Contra Costa County Grand Jury
• 2012-2013
A Report by the 2011-2012 Contra Costa County Grand Jury
⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.
⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
Findings and Recommendations 9 findings
F1
The budget process, government accounting systems, and financial statements provided to the public are complex and not readily understandable to most residents trying to assess the fiscal health of their city.
Related Recommendations (2)
R4
The city should consider adjusting its reporting process to include additional indicators of fiscal health in an easily accessible and understandable format.
R5
The city should consider creating a dashboard of fiscal health indicators on its website.
F2
Review of examples of financial reports from cities made it clear that despite the intent for transparency and full disclosure, the documents were often difficult to understand.
Related Recommendations (2)
R4
The city should consider adjusting its reporting process to include additional indicators of fiscal health in an easily accessible and understandable format.
R5
The city should consider creating a dashboard of fiscal health indicators on its website.
F3
Comparing the financial health of cities is difficult based only on information currently available to the public.
No recommendations for this finding
F4
Not all cities have approved reserve policies or guidelines in place, making use of reserve levels for an assessment of financial health incomplete.
No recommendations for this finding
F5
Cities have differing definitions and measures of reserves, which may prevent meaningful comparisons between the cities on this gauge of financial health.
No recommendations for this finding
F6
It was often impossible to verify whether a city was meeting its reserve level policy using publicly available numbers, definitions, and guidance.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
The city should provide its city council and residents with a budget to actual performance comparison and the status of unrestricted reserves on a quarterly basis. Contra Costa County Grand Jury Report 1213
F7
Some cities have had difficulty maintaining GFOA minimum recommended levels of unrestricted reserves, whether or not they had approved policies requiring maintenance of defined levels.
No recommendations for this finding
F8
A city's ability to respond to future shortfalls may be impaired if it lacks a reserve policy containing specific plans for restoring reserves to a minimum required level.
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
The city should consider having a reserve policy that addresses recommended minimum unrestricted reserve levels, the processes for drawing down reserves, and the process for replacing reserves when they are below the recommended level.
F9
There are other key financial indicators in addition to levels of reserves that could provide a better picture of a city's financial health.
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
To increase financial transparency, the city should consider disclosing to the public the following key indicators of financial health: days cash available, working capital and ratio of retirement obligations to general fund revenue.
No Responses Found 19
Government entities assigned to respond to this report. No response documents have been linked in our database.
Antioch
City
Brentwood
City
Clayton
City
Concord
City
El Cerrito
City
Hercules
City
Lafayette
City
Martinez
City
Moraga
City
Oakley
City
Orinda
City
Pinole
City
Pittsburg
City
Pleasant Hill
City
Richmond
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San Pablo
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San Ramon
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Town of Danville
Town
Walnut Creek
City