How Seal Beach is run
Who runs Seal Beach, 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 Seal Beach's own public documents. Every number links to its source and says which year it describes. Checked Oct 9, 2026.
Who runs Seal Beach
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.
What they are paid
- Severance of four months' base pay if fired without cause
- City puts 3.5% of base salary into a deferred compensation plan
- CalPERS pension at 2% at 55; he pays the full 7% employee share
- City-paid $50,000 life insurance policy
- $75 a month mobile phone allowance
- 48 hours of administrative leave each year
- PARS retirement plan contribution: $468 for the whole council in FY2026-27
Seal Beach city staff
158 full-time-equivalent positions, including Police 63, Public works 32, Marine safety (lifeguards) 23. FY2026-27. City of Seal Beach · Jun 8, 2026
The city posts salary ranges for each job and its labor contracts. We found no city list of pay by employee. We name pay only for elected officials and the city manager.
Is Seal Beach 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.
Savings
Unassigned general fund balance: $11.9M (2025-06-30). City of Seal Beach · Dec 18, 2025
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
- Property taxes$17M · 34%
- Sales taxes (including the Measure BB and GG local sales taxes)$14.3M · 29%
- Utility users tax$5.4M · 11%
- Charges for services (refuse, recreation, tennis center, permits)$3.9M · 8%
- Hotel tax$2M · 4%
- Fines (mostly parking citations)$1.9M · 4%
- Interest and rents$1.3M · 3%
- Other (franchise fees, other taxes, licenses, state aid, transfers in)$4.2M · 8%
Goes to (FY2026-27)
- Police$17.6M · 35%
- Fire and paramedics (Orange County Fire Authority contract)$7.7M · 15%
- Public works$7M · 14%
- General administration (council, manager, clerk, attorney, finance)$6.4M · 13%
- Liability insurance and risk management$3.5M · 7%
- Operating transfers to other funds$2.4M · 5%
- Community development$2M · 4%
- Other (recreation, trash collection)$3.3M · 7%
Your property tax bill: who gets it
Prop. 13 caps the base rate at 1% of assessed value; the city gets only part of that 1%. The rest of the bill pays voter-approved bonds. The city's report does not break out the city's share of the 1%.
0¢
of each property-tax dollar goes to the city of Seal Beach
- Basic 1% levy (shared by the county, schools, the city and others)1 · 86%
- Other districts (voter-approved debt)0.11512 · 10%
- Bonds the report labels Orange County Bonds0.04572 · 4%
- Metropolitan Water District0.007 · <1%
- Total (percent of assessed value)1.16784
FY2024-25 rates for a home in the city of Seal Beach (Orange County). City of Seal Beach · Dec 18, 2025
See what a Seal Beach home costs each year, line by line →Who provides your services
Not everything in Seal Beach is run by the city. Who provides a service decides whose budget pays for it and whose election decides it.
- PoliceThe citySeal Beach Police DepartmentCity of Seal Beach
- FireContractorOrange County Fire Authority (city contract)City of Seal Beach
- EMS / ambulanceContractorOrange County Fire Authority (city contract)City of Seal Beach
- WaterThe cityCity of Seal Beach Utilities DivisionCity of Seal Beach
- SewerThe cityCity of Seal Beach Utilities DivisionCity of Seal Beach
- LibraryThe countyOC Public Libraries (Mary Wilson and Los Alamitos/Rossmoor branches)City of Seal Beach
- ParksThe cityCity of Seal Beach Public Works, Operations & MaintenanceCity of Seal Beach
- City streetsThe cityCity of Seal Beach Public Works, Operations & MaintenanceCity of Seal Beach
- Animal controlAnother agencyLong Beach Animal Care ServicesCity of Seal Beach
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.
| Per city | SelmaCA | Seal BeachCA | DuarteCA | WindsorCA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Residents | 24,484 | 24,496 | 24,841 | 25,498 |
| Top administrator's base pay | $214,791 | $288,390 | $280,295 | Not current (2022) |
| Council member pay | Not confirmed | $7,200 | $11,946 | Not confirmed |
| General fund per resident | $905 | $2,041 | $1,241 | $1,077 |
| Debt per resident | $1,108 | $127 | $79 | $577 |
| Unfunded pension per resident | $158 | $2,051 | $739 | $610 |
| City staff per 1,000 residents | 6.6 | 6.4 | 3.0 | — |
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). Seal Beach and Duarte and Windsor pays another agency for police or fire, so its own staff count is lower.
What Seal Beach publishes
What a resident can find online today. A "no" is something you can ask the council to publish.
- Yes: Adopted budget posted onlineThe adopted FY2026-27 budget, approved June 8, 2026, is posted on the city's budget page with past years. City of Seal Beach
- Yes: City manager's contract findable online City of Seal Beach
- Yes: Council votes recorded member by member onlineThe budget resolution lists each member's vote: Kalmick, Wong and Steele yes; Senecal and Landau no. City of Seal Beach · Jun 8, 2026
- Partly: Meeting videos and minutes online City of Seal Beach
- Yes: Council pay stated in a public documentThe city posts the municipal code section setting council pay at $600 a month. City of Seal Beach
- Partly: Employee pay published City of Seal Beach · Sep 14, 2026
Questions to ask your council
- CalPERS reported the city's pension plans $50.2 million short of full funding on June 30, 2025. How much will the $250,000 yearly extra payments reduce that over time?
The fiscal year starts July 1. The council held a capital projects session on April 13, 2026, budget workshops on May 5 and May 7, and a public hearing on June 8, 2026, when it adopted the FY2026-27 budget 3-2. See who is running for council
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