure FP, the $93 million bond (2024) to build a new police headquarters and two new fire stations, Kaluderovic said, “I don’t intend to ask the residents for any more money.”
To begin to pay back the reserves from last year, she and Castle’s budget proposal left $600,000 in the general fund.
A small part of that was from canceling the week of free Christmastime parking at Riviera Village.
“Are we borrowing money from our reserves for free parking?” she said.
One week would save $25,000.
Councilman Waller relayed that the Riviera Village Association – whom he met with that morning – “feels very strongly that one week is not enough.”
“… I look forward to the moment that we are reinstating it,” Kaluderovic said.
“Even if we didn’t have free parking, we’d still be full,” Castle said.
More subjects came up: whether to add a second attendant at Wilderness Park “to protect our investment” in the Lower Pond rehabilitation completed this year, said Castle. Also, evaluating the crossing guard program, and Obagi, Jr. put forth the idea to seek five-year (corporate) naming rights for the coming Aviation Park pickleball courts.
Sports fees at city parks: “Club sports are a for-profit business, they should be charged,” Kaluderovic said.
Add $2 per day for private use of the Harbor Patrol dock, another suggested.
Then Behrendt and Obagi presented their budget.
“Riviera Village is a flagship commercial district of the city,” Behrendt said. “I’m not comfortable sacrificing that gem, and our residents don’t want that to happen.”
More issues – Riviera Village string lights’ replacement, two more power washings per year on the Esplanade vs. leaving it the same, as Kaluderovic and Castle called for.
Behrendt said pickleball was a high priority for him and Obagi, Jr, who laid out their full budget proposal, noting other area cities’ struggles.
“Redondo Beach is poised to come out strong,” Obagi said. “Our budget motion is to make us bounce back stronger (than neighboring cities). These are opportunities to pull ahead when everybody else is clamping down.”
He proposed $96,000 to update old monument signs with the new city logo and lettering. He turned his attention to the waterfront.
“The benches are heinous-looking,” he said, counting 50 of the metal benches, and a cost of $500 to $700 to strip and repaint them, as opposed to $2,500 each to replace if they continue to be neglected.
Once Obagi finished with his and Behrendt’s motion, Mayor Jim Light weighed in.
“You guys are using up everything but $200,000 in the General Fund,” said the mayor, who held the power to veto any budget the council approved. “I’m a little disappointed in that motion, but we’ll see what happens.”
Waller, from his perch as the vote likely to decide the 2026-27 budget, called for two weeks of free parking at Riviera Village.
He asked for one more school crossing guard, at a cost of $19,000. He asked for more wayfinding signs on the waterfront, for $96,000.
“Now is the time to make Redondo Beach shine,” he said.
Behrendt weighed in further, saying both budget proposals from the councilmembers were frugal, both were made in good faith, “unlike some other cities or other times, when that wasn’t the case.”
“This is a more collaborative council,” Light said. “There’s no stone-throwing, it’s not two totally-opposed factions.”
As it stood, the difference in the two proposals was $600,000 or $200,000 in savings, for a $131 million budget.
Obagi reiterated he and Behrendt’s push.
“One-time expenses, and they build-in systemic recurring revenue,” he said.
Kaluderovic referred to the Pier benches.
“This is the trap; we are not saving for them, we’re not planning for them,” she said.
Obagi, Jr., suggested that this kind of planning could be done once the closed AES power plant site matter is settled – now in bankruptcy court – saying the city could do a bond “against our real estate.”
Kaluderovic talked of “a pocket of subsidies,” at Riviera Village. “We are investing in this space, consistently, annually (but not as much elsewhere).”
She asked about splitting the Riviera Village string lights cost with the RVA – Riviera Village Association.
Power washing came up again.
It was 9:30 p.m.
Kaluderovic appealed to Waller.
“String lights replacement I think is a 100% necessity,” he said.
A parking/bike lane study for Aviation Boulevard he was willing to revisit mid-year.
Kaluderovic said that updating city entrance signs is a good idea, but it was not worth the return on investment.
“If the signs are falling apart, if benches are corroded, that’s what they’ll notice,” Castle said.
Councilmembesr scrolled on spreadsheets.
They stared at their laptop screens. 9:47 p.m.
“We’re not that far off. The math’s not jiving for me,” said City Manager Mike Witzansky.
He asked that Obagi and Behrendt, and Kaluderovic and Castle, send their spreadsheets to Stephanie Meyer, city finance director, seated behind Witzansky.
The council then took in public comment.
Mara Santos, president of the Redondo Beach Chamber of Commerce, said she was “asking for help.”
The street usage fees included in each budget proposal would add $33,000 to the cost to put on the Super Bowl 10K/5K. The fee was set at $8,000 per mile.
Santos was asking for a waiver of some kind for the 50-year waterfront event.
Joan Irvine, a former mayoral candidate, called for the council to re-consider the opportunity to open two cannabis stores in town, noting the revenue they would bring. Planning Commissioner Wayne Craig said to scrap the effort to build a new police department gun range, instead put a roof on the existing one.
City Treasurer Eugene Solomon said to raise the dining deck fees in Riviera Village above $2 per foot.
It was 10:14 p.m.
Witzansky said the $55,000 Aviation Blvd. study could likely be funded by grants.
More back and forth, on tree-planting and Dale Page Park maintenance, then back to the Super Bowl 10k/5k.
Obagi, Jr., said for the Chamber, or other entities putting on a Redondo Beach street event, to “show us how you cannot put on the event and we’ll (give you a break).”
“The fee is literally a 110% increase,” Waller said.
“I’d consider shortening the race route,” Obagi said. “… Out and back.”
He said the coming Nike women’s run this fall will bring in more street fee money, so he would be willing to reduce the Super Bowl 10K/5K number.
Waller asked for it to be cut to just $10,000 above last year.
Was that a deal, asked Behrendt, if they did that, would Waller be amenable to vote for their motion?
“Yes,” Waller said.
Mayor Light called for the vote.
“Again, I’d remind everybody that it’s a $131 million budget,” Witzansky said.
The budget passed 3-2, with Kaluderovic and Castle opposed.
Witzansky asked the mayor if he would veto the budget.
“Right now, I have no inclination toward a veto,” Light said.
He has a week to think about it.
The council had previously decided on a flexible hiring freeze, saving an estimated $2.9 million, which allowed it to avoid deficit spending this year. ER
