The agenda for this week’s meeting of the Coronado City Council includes allocating its annual community grants — this year, on an expedited timeline with automatic renewals. The council will also consider a faster phase-out of its waste collection subsidy and hold a public hearing on proposed EDCO rate increases.
The council will form a subcommittee to further explore the implications of joining a Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) for electricity procurement and consider a Policy No. 2 request to discuss fencing the dog park at Cays Park. Public comment will be heard.
The meeting is at 4 p.m. on June 17 in the City Council Chamber at 1825 Strand Way, and will be broadcast here. The full agenda is here. A recording of the meeting will be posted here.
Allocating 2025-26 community grant awards
Coronado allocates about $1 million in grants to local nonprofits that benefit the community each year, and it is a laborious process that carries an estimated cost of 250 hours of staff time.
In February, the City Council voted unanimously to allocate its community grants on an expedited timeline this year. The move will save an estimated 140 hours of city staff time during a season with several key vacancies and is meant to act as a pilot for refining the grant process in future years. More in-depth coverage on the matter can be found here.
City staff has prepared recommendations for this year’s grant allocations, although the council can still make tweaks during its Tuesday meeting. The staff recommendations leave about $172,000 in unallocated funds, which the council can allocate as it sees fit.
Automatic renewal grants: $913,724
These are for organizations that have been awarded grants for the same program for at least three consecutive years. Staff is recommending 90 percent allocations for most of these organizations.
Five major events were recommended for full allocations: the Coronado Chamber of Commerce’s holiday parade and tree lighting, the Coronado Floral Association’s grant for the Coronado Flower Show, the Coronado Fourth of July, the Coronado Island Film Festival, and the Coronado Schools Foundation’s grant for the annual Art and Wine Festival.
One long-term applicant, Reading Legacies, did not reapply. The final two grants listed are for emerging grants from nonprofits that have been funded before; the rest are considered recurring. The recommended grant amounts are as follows:
- Coronado Chamber of Commerce (for the holiday parade and tree lighting): $15,000
- Coronado Floral Association: $92,000
- Coronado Fourth of July: $96,000
- Coronado Island Film Festival: $50,000
- Coronado Schools Foundation (for the Art and Wine Festival): $24,850
- Classics 4 Kids: $15,750
- Coronado Chamber of Commerce (to advocate for the business community): $63,000
- Coronado Chamber of Commerce (for the Discover Coronado website): $21,600
- Coronado Community Band (operations support): $16,650
- Coronado Community Band (Fourth of July concert): $1,350
- Coronado Community Theater: $19,800
- Coronado Historical Association (keeping the Coronado Museum free): $69,300
- Coronado Historical Association (cross-border architecture exhibit): $13,500
- Coronado Historical Association (Hotel Del restoration): $10,800
- Coronado Island Film Festival (year-round production and outreach): $45,000
- Coronado Philharmonia Orchestra: $45,489
- Emerald Keepers (community programs, events, education): $25,020
- Lamb’s Players Theatre: $67,500
- MainStreet Coronado (community enhancement): $12,488
- MainStreet Coronado (economic vitality): $5,513
- Memorial Day Planning Committee: $2,520
- Musica Vitale: $24,750
- Safe Harbor Coronado (healthy families program): $67,500
- Safe Harbor Coronado (family support services): $45,000
- Villa-Lobos International Chamber Music Festival (Coronado residency): $14,386
- Villa-Lobos International Chamber Music Festival (school outreach): $7,920
- Emerald Keepers (youth services, leadership development, engagement): $33,840
- Musica Vitale (Crown City Chorale Coronado Choir): $7,200
Mini grants: $75,000
These are for organizations who did not qualify for an automatic renewal, including new applicants. Each organization could request up to $15,000 in funding.
Staff recommended against funding the Cancer Cartel due to being previously unfunded in past years. The nonprofit requested a $10,000 grant. A new applicant, Coronado Cheer, requested $13,099, while Camp Able, a previously unfunded applicant, requested $13,750. The rest of the mini grant applicants requested $15,000.
Staff recommended funding the full $15,000 for returning grantees from the 2024-25 fiscal year, and left the rest to council discretion.
- Coronado School of the Arts Foundation (CoSA): $15,000
- Coronado Junior Arts League: $15,000
- KMAC Foundation: $15,000
- Pacific Animal Welfare Society (PAWS): $15,000
- Friends of Children United Society (FOCUS): $15,000
- The Cancer Cartel: $0
- Coronado Hospital Foundation: council discretion
- Storytellers of San Diego: council discretion
- Coronado Junior Women’s Club: council discretion
- SDSU Research Foundation (Camp Able): council discretion
- Coronado Cheer: council discretion
- Island Yoga Cares: council discretion
Last year’s grant allocation, and the discussion and scoring that prompted it, is covered here.
Raising EDCO rates and phasing out a city-funded waste subsidy
Coronado adjusts its waste removal fees every two years, and this time, it will also consider whether to phase out a decades-long subsidy faster than planned.
Currently, the subsidy covers 15 percent of a single-family home’s waste removal bill, with the resident covering the rest. Coronado also subsidizes recycling for the Coronado Cays and for multi-family housing. (More in-depth coverage on this subsidy can be found here.)
Since 2013, the subsidy has dropped by 5 percent most times the rate has been adjusted, with the goal of eventually eliminating it. The City Council in April discussed eliminating the subsidy more quickly, and city staff has drafted three options for doing so:
- To fully eliminate the subsidy starting July 1, which would save the city $310,000 annually
- A one-step phase out, in which the subsidies would be reduced by 50 percent for fiscal year 2025-26 before eliminating them entirely for fiscal year 2026-27. This would cost the city about $176,000 in the first year, and nothing in the second.
- A two-step phase out, in which subsidies are eliminated by one-third annually for two years, with the subsidies ending entirely in fiscal year 2027-28. The cost of this would be about $233,000 the first year and $126,000 the second year, before dropping to $0.
Meanwhile, the council will hold a public hearing for proposed rate changes for waste disposal, a service that is contracted by EDCO. The proposed rate increases are:
- Single-family residential (90-gallon cart): $37.11, an increase from the current rate of $27.48
- Commercial (3-cubic-yard bin): $152.77, an increase from the current rate of $135.43.
These rates reflect the full, unsubsidized cost of waste removal from EDCO. They are what residents and commercial clients will pay if the council decides to end all subsidies. If the subsidy is continued, Coronado will pay a portion of this fee for customers.
Appointing two councilmembers to the CCA subcommittee
As Coronado considers joining a Community Choice Aggregation to procure its electricity, the City Council will form a subcommittee to investigate the matter further. More information about CCAs and the concerns that have arisen in the conversation so far is covered in depth here.
The council will pick two members for the subcommittee and review and approve its work plan.
Considering a Policy No. 2 request to fence the Cays Dog Park
Councilmember Amy Steward submitted a Policy No. 2 request to discuss potentially installing a fence around the dog park at Cays Park. At this meeting, the council will decide whether to put the matter on a future agenda for discussion and possible action.
