A week before Thanksgiving, Napa Mayor Jill Techel and Napa City Manager Mike Parness met with the Register editorial board to discuss the economic outlook for the city. Here are some highlights from the meeting:

•    Overall picture: Relatively sunny and mild, with storms on the horizon. City spending is on target with budget projections, revenue slightly down. Bright spots include the hotel tax and tax revenue from gasoline sales.

Trouble brews in other sales tax categories, especially general merchandise, which had begun to dip when the city compiled its July-through-August figures but are now declining more steeply.

Parness and Techel  noted that Napa, less dependent on new residential development than some neighboring cities, is doing comparatively well. Even so, Parness said, “We are not immune from the downturn in the economy. Revenues are being impacted.”

•   What’s next: Watch and wait. The city is not planning cuts in staff or services or dips into reserves, but is planning to plan for them if the next set of financial figures shows significant declines. Parness said it will be important to parse whether the negative news everyone is girding for appears to be for short-term or long-term pain before deciding how the city should respond.

It is worth noting that city leaders went through what appears to be a dry run for a budget scale-back just last year.

•   The plight of Copia: Uncertain. “They were a catalyst to bringing a lot of investment to the area,” said Techel. She added that watching the financial turmoil of the seven-year-old wine and food center is “hard to see … I’m proud of Copia. Proud to have that facility here.”

As for the future of Copia’s

12-acre riverfront site, which is for sale, Parness said “there is no (acquisition) offer coming from the city anytime soon.” He and Techel said the plans of any prospective new owner will go through a thorough planning process to make sure it is not out-of-character with the area and is compatible with the city’s long-term plans for the downtown core.

•   Local-serving retail: Unsteady. Parness and Techel expressed concern for the small businesses struggling in Napa, and the city has launched a $100,000-plus marketing and retailer-recruiting project  that may pay dividends.

The fact that the Riverpark Center has more than one owner complicates a remake of that key South Napa center, Parness said, and the city hopes the Soscol Gateway Redevelopment plan creates new opportunities for local-serving retailers and services.

•   The presidential election: Promising. “There is new hope in Washington for us,” Techel said. “We have a Democratic congressman and Democratic senators. That makes it a plus for us.”

The city hopes the Democratic control here and in Washington results in increased federal funds for flood control and other local infrastructure goes.

Noting President-elect Obama’s proposal for a major federal investment in infrastructure and the many projects in process locally, Parness said, “We think that we could gain if that’s the way the administration goes.”