Redondo Beach is facing financial headwinds heading into the next fiscal year, Mayor Jim Light said during the 2025 State of the City address this week, though he also said the town has made progress with various projects and tasks recently.

The city has a $3.5 million budget deficit this year, Light said, and the city had to dip into reserve funds to establish the 2025-26 budget, which the City Council adopted this week. It was only the second time in decades, however, that the council unanimously approved a budget.

Redondo Beach also completed a record amount of projects and tasks over the past year, the mayor said — and looks forward to more progress in the future.

The Redondo Beach Chamber of Commerce also formally introduced its new president and CEO, Mara Santos, to the public during the State of the City, and the mayor announced Redondo Beach Unified School District Superintendent Nikki Wesley as the chamber’s 2025 Person of the Year.

The State of the City event took place on Wednesday morning, June 18, at the Sonesta Redondo Beach and Marina Hotel.

Other challenges going into the 2025-26 fiscal year include reduced grants, and state and federal funding, the mayor said, the potential closure of the Los Angeles Air Force Base, uncertainty over the former AES power plant site, aging infrastructure, state housing laws limiting local development control, delays with the South Bay Galleria revamp and the potential impact of the Metro C Line expansion.

Despite the difficulties, he added, the city also has some tailwinds looking ahead.

More developers and businesses are starting to express interest in building and opening in Redondo, Light said, attesting the increased popularity of the BeachLife Festival and the new California Surf Club. The current, forward-leaning City Council has moved past the previous standstill on many of the panel’s decisions, he added, and the council now covers 30% more agenda items during meetings than it did two years ago.

“The gridlock that was here a few years ago is gone,” Light said.

“Last year was contentious,” he added about budget discussions. “This year was a lot more collaborative.”

Upcoming Los Angeles-wide events like the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the 2028 Olympics will also present opportunities for the city to further bounce back, Light said.

Earlier this year, Redondo Beach also welcomed two new councilmembers, Brad Waller of District 1 and Chadwick Castle of District 2, as well as a new city attorney, Joy Ford. New employees throughout City Hall have also been bolstering progress, Light added.

Among the greatest achievements in 2024 and so far in 2025, Light said, Redondo Beach decided to keep its Fire Department local, voters approved Measure FP to replace the outdated fire station measure and the design for the new building is underway. After years of debate, the city finally approved an ordinance regulating cannabis dispensaries, and is now working on a similar law to limit tobacco stores in town.

The city this year also set the first example in LA County of how to conduct ranked choice voting, approved the city’s first coyote management response plan, restarted its youth commission that shut down during the pandemic, and approved a new logo.

As for public safety, the Redondo Beach Police Department made more than 2,000 arrests in the past year, Light said, for incidents from quality of life to murder. Drone responses assisted in location more than 300 of those suspects, he added, allowing officers to track and apprehend criminals more quickly.

Redondo Beach has also continued to maintain a functional zero homelessness rate, meaning there are more people exiting than entering homelessness. A permanent supportive housing program began, with many residents who previously lived in the city’s Pallet Shelter transitional housing now calling the Moonstone studio apartments home.

Development is also looking up on the city’s waterfront, which Light said is “amazing momentum in just one year.”

The California Surf Club opened in the spring, a mural was painted in the skate park, and new boardwalk pavers and signs have been installed.

Looking to the future, the city is working on a commercial plan for a market hall and hotel at the closed Fun Factory arcade and is in discussion with the Marine Mammal Care Center about the organization potentially moving into the former Joe’s Crab Shack site. The design for the Seaside Lagoon revamp is also underway, while a 2.5-acre native habitat park is planned along Herondo Street.

It’s all happening without “supersizing” the developments, Light said.

“When I came into (the council) from the community activist side,” Light said, “(the plan) was revitalize, not supersize, and we’re sticking with that.”

There are also plans for a North Redondo Beach bike path multi-modal hub between Grant and Inglewood avenues that would serve as an all-commuter center where people can, for example, use tools provided on site to fix a flat bicycle tire.

The Public Works Department, meanwhile, has completed more than 20 projects over the past year, has 30 projects currently under construction and 20 projects in the design phase. Some of those are already done, including a new playground at Dominguez Park, replacement and additional lighting at the Esplanade Bluff path, improvements at Alta Vista Field and a new shade structure at Andrews Park.

Native plants were also put in at City Hall, which Light said has already drawn hummingbirds and monarch butterflies. Turf replacement is also planned at the city’s main library.

The waiting lists for afterschool programs at each of the eight campuses in the city have been eliminated, Light said, and 100 people have been cleared from the Section 8 housing voucher list.