CoachellaNot a ballot

How Coachella is run

Who runs Coachella, what it costs, and where your money goes

The city manager, council pay, the budget, your property tax bill and who provides each service, from Coachella's own public documents. Every number links to its source and says which year it describes. Checked Oct 9, 2026.

Who runs Coachella

A city manager hired by the council runs the city day to day. The council sets policy, adopts the budget and sets the tax rate.

City of Coachella · Aug 26, 2026

What they are paid

City manager Gustavo J. Romo: base pay$299,998FY2026-27. City of Coachella · Jul 22, 2026
With benefits$493,008FY2026-27. Total salary and benefits for the position in the FY2026-27 position listing. City of Coachella · Jul 22, 2026
A council member$8,400 a yearFY2026-27. City of Coachella · Jul 22, 2026
The mayor$8,400 a yearFY2026-27. The mayor is paid the same $8,400 a year as other council members. City of Coachella · Jul 22, 2026
In the manager's contract
  • City pays 6% of base salary into a retirement plan
  • Use of a city vehicle
  • Three-year agreement; serves at will
  • Performance review at least once a year
Council benefits
  • City group insurance; the council budget sets aside $195,247 for it in FY2026-27

Coachella city staff

107 full-time-equivalent positions, including General fund 77, Water Authority 15, Sanitary District 13. FY2026-27. City of Coachella · Aug 26, 2026

The city publishes a position listing with the annual salary and total cost of each budgeted job, without names. We did not pull pay bands from the State Controller's pay database. We name pay only for elected officials and the city manager.

Is Coachella in the red?

Cities must pass a balanced budget, so "profit" and "deficit" mean something different here. The useful questions: does the city's everyday money (the general fund) cover its everyday costs, how much does it keep in savings compared with its own target, and how big are its pension and debt bills.

General fund, FY2026-27$47.6MOut of $250M across all city funds, which includes utilities and other money that can only be spent on one thing. City of Coachella · Aug 26, 2026
Savings shrank, FY2024-25 (audited)−$2MGeneral fund revenue $33.6M, spending $35M. General fund revenue of $33.6 million was $1.4 million less than spending of $35.0 million. With $5.3 million in transfers in, $7.3 million in transfers out and $1.4 million from a new lease, the fund balance fell $2.0 million, to $42.4 million. City of Coachella · May 13, 2026

The city's own outlook

The adopted FY2026-27 budget shows a general fund deficit of $226,127, or a surplus of about $307,899 if a $534,026 transfer for capital projects is set aside. The city calls rising public safety costs its most significant budget challenge and says it must watch a structural deficit through FY2036-37, when the end of former redevelopment agency bonds should free more than $3.4 million a year. City of Coachella · Aug 26, 2026

Savings against the city's own target

Unassigned general fund balance: $12.3M (2025-06-30). The city's own target: The council's target is unassigned general fund balance equal to 35% of budgeted general fund spending. The city says the June 30, 2025 balance of $12.3 million was about 35% of that year's budgeted spending. A separate committed contingency reserve held $9.8 million. The city meets this target. City of Coachella · May 13, 2026

Pension promises not yet funded$3.6MCalPERS figures at June 30, 2025: the miscellaneous plan was $2.8 million short (95.7% funded) and the safety plan $0.7 million (95.5% funded). In 2020 the city issued $17.6 million in pension obligation bonds to pay down its CalPERS shortfall; $13.4 million of those bonds were still owed on June 30, 2025. (2025-06-30). CalPERS
Debt owed$56.4MCity: $13.7M lease revenue and gas tax bonds, $9.6M pension bonds, $5.1M energy financing and a $0.6M land loan. Utilities: $16.5M water and wastewater revenue bonds, $5.1M state and federal sewer loans, $3.8M pension bonds and $2.0M energy financing. 2025-06-30. City of Coachella · May 13, 2026

Why we skip the "budgeted deficit": many cities plan to dip into savings, then spend less than planned. The audited result tells you what really happened.

Where the money comes from and goes

The general fund only: the city's everyday money for FY2026-27.

