Author Archives: Citizen

THE CAFR is out and it ain’t pretty

The city’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report was posted today. I am going to report on what stood out to me in no particular order. 1. On page 10 (all page numbers correspond to the pdf page number) it states that city management began to tackle financial issues in 2020. This made me laugh since 2017Continue reading “THE CAFR is out and it ain’t pretty”

The Do Nothing Council is Trying to Do Something!

This meeting was a study session on the budget. The packet can be found here. The Finance Director presented all the worksheets and then stated that the city needed to make cuts between the $664,000 end of the year predicted earlier versus the $303,000 currently predicted. First Councilperson Rudnick brought up the idea of cutting moreContinue reading “The Do Nothing Council is Trying to Do Something!”

City Council Meeting February 2, 2021 The Mid-Year Budget Amendment

The next city council meeting is next Tuesday at 7 pm (2/2/21). On the agenda (item 7A) is a mid-year budget review. The packet is found here and the budget information starts on page 12. It is my understanding that this meeting will be a study session and any actions will be at the following meeting. HereContinue reading “City Council Meeting February 2, 2021 The Mid-Year Budget Amendment”

Do Nothing City Council-Does Nothing-First meeting January 19, 2021

The agenda is out for the next city council meeting. THERE IS NOTHING ON THE AGENDA ABOUT FINANCES!!!!!! I want to keep the blog family-friendly but WTF!!!!!! Seriously! They take a month off during a massive financial crisis plus pandemic and they can’t even have a new financial forecast. The last one was 12/15/2020 andContinue reading “Do Nothing City Council-Does Nothing-First meeting January 19, 2021”

What could a transparent El Cerrito look like?

It is a new year and we have a new city council. Paul Fadelli is our new Mayor. Council-People Lisa Motoyama and Tessa Rudnick have been sworn in replacing Greg Lyman and Rochelle-Pardue-Okimoto. Janet Abelson and Gabe Quinto remain on the council and will be up for election in 2022. I have been highly criticalContinue reading “What could a transparent El Cerrito look like?”

Financial Advisory Board Meeting 12/8/2020

This are the questions I had coming into this meeting, The comments are based on both on the November cash flow and the reports available for Aug/Sept/Oct Comments I am deeply concerned about the revenue for other services and the ever-deepening gap. We will be under restrictions at a minimum through the first quarter ofContinue reading “Financial Advisory Board Meeting 12/8/2020”

10 Things you should know about El Cerrito’s financial crisis

Many more people have been engaging in dialogue around the state of El Cerrito’s finances. People want to know how we got here. Here are some essential facts you may not know. Starting in 2016-17, our independent auditor warned that the city might not continue to be a “going concern,” meaning it was at riskContinue reading “10 Things you should know about El Cerrito’s financial crisis”

City Council wants to quickly extend the City Managers Contract by two years

So the City Council, which has been unable to move quickly on an financial issue, is moving rapidly to extend the City Managers contract until December of 2023. Her current contract expires December 2021. The negotiators Councilperson Quinto and Mayor Lyman have not asked the City Manager to make any real concessions as the cityContinue reading “City Council wants to quickly extend the City Managers Contract by two years”

Do Nothing City Council continues to do nothing even as the State moves El Cerrito to #6 on the state high risk list

Today the State Auditor released their annual list of cities at high risk of financial difficulties. This list is based on FY 18/19 figures which was a better year for many municipalities. However, El Cerrito dropped from #7 to #6 largely based on lack of reserves (El Cerrito not only has no reserve but owesContinue reading “Do Nothing City Council continues to do nothing even as the State moves El Cerrito to #6 on the state high risk list”

Things to know about the 20/21 budget

After my last post lamenting the lack of information from the city I tried one more time to get information from the Mayor and he too said just look at the budget book. It’s all there. But it’s not. There is not a clear spelling out of the cuts made as shown here. Check out theContinue reading “Things to know about the 20/21 budget”

City Council and Staff refuse to give basic information

I follow the budget pretty closely. I read the materials put online and try to translate them for the average resident who is interested but not able to dig through all the documents. I have been trying for months to get a detailed answer as to the budget cuts that have been made thus far.Continue reading “City Council and Staff refuse to give basic information”

We are alarmed but refuse to take action-City Council meeting 10/20/2020

But they refuse to take action! Councilperson Pardue-Okimoto was once again the lone voice saying make cuts now. As you can see from the below statement included in the packet we are at 11% of revenues with 25% of the year completed. Now there is an issue with the city getting our Transfer Tax moneyContinue reading “We are alarmed but refuse to take action-City Council meeting 10/20/2020”

The City Staff continues to “monitor the deficit” as our revenue projections are way off.

The packet is out for the meeting on October 20, 2020. It is a shorter agenda with the financial reporting agenda item 7-A. The information for this item in the packet starts at page 42. A quote from the section on Revenues. Bold is mine. “The expectations for Charges for Services is  based on historicalContinue reading “The City Staff continues to “monitor the deficit” as our revenue projections are way off.”

More of the same inaction from El Cerrito City Council on the budget-When is enough enough?

The El Cerrito City Council continues to refuse to take real action on the budget. I will start this post by stating that Councilperson Rochelle Pardue-Okimoto was a superstar during the meeting and she would have taken action. I will also be honest and say that I did not watch the entire meeting. I didContinue reading “More of the same inaction from El Cerrito City Council on the budget-When is enough enough?”

The numbers don’t work-El Cerrito Proposed Budget 20/21

I just reviewed the 419-page packet for the City Council meeting on October 6, 2020.I have many questions because the numbers are just not matching. The document starts on page 140 of the packet. In her memo (page 141), Karen Pinkos says the following-(Bold is added by me) “With these adjustments staff is proposing aContinue reading “The numbers don’t work-El Cerrito Proposed Budget 20/21”

Tessa Rudnick’s campaign finance report

I did a prior post on the other candidates campaign finance reports found here. Tessa Rudnick’s report got filed late so that it is the reason it is getting it’s own post. I will say she did reach out to the author and acknowledge that she had missed the deadline and she took responsibility andContinue reading “Tessa Rudnick’s campaign finance report”

El Cerrito City Council Candidate Financial Reports Released

The first filing date for campaign contribution reports was September 24, 2020. Items had to be postmarked by that date so there may still be some additions. Two candidates have not created Campaign Committees so therefore do not need to file. A few things stand out The former City Manager Scott Hanin, a person manyContinue reading “El Cerrito City Council Candidate Financial Reports Released”

City Council-Will You Act Now? Bond ratings drop again

On September 24th El Cerrito’s bond ratings once again dropped. The Sales Tax Revenue bond rating dropped to BBB+ and the CA COP rating dropped to a BBB-. Google what BBB- means and you see that it is one step above junk bond. Yesterday I posted a blog post about how at the last meetingContinue reading “City Council-Will You Act Now? Bond ratings drop again”