The last edition spotlighted the Need for Guard Rails. This edition highlights DEEP DENIAL: More than Guard Rails Needed. El Cerrito Council members have already missed and plan to miss future opportunities to address community challenges because they opted for an abbreviated summer schedule. According to the National League of Cities, local legislators and councilmembersContinue reading “Deep Denial; More Guard Rails Needed”
Category Archives: Financial Crisis
Time For The Guard Rails
The last blog focused on Deceit: How City Leadership Has Repeatedly Misled the Community. Today’s blog is titled Time For The Guardrails! The competing goals are playing themselves out as the volunteer three-member Financial Advisory Board tries to implement a policy for the General Reserve Fund for the City. What are these goals? Obviously, theContinue reading “Time For The Guard Rails”
MORE TAXPAYER MONEY, PLEASE
The last blog focused on the unbalanced budget and the eminent use of general fund reserves to balance the budget. This episode spotlights on MORE TAXPAYER MONEY, PLEASE. When finding a solution to the operating crisis facing El Cerrito, the only plan coming from City leaders is more taxes. That’s not a plan, but unlimitedContinue reading “MORE TAXPAYER MONEY, PLEASE”
Low Voter Turnout
Low voter turnout has allowed Gabe Quinto to keep his seat on the Council. As readers of this blog will likely surmise, this author is not pleased. Akin to a few other Contra Costa County results like the Sherriff’s and County Assessor’s races, El Cerrito lacks accountability, transparency and humanity in El Cerrito. Even so,Continue reading “Low Voter Turnout”
El Cerrito Election Links
There is still time to vote! Do you need to cram to catch up on the issues? If so, this post is for you! You can find many of the essential links here. Enjoy! Web pages Vanessa Warheit’s web page Vanessa Warheit’s YouTube Channel Carolyn Wysinger’s web page Gabe Quinto’s web page Disclosures El CerritoContinue reading “El Cerrito Election Links“
Conflict of Interest
In this town, things are getting worse. They have scheduled an event titled “Lunch with El Cerrito’s Mayor and City Manager,” where members of the public join them to have a conversation with Mayor Gabe Quinto and City Manager Karen Pinkos on the latest happenings in the City of El Cerrito, and what’s next forContinue reading “Conflict of Interest”
Press Release Gone Bad
Last week, the Council Members posted on social media. Then the City of El Cerrito issued a press release claiming victory over the financial crisis. Still, the State Auditor and the East Bay Times disagreed. On October 24, 2022, the East Bay Times article here said, “While this is the first year the cityContinue reading “Press Release Gone Bad”
Will El Cerrito ever address the state auditor recommendations?
After passing a budget with no real cuts (except to seniors) in June the City Council will only meet once a month in July, August, and September (as per usual) because there is not hurry when you are on the verge of bankruptcy. While Albany City Staff are preparing recommendations on how to spend theContinue reading “Will El Cerrito ever address the state auditor recommendations?”
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”
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.”
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”
El Cerrito budget crisis-How did we get here?
We have put together a slide show with a video to help explain more about the El Cerrito Budget Crisis.
Looking backwards-El Cerrito did not get into a 5.5 million dollar hole yesterday. Part Two of Two
El Cerrito is in the midst of a major financial crisis. This the second of two blog posts addressing four issues we have found with how El Cerrito has managed it’s financial issues for years. Please refer back to the first post here and that post has the references used here also. NO LONG TERMContinue reading “Looking backwards-El Cerrito did not get into a 5.5 million dollar hole yesterday. Part Two of Two”
Looking backwards-El Cerrito did not get into a 5.5 million dollar hole yesterday. Part One of Two
El Cerrito is in the midst of a major financial crisis. In October 2019 the State Auditor stated that El Cerrito was #7 on the list of CA cities most likely to go bankrupt. The issue was so serious that the auditor got state approval to do a full audit of El Cerrito. Unfortunately dueContinue reading “Looking backwards-El Cerrito did not get into a 5.5 million dollar hole yesterday. Part One of Two”
El Cerrito is in a major financial crisis-major cuts proposed
Today the city of El Cerrito put out a packet for the planned budget meeting June 9th at 1pm. The Consultants were brutally honest. The link is here. I will copy some slides below but it is really important to view the entire packet. The consultants call out that El Cerrito was in a fiscalContinue reading “El Cerrito is in a major financial crisis-major cuts proposed”
Library Hours on the Cutting Block but not high staff salaries
Notes Regarding City Council Meeting on April 21, 2020 There are two meetings on the 21st. The first is a Labor Negotiations meeting with Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1021; El Cerrito Police Employees Association; United Professional Firefighters Local 1230; Public Safety Management Association Battalion Chief, Fire Chief, Police Chief, and Police Management;Continue reading “Library Hours on the Cutting Block but not high staff salaries”
Key decisions coming soon: Make your voices heard!
Today we have a post by another member of the group. Whatever your opinions are we encourage you to make your voice heard! Information on public comment for the April 21st meeting are at the bottom of the page. I will post with information on agenda items prior to the meeting on the 21st. AtContinue reading “Key decisions coming soon: Make your voices heard!”
El Cerrito on the verge of bankruptcy but the City Council is putting off cuts until September.
I get it. We are all at home trying to do our best and survive this crisis. The last thing people want to be thinking about is local politics. However, this national crisis has only exacerbated what was already a VERY BAD situation in El Cerrito. So action needs to be taken. El Cerrito facesContinue reading “El Cerrito on the verge of bankruptcy but the City Council is putting off cuts until September.”
El Cerrito is in Financial Crisis and Residents need to step up their game
California State Auditor Elaine Howle ranks El Cerrito the 7th most financially high-risk city in California, the most at-risk Bay Area city, and the city whose General Fund condition is worst in the state. On February 26, the State of California Approved her recommendation to audit El Cerrito. Once ranked AA-, our bond rating declinedContinue reading “El Cerrito is in Financial Crisis and Residents need to step up their game”
El Cerrito Committee for Responsible Government (ECCRG) 