The city of Benicia won the 2024 Helen Putnam Award in the Excellence Internal Administration category. Colette Schow is the economic development manager for the city of Benicia. She can be reached at CSchow@ci.benicia.ca.us. Sarah Shawky is the deputy city manager and can be reached at SShawky@ci.benicia.ca.us. Watch this video for an overview of the project.

In the historic waterfront city of Benicia, nestled between San Francisco and Sacramento, a budget crisis in early 2023 threatened to unravel the fabric of community life. Facing a structural deficit of $6-9 million — roughly 10% of its general fund — the city stood at a crossroads. The choice was stark: Secure new revenue or cut a third of its general fund staff, potentially closing parks, shuttering the community pool, and reducing public safety personnel, among many other essential city services.

What sets this story apart isn’t just the challenge Benicia faced, but how city leadership turned a financial crisis into an opportunity for unprecedented community engagement, transparency, and ultimately, financial recovery.

Development constraints challenge Benicia’s budget

As a full-service city, Benicia provides its 26,000 residents with an impressive array of amenities: 28 parks, one of the lowest crime rates in the region, and rapid emergency response times. These services have long been points of pride for the community.

But Benicia’s unique geography and long-standing development constraints have contributed to ongoing financial challenges. Roughly 25% of the city’s land is protected open space — a testament to the community’s strong commitment to preserving parks, natural landscapes, and recreational amenities that enhance residents’ quality of life. While these features are deeply valued, they also limit the availability of land for new development.

As a result, Benicia has experienced minimal growth over the past decade, which has constrained the city’s ability to expand its tax base — a key contributor to its structural budget deficit. Although residents have consistently shown strong support for city services, they rejected a 2022 ballot measure to fund road improvements, signaling a reluctance to approve new taxes.

Benicia launched an ambitious eight-phase community outreach effort called “Believe in Benicia.” It began with education and an innovative online budget exercise that allowed residents to understand the complexities of municipal finance firsthand.

City staff also embarked on an extensive informational effort, meeting stakeholders where they lived, worked, and gathered — homeowners’ associations, religious establishments, PTAs, and business organizations. The city also created a task force of residents who knew about the city’s challenges and empowered them to share their knowledge with the broader community.

“Serving on the Citizens Task Force, I saw firsthand how Benicia’s commitment to transparency built real trust within the community,” said Hannah Rice, a Benicia resident. “People felt heard, respected, and empowered to be part of the solution.”

The city’s commitment to transparency about the city’s operations and finances took many forms: video series highlighting community services, regular newsletter updates reaching 5,000 subscribers, and direct mailings to all 10,000 households. Perhaps most significantly, the city organized multiple community informational meetings, including open houses where residents could directly question city officials and participate in service priority exercises.

In March 2024, Benicia voters approved both a transient occupancy tax and a sales tax increase by 78% and 72% respectively — far above the state average of 60% for similar measures. Even more telling was the 50% voter turnout, nearly double the state average of 26%.

So why did the tax-averse community approve sales tax increases by an overwhelming margin? Mayor Steve Young credits the city’s approach.

“We were completely open and transparent about the state of the city’s finances,” he said. “We asked the community to prioritize services after knowing the cost of providing those services. Then we explained what might result from either the passage or rejection of the tax measures. Once voters were able to absorb those options, the voters decided that preservation of so much that makes Benicia special outweighed the nominal increase in taxes.”

These new revenue tax measures played a pivotal role in stabilizing Benicia’s finances and preventing deep cuts to city services. Generating $5.6 million annually, the measures significantly reduced the city’s structural budget deficit. As a result, essential services — including emergency response, library programs, recreational activities, and the community pool — were preserved, allowing Benicia to maintain the quality of life its residents value.

Comprehensive, direct engagement is key

The city’s approach offers valuable lessons for other municipalities facing similar challenges. While digital communication might seem the most cost-effective outreach method, Benicia demonstrated the enduring value of face-to-face engagement. By meeting residents in person to share information and answer questions, city officials built trust through accessibility and open dialogue.

Even more noteworthy was the city’s decision to invest in comprehensive community outreach despite budget constraints. This choice, though questioned by some as an unnecessary expense during a deficit, proved crucial to ensuring everyone had access to information about their community’s challenges and opportunities.

Benicia’s story shows that when faced with difficult choices, transparency, and genuine community engagement can transform a crisis into an opportunity for civic renewal and collective action.

City officials should always consult with their legal counsel to ensure communications on ballot measures comply with state law.