Council Makes Outdoor Dining Permanent, Confronts Deficit in Marathon Budget Preview

El Cerrito's three-member quorum worked past 10 p.m. Tuesday, introducing a permanent outdoor dining ordinance that bans fossil fuel generators, hearing sobering budget presentations from every city department, and fending off a push from the city's own financial board to tighten reserve rules. Threaded through it all: a citizen-led library tax that three residents called deceptive — and that the county registrar has reportedly sent back for review.

• Permanent outdoor dining ordinance introduced with new fossil fuel generator ban, converting pandemic-era rules into lasting regulations

• Seven departments preview two-year budget as city faces structural deficit despite reserves at 41% — up from zero seven years ago

• Council keeps 17% reserve target as a "goal" over the Financial Advisory Board's push to make it binding policy

• Residents accuse city of allowing false "senior exemption" claim in library tax ballot language; county registrar reportedly opens inquiry

• Police report crime at 40-year lows, credit license plate readers, propose traffic sergeant and $52K investigative software

• Senior lunch program faces potential federal funding cut, with daily capacity threatened to drop from 50–60 to 25

• First Project Kickstart application filed for 16 townhomes at 6501 Fairmont — a rare homeownership product

Five years after the pandemic sent restaurants scrambling onto sidewalks and parking spaces, El Cerrito is making those outdoor operations a fixture of commercial life — and using the moment to push fossil fuel equipment out of public spaces.