“We are busy,” City Manager Mark Winstanley wrote in his annual budget message.

With construction projects underway, the city’s budget jumped nearly 19 percent from 2017-18, with increases fueled by Seaside Civic and Convention Center renovation and citywide reconstruction projects. Members of the budget committee and City Council held their first meeting Wednesday and passed the road district and urban renewal portions of the budget.

But conversations await about funding for infrastructure at the new Seaside School District campus. A water plant budgeted $6 million comprises the bulk of the budget increase, but how it will be funded remains unclear.

“Many of these costs for these services will be borne by the city, but were not financed by the voter-approved bond issue for the school,” Winstanley wrote in delivering his annual budget message. “We will be discussing these projects and future financing needs.”

The city released a draft of its 2018-19 budget on Tuesday, May 1, a 150-page document showing a total of all funds surpassing $44 million, a 19 percent increase from the 2017-18 budget.

“This year the budget is more about the message and less about the finances,” he wrote. “Occasionally we decide to take a different route either by choice or necessity.”

The different path of this year’s budget, he said, “will lead to new tasks and different outcomes than we may have planned.”

The general fund, which covers the business office, library, community center and nondepartmental expenses, will surpass $2 million, a 5.7 percent increase from last year.

Public safety, including police, fire, court and lifeguards, presents the largest departmental budget of $6.57 million.

Future capital projects swell the city’s bottom line, with expenditures for convention center capital improvements at more than $2 million. Funds for sewer plant replacement jump more than $1.1 million from 2017-18, budgeted at $1.4 million.

Street construction jumped from a zero budget to $1.1 million for improvements on Holladay Drive between First and Avenue A.

Looming large in upcoming hearings are costs to provide water, sewer and roads to the area of the campus, approved by Seaside School District voters in 2016.

The biggest question mark — and attributable for the largest portion of the budget jump — is the $6 million estimated to be needed for a water tank at the school campus, with $1 million allocated for 2018-19.

At the Jan. 9 Seaside School District school construction oversight meeting, Superintendent Sheila Roley said discussions at the City Council level indicated the city would pay for the water tank and sewer lines for the project. “The city explained they would be responsible for updating the infrastructure which needed to be done anyway,” she said.

“I don’t know where this $6 million is going to come from yet,” Winstanley said Wednesday. “But here is where we start the conversation.”

The city hopes to approve the proposed budget by May 25. Meetings continue on Monday at 6 p.m.; Tuesday at 6 p.m.; and Thursday, May 10 at 4 p.m. A June 25 budget hearing is scheduled to adopt the budget and make appropriations.

The city has seen steady rises in budgeted room tax, liquor and marijuana tax revenues.

The city is estimating a tax base of $3.81 million, an increase of $75,000 from the previous year.

Short-term rental room tax revenue for vacation rentals is proposed to rise to $793,100, more than $100,000 from the year before. This includes money from an increase in the tax from 8 percent to 10 percent, along with revenue from an agreement with Airbnb.

The city is on track to collect about $770,000 in vacation rental room tax for 2017-18.

The city expects to receive in more than $5 million for hotel and motel room tax, slightly up from 2017-18.

Marijuana is budgeted at $82,000, more than five times the amount budgeted in 2017-18.

The city pulled in about $118,000 in taxes on retail cannabis sales in a period of five quarters.

Liquor tax receipts see a slight jump from 2017-18, from $104,000 to $108,000.

Police officer salaries comprise $791,000 of the public safety budget, about a 5 percent increase from last year attributable to the addition of new officers. Salaries of the police chief, lieutenant and four sergeants also saw year-to-year increases.