TO: Napa County Climate Action Committee
FROM: Brian D. Bordona, Director of Napa County Planning, Building & Environmental Services
REPORT BY: Jesse Gutiérrez, Principal Planner, Sustainability
SUBJECT: Proposed Fiscal Year 2026-2027 Budget for Program Administration of the Climate Action Committee and support for related projects.
RECOMMENDATION
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Receive a presentation from staff and discuss the proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2026-2027 (FY26/27) of $144,455 for program administration of the Climate Action Committee (CAC) and support for related projects, such as the Napa Regional Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (RCAAP).
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ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION: The proposed action is not a project as defined by 14 California
Code of Regulations 15378 (State CEQA Guidelines) and therefore CEQA is not applicable.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
On January 23, 2026, the CAC discussed priorities for FY26/27 and supported staff’s recommendations to complete and adopt the RCAAP, develop a regional implementation approach, begin strategizing for implementation, and consider options for updates to the CAC Joint Powers Agreement.
Napa County Staff Time and Resources
The proposed FY26/27 budget includes an estimate of staff time needed to:
• Support and administer the completion of the RCAAP,
• Support and administer the completion of the Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration (IS/MND),
• Facilitate and support the adoption of the RCAAP and the IS/MND by individual municipalities,
• Continue coordination of the All Staff Working Group,
• Develop and coordinate a regional implementation strategy,
• Support municipalities with implementation,
• Lead with the development of model actions, programs, and policies,
• Monitor the status of RCAAP strategies and measures,
• Provide administrative support to the CAC by preparing agendas, developing staff reports and sharing information, preparing an annual budget, and providing staff support for associated tasks and requests.
The estimated staff time total for FY26/27 is $134,455, which is an 18% decrease from FY25/26. This decrease is due to work on the RCAAP and IS/MND documents winding down. FY25/26 called for intensive reviews of the administrative, public, and final drafts of the RCAAP, coordination of staff reviews of these drafts, public engagement for the public draft RCAAP, the review of public comments, the development of staff and consultant responses to comments, coordination of staff reviews of the administrative draft of the IS/MND, AB 52 tribal consultations, and the expected release of the IS/MND, final RCAAP, and public comment responses.
Staff time for FY26/27 will shift the workload to developing an approach for implementation once the RCAAP has been adopted. This will include collaboration and coordination amongst municipalities and relying on the All Staff Working Group to facilitate the prioritization of RCAAP measures, cost and funding analysis, and community engagement and outreach.
County staff time has been broken down by task and subtask in the attachment document, Napa County Staff Time - Hours Breakdown. The quoted staff hourly rates are weighted labor rates provided by the County Auditor for FY26/27. Rates may change depending on contract negotiations.
Table 1: Napa County Staff Time and Cost
*total costs have been rounded to whole numbers
RCAAP and IS/MND
The IS/MND will require a 30-day public review. The public draft IS/MND and the final RCAAP are expected to be completed and released to the public together in mid-March. Depending on the level of response needed for public comments received on the public draft IS/MND, a final version of the document could be ready by early May. The final version of the IS/MND and the RCAAP would then be taken to the CAC for their endorsement followed by the Napa County Board of Supervisors and the individual municipalities.
Proposed FY26/27 Budget
The proposed CAC budget for FY26/27 is $144,455 and includes $134,455 in County staff costs and $10,000 for continued support by Ari Ball-Burack for the EV Charging Equity Tool. The budget for support of the EV Charging Tool in the current fiscal year has not been used.
Regarding the Napa Climate Challenge platform, staff propose a pause on renewing the platform while the RCAAP is adopted and municipal priorities are set.
Table 2: Climate Action Committee FY26/27 Proposed Budget
Cost-Share
Under the Joint Powers Agreement, the Unincorporated County contributes 33.0% of the actual costs of the CAC Program Administration costs, from the PBES budget. The cities and town each reimburse the County for the remaining Program Administration, according to a formula that allocates costs based on fifty percent (50%) equal shares and fifty percent (50%) proportional share of population exclusive of the unincorporated area population, more specifically as follows:
American Canyon: 12.8%
Calistoga: 8.3%
Napa: 29.9%
St. Helena: 8.5%
Yountville: 7.5%
The cost sharing allocation among the member jurisdictions for FY26/27 would be as follows:
Table 3: Climate Action Committee FY26/27 Proposed Budget Breakdown by Jurisdiction
*total costs have been rounded to whole numbers
Implementation Plans and Optional Tasks
As municipalities move towards adoption of the RCAAP and the IS/MND and as part of developing an implementation approach, optional tasks should be considered.
Table 4: Implementation Plans Anticipated Costs
Unincorporated Napa County plans to work with Ascent to develop an implementation plan catered to its needs. The City of Napa has also indicated the need for an individualized implementation plan and is working directly with Ascent to develop one. County staff requested a scope of work from Ascent for an implementation plan and related services specifically for the unincorporated County. The scope of work has a provision for optional individual implementation plan for each of the four municipalities. Each municipality would need to opt-in and decide for themselves if this is option is desired. Napa County staff would manage these optional task orders for individual municipalities, if desired.
Table 5: Grand Totals for each municipality: Shared Costs + Optional Tasks
County staff time for the implementation of actions in the RCAAP affecting only unincorporated Napa County will not be billed to the member jurisdictions. If the CAC directs additional actions or efforts beyond the scope of the proposed budget, the budget may be amended with the approval of all Parties.
Staff request CAC members:
• Review the proposed draft budget,
• Facilitate approval of the proposed budget by municipal city management and/or council,
• Vote to adopt a final budget at the March 2026 CAC meeting.