After months of planning and discussion, Santa Barbara leaders took formal steps Tuesday to run their own city election this fall, and to place a charter amendment on the ballot that would change the election year so they don’t have to do it again.

Normally handled by the county, the massive undertaking of running an election was necessary this year because of cost, leaders say. Santa Barbara County was going to charge about $600,000; the city figured it could run its own election for about half that amount.

The Santa Barbara City Council voted unanimously to spend about $300,000 to run the Nov. 6 election with help from an election consulting firm. The ballot includes three open council seats -- those held by Das Williams, Helene Schneider and Brian Barnwell, who are all seeking reelection.

Hoping to give residents a visual reminder of the effect of global warming, a local nonprofit wants to paint 12-inch high blue lines on Santa Barbara curbs to mark how high water levels would rise if Antarctic ice sheets continue to melt.

“Our children’s grandchildren deserve no less than our total attention to this issue in the coming years,” Bruce Caron, who heads the project for New Media Studio, wrote to the Santa Barbara City Council.

The council will consider the request of New Media’s “Light Blue Line” project at its 2 p.m. meeting Tuesday.

It was standing room only on Thursday night as Buellton residents begged the City Council not to let their small, tranquil, neighborly town triple in size — not now, not later, not ever.

On the agenda was one of the most important decisions to come before the council since Buellton was incorporated 15 years ago: whether to study expanding the city’s “sphere of influence” to include 2,000 acres of farmland and grazing land to the west, north and northeast of the city on either side of Highway 101. Buellton presently covers 1,025 acres and has a population of 4,500.

After nearly three months of deliberations and hours of community meetings, city leaders cheerily approved a spending plan for the next two years that will include a balanced budget for the first time in several years.