Comes from

  • Transfers in (mostly water and sewer overhead charges)$11M · 23%
  • Property tax in lieu of vehicle license fees$7.8M · 17%
  • Measure U sales tax (1%)$6.9M · 15%
  • Sales tax (Bradley-Burns 1%)$5.1M · 11%
  • Utility users tax$3.6M · 8%
  • Hotel tax on short-term vacation rentals$3.2M · 7%
  • Franchise fees$1.4M · 3%
  • Interest income$1.4M · 3%
  • Other (property tax, permits, business license, cannabis and other taxes, fees, fines)$6.9M · 15%

City of Coachella · Aug 26, 2026

Goes to (FY2026-27)

  • Police (Riverside County Sheriff contract)$14.3M · 30%
  • General government (insurance, debt and capital transfers)$6.3M · 13%
  • Fire district support (CAL FIRE contract)$4M · 8%
  • Parks maintenance$2.8M · 6%
  • Finance$2.4M · 5%
  • Streets maintenance$2.2M · 5%
  • Building maintenance$1.7M · 3%
  • Other (engineering, development services, city administration, IT, recreation, animal control)$14.1M · 30%

City of Coachella · Aug 26, 2026

Your property tax bill: who gets it

California caps the base property tax at 1% of assessed value; voter-approved rates for school, college and water district bonds are added on top. In this rate area the city's general fund gets about 3.1 cents of each base-levy dollar, and the city-governed fire district about 3.6 cents.

2¢

of each property-tax dollar goes to the city of Coachella

  • Schools and colleges: Coachella Valley Unified, Desert Community College District, county office of education (base share plus voter-approved bonds)0.694957 · 55%
  • State shift to schools (ERAF)0.181867 · 14%
  • Coachella Valley Water District (base share plus voter-approved rate)0.179305 · 14%
  • Riverside County (general fund and county library)0.116379 · 9%
  • Coachella Fire Protection DistrictGoverned by the city council.0.036493 · 3%
  • City of Coachella0.031011 · 2%
  • Other districts: recreation, mosquito control, cemetery, open space, resource conservation0.025027 · 2%
  • Total (% of assessed value)1.26504

FY2024-25 rates for a home in the city of Coachella (Riverside County, tax rate area 12-000). City of Coachella · May 13, 2026

See what a Coachella home costs each year, line by line →

Who provides your services

Not everything in Coachella is run by the city. Who provides a service decides whose budget pays for it and whose election decides it.

Compared with similar cities

The cities in this state closest in population that we cover. Read it for scale, not as a ranking: cities provide different services.

HollisterCACoachellaCAEl CentroCARancho Santa MargaritaCA
Residents44,23345,30045,71646,217
Top administrator's base pay$265,000$299,998$240,000$342,047
Council member payNot confirmed$8,400Not confirmed$5,562
General fund per resident$1,279$1,051$991$568
Debt per resident$1,410$1,246$5,413$125
Unfunded pension per resident$965$79$1,259$49
City staff per 1,000 residents4.52.46.00.7

Figures as shown in each city's section, divided by its population. Years differ by state, and pension figures are measured differently in each state (each city page says how). Coachella and Rancho Santa Margarita pays another agency for police or fire, so its own staff count is lower.

What Coachella publishes

What a resident can find online today. A "no" is something you can ask the council to publish.

Questions to ask your council

  1. Police services ($14.3 million) and support for the fire district ($3.96 million) take a large share of the $47.6 million FY2026-27 general fund budget. How will the city cover further county contract increases?
  2. General fund spending was $1.4 million more than revenue in FY2024-25, and the fund balance fell $2.0 million. Is the FY2026-27 budget's $226,127 deficit expected to close in later years?
  3. Transfers in, mostly overhead charges to the water and sewer funds under a new cost allocation plan, are budgeted at $11.0 million in FY2026-27. How will that affect water and sewer rates?
  4. The FY2024-25 audit was dated April 30, 2026, ten months after the year ended. When will the FY2025-26 audit be finished?

See who is running for council

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