Mayor Highlights Both Financial Successes and Concerns in State of the City Address

Sierra Madre Mayor Joe Mosca put the spotlight on city finances during his State of the City address Monday night.  Mosca credited the Utility Users Tax, steady property values and state and federal grants for the city's balanced general fund.

"In fact, it's not only balanced, but we have a surplus," Mosca said. "At the end of this fiscal year, which is ending in June, we will have put in more money into the general fund reserve." Mosca went on to say that the general fund surplus would soon equal "more than 50 percent of the annual general fund expenditures."

Mosca cited several reasons for this financial state which he said was much better than that of many surrounding cities. First of all was the Utility Users Tax, which Sierra Madre voters passed in order to pay for rising public safety costs.

"That increase has been very steady stream of revenue for the city and it has allowed us to keep paying for public safety expenditures, which was growing and we weren't able to keep paying for that," he said.

The Mayor also cited a relatively steady stream of revenue from property and sales taxes as a reason for the city's solvency.

"A lot of the cities that have problems, they have been receiving large sums of sales tax," he said. "Sierra Madre has never had that much in sales taxes so we've never spent all that much more."

Instead, Mosca cited stable property values within the city for a steady stream of revenue flowing into the general fund.

"75 percent of cities in Los Angeles county have experienced devaluation in property values; Sierra Madre's have actually gone up," Mosca said.

But all was not rosy in the Mayor's outlook for the financial future. Concerns about Governor Jerry Brown's proposal to eliminate Community Redevelopment Agencies were at the forefront of the Mayor's list of negatives, along with other assistance from grant programs that may be cut off as county, state and federal governments tighten their budgetary belts.

We have a balanced budget, but the general fund revenues remain flat and are not keeping pace with inflation," Mosca said. That problem, coupled with "really rapid increases in pension costs, healthcare costs an energy costs" means that the city may have difficulty maintaining a balanced budget, much less a surplus, going forward.

Mayor Mosca spoke in front of residents who packed into the newly-renovated Sierra Madre room at the Youth Activity Center, which was also one of the past year's projects he praised during the speech. The speech was preceded by a performance by third graders from and an introduction by Mayor Pro Tem John Buchanan.