Citizen

El Cerrito Finances Continue to Be Poorly Ranked by the CA State Auditor

El Cerrito continues to claim they have solved their financial issues. Every time something around finances comes up they are the first to pat themselves on the back and say the problem is solved. Guess what? The CA State Auditor does not agree. The new Dashboard ranking is out and while El Cerrito has improvedContinue reading “El Cerrito Finances Continue to Be Poorly Ranked by the CA State Auditor”

Councilperson Gabe Quinto’s record on financial issues

An Analysis of the record of El Cerrito Councilmember Gabe Quinto With the election just around the corner, it is time to discuss candidates. As you may have read, we have sent a list of questions to each candidate. We only have one incumbent. For Gabe Quinto, we can analyze his past statements and votesContinue reading “Councilperson Gabe Quinto’s record on financial issues”

Vanessa Warheit answers our questions

Two weeks ago we sent questions to each of the three candidates running for the two open El Cerrito City Council seats. As of today, only one has responded. The deadline is today so perhaps others will respond. For me, the response or non-response is an indicator of how they will respond to constituent concerns. We veryContinue reading “Vanessa Warheit answers our questions”

City Manager Up to Her Tricks again aided by Mayor Quinto

The City Manager and the Mayor set the agenda for each council meeting. Things that are put on the consent calendar get passed all at once. Often this is for items like proclamations etc but in recent El Cerrito history it was also used to pass the September response to the state auditor. Council membersContinue reading “City Manager Up to Her Tricks again aided by Mayor Quinto”

CA State Auditor Response to El Cerrito Report of March 2022

Yesterday the CA State Auditor finally released its response to the El Cerrito March 2022 report. The State Auditor retired earlier this year and thus things are moving slowly. We have been told by their office that they anticipate updating the At Risk Dashboard in October/November. We hope it happens before the election. They areContinue reading “CA State Auditor Response to El Cerrito Report of March 2022”

Asking the 2022 City Council Candidates Some Questions

updated 9/7/22 with Gabe Quintos website. There are three candidates running for two seats on the El Cerrito City Council. They are listed as they will be on the ballot. Carolyn Wysinger: Her website is here Candidate packet is found here. Campaign Disclosures are found here. There are few for you to click on. VanessaContinue reading “Asking the 2022 City Council Candidates Some Questions”

Is the 22/23 Budget Stable?

Last week I wrote a post updating you all on the current status of the budget. I brought up some points that were reiterated in the 8/16/22 Council Meeting. The question I have is this 22/23 budget sustainable and are the forecasts accurate? The first issue is the Transfer Tax. I brought that up inContinue reading “Is the 22/23 Budget Stable?”

We’re Back and El Cerrito’s Budget Process is still a hot mess!

Gosh has it been 10 months since the last post? Holy Moley does time fly? The author of this blog moved out of state and tried hard to move on with their life. But in the past few weeks, they got a few emails begging them to come out of retirement. Or at least focusContinue reading “We’re Back and El Cerrito’s Budget Process is still a hot mess!”

Will the Community Fight For Fiscal Responsibility?-El Cerrito Budget Update Part 3

This is the final part of a three-part series updating residents on activities related to the El Cerrito fiscal crisis. This is the final part of a three-part series updating residents on activities related to the El Cerrito fiscal crisis. In other big news, the Finance Director has resigned and has left the building. WhileContinue reading “Will the Community Fight For Fiscal Responsibility?-El Cerrito Budget Update Part 3”

Will the Community Fight For Fiscal Responsibility-El Cerrito Budget Update Part 2

This is part two of three of the Fall update on what has been happening with the city budget. Today we cover the Ad-Hoc Committee report which includes the report sent to the State Auditor (click the link below) City Council Financial Ad-Hoc Committee Update– Presented by Council Person Rudnick and Motoyama at the Meeting onContinue reading “Will the Community Fight For Fiscal Responsibility-El Cerrito Budget Update Part 2”