City of Rialto submits state budget request to California State Assembly

On February 11, Rialto City Council approved state budget requests that will be sent to the office of Assemblymember Eloise Gomez Reyes.

“On Jan 14, a member of Assemblymember Reyes’s district office addressed the city office regarding a request for a potential budget request that the city could submit to the assembly member as part of the normal state budget process,” said Stephen Erlandson, deputy city manager.

Since January, city staff, including public safety, public works, community services and community development, generated a potential budget request list of $70 million in funding.

Public safety asked for $5.6 million to cover firefighter rehabilitation and breathing support, vehicle interoperable emergency radios, emergency operations center, and citywide license plate reader systems.

In a $63.9 million request, Public Works and Community Services asked for state assistance for projects such as a traffic management center upgrade, Riverside at Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) Bridge Widening SR-210 at Alder Avenue Interchange Improvements, and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Improvements.

As for economic development, $625,000 is being requested to improve the city’s mobile home repair program and to generate a civic center place maker in Rialto.

During discussion, council members were supportive of the budget request that was generated by city staff.

“This is a much more robust list compared to last year, I read it and smiled. If we are going to be serious about our state and federal representatives, we need to give them real pictures about what it costs to get things done; the peace milling is not going to make things happen,” said Rialto Mayor Deborah Robertson.

“I agree with everything the mayor said. This is a far better list than anything we have seen in previous years. But, it is realistic to understand what all of this will cost to make these improvements,” said Rialto Mayor Pro-tem Ed Scott.

According to the February 11th city council agenda, the city previously secured $1,705,000 in the state budget approved by Governor Brown as part of Senate Bill 840 – Budget Act of 2018. Of that amount, $525,000 was secured exclusively to facilitate traffic signal communications planning improvements. The additional $5 million funding request will enable the city to complete the upgrade of its Traffic Management Center.

For more information, visit yourrialto.com.