Not an official site of the Town of Los Altos Hills
2025-2026 Proposed Budget
Note: The opinions expressed below are the opinion of the author. Publication does not imply endoresement.
Budget Facts
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Overview
Los Altos Hills is generally considered to be an affluent enclave. However, many residents may not be aware that the Town budget is quite modest. Municipalities generally use the General Fund to support their ongoing Operations.
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Here is how our General Fund and demographics compare to some neighboring cities.
[Data is for the 2024-2025 Financial Year.]
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City/Town | Population | Area (sq mi) | General Fund ($M) | $General Fund/Capita | General Fund $(000)/sq mi |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Woodside | 5,309 | 11.5 | $12 | $2,279 | $1,052 |
Los Altos Hills | 8,914 | 9.0 | $15 | $1,672 | $1,656 |
Atherton | 7,188 | 5.0 | $23 | $3,200 | $4,600 |
Saratoga | 29,607 | 12.5 | $31 | $1,034 | $2,448 |
Hillsborough | 10,883 | 6.2 | $36 | $3,308 | $5,806 |
Los Altos | 29,990 | 6.5 | $55 | $1,834 | $8,462 |
Cupertino | 59,471 | 11.3 | $90 | $1,513 | $7,965 |
Mountain View | 86,535 | 12.2 | $191 | $2,207 | $15,656 |
Palo Alto | 67,973 | 25.8 | $304 | $4,472 | $11,783 |
​The level and types of services provided differ from one town to another. Some have their own fire departments, police departments, libraries and park recreation programs. Some cities have retail, industrial and commercial. Others, like Los Altos Hills, do not.
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Here's the $14.9M Los Altos Hills General Fund budget outlay for the 2024-2025 financial year:
And here's how Atherton, which has its own 30-person police department budgeted its $10.2M General Fund:
For reference, Palo Alto's TOTAL annual budget (below) is considerably larger ($1.1B) than their General Fund ($304M).Their Enterprise Fund includes primarily utilities, wastewater, garbage; the airport and the fiber network.
In the case of LAH, the town's primary source of revenue is property tax. Here is how property taxes are distributed: For homes in the PAUSD:
For homes in the MVLA District:
So for every $10,000 in property taxes the town receives approximately $600 (while the fire district, LAHCFD receives $1,100).
Here is the proposed $13.7M LAH General Fund budget for 2025-2026:
Once again, the proposed FY 26 budget can be found here:
https://losaltoshills.ca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/7423/FY-2025-26-Proposed-Budget---5152025