The city of Compton wins the laggard award for Los Angeles County’s 88 cities in releasing its June 30, 2021, annual comprehensive financial report (ACFR). It was completed by its auditing firm on May 8 and presented to its city council on June 4 of this year. The customary completion date by the outside independent...
For the 12 months ending on June 30, 2022, the coronavirus lockdown by California Gov. Gavin Newsom was still in effect. His implementation of this lengthy and heavy-handed measure would be in place for another eight months. But, in March 2022, the Federal Reserve Board made the first of 11 interest rate hikes to slow...
The second fiscal year after the implementation of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s coronavirus lockdown for San Diego County’s 18 cities saw Del Mar bounce back up in fiscal rankings (see “City of San Diego Fell Behind $191 Million in First Year of Pandemic,” May 15, 2024). The fiscal year ending June 30, 2021, also saw the...
“With California’s very late publication last month, all 50 states have now produced audited financial reports for their 2022 fiscal year,” writes Cato’s Marc Joffe. The news for California is not good: despite the nation’s highest marginal income tax rate and punishing business taxes and fees, the Golden State ranks 43 in financial health. Joffe...
The California State Controller released the audit of California’s financial statements, performed by the State Auditor for the year ending June 30, 2022, on March 15. The annual comprehensive financial report should have been issued some 15 months sooner. Looking at the document, we are immediately informed on the first page of the Report Overview...
When it comes to the reporting of the accounting of our 50 states, two main concerns can be observed. The first is the delinquency rate of several states. For the fiscal year June 30, 2022, 20 states released their audited financial statements within six months. There are four states that deviate from the norm, with...
The state of California has 58 counties and 482 cities. To provide manageable fiscal rankings, I’ve divided the state into eight regions, closely following the districts established by Caltrans. The Bay Area, Caltrans District 4, has 101 cities. The rankings for 2020 are compared to those of 2019 in the graph below. For an explanation...
Having served on the California State Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee during my six years in Sacramento, I was recently challenged to take a closer look at Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget. I started with his Jan. 10, 2024, budget message to the members of the California State Legislature. I was not amused. It...
Using a simple metric, only six Inland Empire cities in California saw much movement in the fiscal rankings of its 52 cities for the year ending June 30, 2020 compared to the previous year (see “Every City in the Inland Empire Ranked According to Financial Health,” June 30, 2023). The majority stayed pretty much in...
During my business career as a Certified Public Accountant and Certified Financial Planner, I also served on a credit counseling nonprofit board and advised those who were deep in debt on a plan toward becoming fiscally sound again. During a good financial year, these individuals needed to dramatically reduce their existing debts. The unexpected bonus...
It’s impressive how many different preferences people can have. Although bottled water is ubiquitous today, in the late 1970s, those living a conspicuous lifestyle purchased bottled water, like Perrier, to show off their success and affluence, while emphasizing healthy living practices and hygiene. Most business offices had a water cooler and were willing to pay...
The city of Westminster is pursuing the easy road to address its continuing fiscal mismanagement, again. It’s asking its residents to approve yet another sales tax increase, the second in the last two years. It’s much easier to tell those voting in Westminster that there will be more potholes and less public safety if they...
California has 482 cities and towns. They provide audited financial statements of their fiscal status every year, just like publicly traded companies and most businesses and nonprofits of significant stature. Finance hawks celebrated when the California State Auditor established a dashboard to review the fiscal status of the state’s cities and towns. The cheering subsided...
The city of Huntington Park, California has finally released its Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) for the year ending June 30, 2020. The audit by external independent auditors was finally completed on Aug. 10, but was not released until Dec. 5. Thus, Huntington Park won the race for dead last in transparency and accountability among...