Press Releases Share Print #20-015 Carson City Council Adopts $86.9 Million Budget ‘Saving Millions’ for Fiscal Year 2020-2021 Forward On June 16, 2020, Mayor Albert Robles and the Carson City Council adopted a balanced $86.9 million budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2020-21 that maintains the City’s reserves at $35 million or 40% of the operating budget. This is the fifth consecutive year that the City of Carson has approved its budget on-time, the first time since November 2015. This sound fiscal management has been recognized by the bond rating agencies with an improved bond rating from our prior rating of A- on January 2016 and with the re-certification of the higher rate during the most recent bond rating evaluation last month. Just as importantly, the new City Budget continues investing in the Capital Improvement Program, maintenance and operations, and law enforcement at the current levels or higher without any staff layoffs. Also, significant is that, unlike most other local governments that are struggling to pay off their unfunded pension obligations, the City of Carson is one of the few cities to be able to claim it has paid this debt to CalPERS – and at a savings of $47.3 million.The Budget was balanced using prudent fiscal measures to reduce costs without impacting the level of service to our residents and the community, while also benefiting from the fruits of sound budget management decisions implemented before this unprecedented global pandemic induced a depression-like economy. As a result of these judicious decisions, the City of Carson is in an enviable position compared to many municipalities who find themselves in worse fiscal health and with fewer tools to close their deficits, and are forced to cut payroll and/or community services.In the midst of this global pandemic, civil unrest and an unstable economy, Mayor Albert Robles and the Carson City Council have used wise fiscal planning and strong Council involvement to assure that the City of Carson remains stable and financially healthy during these unprecedented times.Mayor Albert Robles is confident that Carson is headed in the right direction. “The belt has been tightened and as we monitor revenues and expenditure going forward, further reductions in spending will be made as needed. My colleagues and I have approved a fiscally conservative budget but our work is not done. We will also seek to identify other potential revenue sources for the City.” said Mayor Robles.In addition, the City has a year-to-date $32 million Capital Improvement Program (CIP), of which 70% or $22 million has been secured with no impact to the City’s General Fund. “We will be aggressively looking for additional Federal and State funding to further improve our City’s infrastructure,” added Mayor Robles.Carson is one of a very few cities in California to have paid off its “unfunded pension liability”. Using Pension Obligation Bonds as a budget management tool, the City reduced costs it would have otherwise be incurring over the next 20 years by $47.3 million. And, for the budget that was just approved, Carson was able to reduce costs by about $6 million to counter a large portion of the anticipated decrease in revenues that resulted from the impact of the pandemic on the economy.Another factor that was a positive contribution to our budget was Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services maintaining its AA- on the Carson Public Financing Authority’s Pension Obligation Bonds. This excellent rating reflects their view of the City’s strong financial performance even in the current state of the economy. Standard and Poor’s is the largest of the Big Three credit-rating agencies, which also includes Moody’s Investment Service and Fitch Ratings. “Passing a sound balanced budget consistently on time sends a very positive message to investors and new businesses that Carson is fiscally responsible and, as such, our future is indeed unlimited and Carson is the right place to invest and do business,” added Robles, “consistent with Carson’s founding motto Future Unlimited.”
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