SARATOGA, California. The Saratoga City Council on June 17, 2026 took a series of consent calendar actions that together set the city's fiscal year 2026-27 financial framework. The package included adoption of the FY 2026-27 budget, a resolution establishing the appropriations limit, and three tax levy resolutions tied to existing bond and community facility district obligations.
The dollar values published in the agenda
- Library Series 2011 General Obligation Bonds Debt Service tax levy: $0.0034 per $100 of secured assessed value
- Arrowhead Community Facility District 2018 Bond debt service: $6,500 per parcel for the remaining 18 participating property owners
- Appropriations limit: established by separate resolution for FY 2026-27
Both the Library Bond levy and the Arrowhead CFD parcel charge are dedicated debt service instruments, not general operating revenue. The Library bonds were authorized in 2011 to fund library facility improvements. The Arrowhead CFD is a Mello-Roos community facility district created to finance specific public improvements in a defined neighborhood, with the cost spread across the participating parcels.
Why the appropriations limit matters in California
California cities operate under the Gann Limit, an annual cap on tax-funded appropriations adopted by voters in 1979 as Proposition 4 and amended by Proposition 111 in 1990. The limit is recalculated each year using a formula based on population change and either California per capita personal income growth or the city's nonresidential new construction value, whichever is larger. The California Department of Finance publishes the price factor and population values each May. Cities then adopt a resolution setting their specific appropriations limit before the start of the new fiscal year. The June 17 resolution attaches both the Department of Finance source values and the calculation.