SANTA ROSA CIVIC
Meetings & Decisions
Budget & Finances
Budget Story · FY2025 actuals

Santa Rosa's budget, in plain English

Where the city's money came from, where it went, and what the latest financial results mean.

01 · The big picture

Santa Rosa finished 2025 ahead of full cost

Revenue exceeded the full cost of running the city by 2.4%, a decline from recent years. The latest figure is partial because some cost components weren't available for this year.

$5.6Mmore revenue than measured full cost

Full-cost gap by year

Share of annual revenue
FY18FY22FY25

Above zero means revenue covered the measured full cost; below zero means it did not.

02 · Money in

The General Fund collected $237.4M

Sales taxes supplied the largest share of General Fund revenue (29.1%).

Per resident
$1,337
From taxes
74.8%
  • Sales taxes29.1%
  • Other taxes22.2%
  • Property taxes17.2%
  • Other revenue31.5%
03 · Money out

The General Fund spent $231.5M

Police and Fire accounted for 60.4% of spending. Every other department shared the remaining 39.6%.

Per resident
$1,304
  • Police34.1%
  • Fire26.3%
  • All other departments39.6%

Actual spending was $3.9M below the adopted budget. That variance was spread across several departments.

04 · Reserves

The city held 7.3 months of spending in reserve

The source data classifies that level as green, and the recent direction was declining.

Important context: Santa Rosa’s unrestricted financial position was a deficit of $146.0M, or $823 per resident. Reserves and unrestricted position measure different parts of fiscal health, so both matter.