A local street sweeping monopoly has Santee officials worried.

One national company recently bought two competitors and wants to charge taxpayers dramatically more money, city leaders said Wednesday at a public meeting.

“Could we think about an antitrust lawsuit?” said Mayor John Minto, apparently as a joke.

Officials are still weighing options, but council members otherwise gave initial approval to a proposed $53.4 million budget for the next fiscal year, which projects the city will bring in several hundred thousand dollars more than it spends.

The budget should remain balanced for at least the next five years, officials said.

“That’s definitely good news,” said finance director Tim McDermott.

The council is scheduled for a final vote June 22.

While street sweeping used to cost taxpayers far less than $200,000 a year, a new contract with the Sweeping Corporation of America would be well over $330,000, a 75 percent increase, officials said.

Part of the reason is a mandate that workers must be paid a “prevailing wage,” which can increase hourly rates.

But the company also appears to be taking advantage of the fact that it bought Cleanstreet Inc. and Pacific Sweeping, according to McDermott and city records.

Representatives for the company did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Other financial news is brighter.

Property and sales tax revenue is up, driven by decent spending during the pandemic and recent home sales in a strong housing market, officials said, and Santee has about $12 million in reserves, more than the legal requirement.

The proposed budget would give all city employees a 3.5 percent raise as well as two stipends, and leaders also want to hire the equivalent of two new full-time positions.

Other new spending includes $1 million for paving roads, more than $260,000 to replace and replenish mulch at playgrounds and dog parks and $67,000 to upgrade a truck with a lift so city staff can install street signs on their own, instead of having to contract with an outside company.

The city also wants to spend around $330,000 on a small fire engine.

The Type VI engine, known as a small brush rig, could go off road with its 250 gallons of water to fight potential fires by the river bed. Council members have repeatedly raised concerns that homeless people may unintentionally ignite the underbrush when lighting fires at night.

Part of the engine’s cost should be covered by a grant from the The San Diego River Conservancy.

Santee leaders also criticized CalPERS, the state pension fund.

Officials said the city must increase the amount it’s paying into retirement funds, partially because people are living longer, but also because some investments have not been as profitable as hoped.

“We’re just paying for their bad decisions,” the mayor said.

A CalPERS spokeswoman said the agency was doing its best to protect people’s money.

“Despite uncertainty in the financial markets for most of this year, we are successfully executing on our investment strategy to achieve strong returns and full funding over the long term,” Amy Morgan wrote in an email.

City leaders also said they were worried long-term about inflation.

“The future is gonna be dim, so we need to put stuff aside,” Vice Mayor Ronn Hall said.

Lemon Grove is similarly considering raises for staff, though that city is more concerned that low paychecks are hurting its ability to retain staff.

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