California State Auditor’s Assessment Reveals Inadequate Cost-Cutting Measures in Ongoing Expenses

El Cerrito, California, informed the State Auditor that it planned to implement a fiscal recovery plan by summer 2021, including elements from the Auditor’s report. However, the city’s plans failed to effectively reduce ongoing costs. Their corrective action plan lacks a focused strategy for spending cuts, even though their five-year forecast acknowledges the need for significant reductions starting in fiscal year 2021–22, without detailing specific actions. Subsequent forecasts were also silent on specific actions.

El Cerrito does not expect to complete a salary and compensation study until February 2024 and believes it has limited capacity to conduct such a study. The city expressed about the cost but hasn’t addressed other recommended preliminary actions, like analyzing its organizational structure and current staff duties.

The Auditor suggested conducting these analyses before hiring a consultant for the compensation study, but this was not done. As a result, El Cerrito has a higher staff-per-capita ratio than neighboring cities and across the state, straining its operational budget and inflating pension costs.

El Cerrito’s reluctance to perform a compensation study and related analyses hinders its ability to cut costs. Additionally, the city has not effectively managed spending in areas like salary increases for management. The audit revealed that certain management salaries exceeded city schedules and were higher than similar positions in nearby cities. Despite this, El Cerrito delayed considering the elimination of this salary increase process until after the compensation study, even though the audit provided clear evidence questioning the necessity of this process.

Here is how you can help:

• Share this post with other residents.
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• Attend the monthly Financial Advisory Board meetings in person.
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• Voice your concerns with the Council.
• Council meetings are remote and in-person, but public comment is now limited to in-person attendees.

If you want to contact City Council Members or the City Managers, all their emails are below:

• Karen Pinkos-City Manager kpinkos@ci.el-cerrito.ca.us
• Councilperson Gabe Quinto gquinto@ci.el-cerrito.ca.us
• Councilperson Carolyn Wysinger cywysinger@ci.el-cerrito.ca.us
• Councilperson Tessa Rudnick trudnick@ci.el-cerrito.ca.us
• Mayor Lisa Motoyama lmotoyama@ci.el-cerrito.ca.us
• Councilperson Paul Fadelli pfadelli@ci.el-cerrito.ca.us