City advocates for VLF funding owed by the State

Published on April 13, 2026

On April 7, City of Menlo Park staff and City Councilmembers joined other San Mateo County leaders to advocate that critical Vehicle Licensing Fee (VLF) funding — more than $100 million annually — be released by the State to San Mateo County and its 20 cities. This funding supports public safety and emergency response, health and mental health services and housing and homelessness programs.

VLF accounts for approximately 9% of our operating General Fund budget, and the State has withheld over $3.8 million from the last two fiscal years. As a core funding source, these monies support a variety of essential services that would be at risk without a backfill from the State. VLF is paid to Menlo Park as part of property tax allocations that fund the Community Funding Program. The City made the difficult decision to pause that program due to the uncertainty in VLF funding.

The State currently pays VLF to every other county and city in CA. We are working with all the cities in San Mateo County as well as the County to fix this funding shortfall and with the Governor’s Office for a long-term solution. Learn more about the VLF funding situation at SMCFairFunding.org.

Photo: Assistant City Manager Stephen Stolte, Assistant Administrative Services Director Fenny Lei, Police Chief David Norris, City Councilmember Jeff Schmidt, Administrative Services Director Brittany Mello, Vice Mayor Jennifer Wise, County Supervisor Jackie Speier, County Executive Mike Callagy (not pictured but also at the event: Mayor Betsy Nash)