Marin Independent Journal Editorial
Posted: 06/12/2011 01:27:00 AM PDT
A SMALL TOWN with two of the region's most popular shopping centers and a large car dealership should not be struggling with the financial problems that Corte Madera faces.
For many years, while other towns coped with budget shortfalls, Corte Madera's fiscal outlook appeared to be rock solid.
The 2010-11 Marin County civil grand jury presents a far different picture. Corte Madera residents should take time to read its scathing report.
The town is not teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, but the grand jury questions the failure of Corte Madera's leaders — especially during better economic times — to amass a general fund reserve that would have come in handy.
The historic recession has taken a toll on Corte Madera's finances, which is hardly a surprise for a town so dependent on sales tax revenue. Its sales tax revenue has plummeted from $5 million in 2003-04 to $3.9 million in 2008-09. To make matters worse, the town has entered into costly investments and failed to build and maintain a prudent reserve.
Most towns try to set aside 10 percent to 15 percent in a reserve fund. Corte Madera's practice has been to maintain a 2 percent reserve, even in years when it could have afforded to sock away much more.
Town officials note that residents typically ask for increased services, street and flood control work or community projects. Few ask the town to stash money in a "rainy day" bank account.
That's a pretty lame excuse for not doing an important part of your job. And some of that spending has put the town in a bind.
Corte Madera bought the Park Madera shopping center for $10 million in 2006 after it was told by its own real estate broker that the property was worth about $8 million. An appraisal prepared for the town after the purchase valued the property at $5.9 million.
Town leaders have defended the purchase as needed to acquire property that could be used to expand the neighboring town park and to build a community center. But the town put up town hall, two fire stations and the shopping center itself as collateral to get financing for the purchase.
Those details should have been fully disclosed and presented to taxpayers before the town entered into such a costly, long-term financial obligation. They were not.
"The genesis of Corte Madera's fiscal problems is rooted in practices that span several decades and a management approach that appears ad hoc instead of long-range, reactive instead of proactive and hopeful instead of strategic," the grand jury concludes.
Ouch.
The grand jury also questions whether the town can afford the pension and retiree health benefits it provides for its employees, among them a pension that allows firefighters to retire and start collecting their pension at age 50 and town-paid health care for retirees and their spouses.
That's the view of this year's grand jury, a court-appointed panel of civic watchdogs. The report is available at www.co.marin.ca.us/depts/gj/main/index.cfm.
It's an assessment that should prompt Corte Madera taxpayers to ask tough questions of their elected leaders.
http://www.marinij.com/opinion/ci_18249831
No comments:
Post a Comment