Napa County Grand Jury • 2018-2019

St. Helena - a Small Town With Big City Problems

Published: June 25, 2019 16 pages
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Findings and Recommendations 10 findings

F1
The City’s financial forecasting is not performed by an actuary, thereby leaving the results suspect. It is not reasonably possible to do five-year financial planning without accurate revenue and expense data and forecasts.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
Prior to the issuance of the 2020-2030 CIP, the City should engage an experienced outside actuarial firm, or assign a qualified member of City Staff, to generate a professionally appropriate Long-Range Financial Forecast, for the fiscal years beginning July 1, 2020 and thereafter.
F2
The City’s Capital Improvement Plan does not list amounts to be expended for the Water and Wastewater Enterprise projects mandated by federal, state, and local authorities. The Upper York Creek Dam, Bell Canyon Reservoir, and Wastewater projects have been on the CIP docket for many years, without beginning construction or making other material forward progress toward their completion.
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
The City should adopt a system that prioritizes payments for projects mandated by federal, state, or local authorities, to go into effect no later than the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2020. This mandate should provide that lesser projects cannot subvert any prioritized projects. Projects that are mandated by law (i.e. Upper York Creek Dam and Wastewater Plant retrofit) should be assigned to a City Council member for oversight and project management to completion. This Council member should be required to provide regular periodic status reports to all St. Helena citizens.
F3
The various projects facing the City place tremendous time and expertise burdens on City Staff. City Staff lacks specific expertise to manage some of these complicated dam and reservoir projects.
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
No later than the Fiscal Year beginning July 1, 2020, the City should adhere to its Capital Improvement Plans.
F4
The City has not adhered to its own Capital Improvement Plans for the previous 10 years. This is especially notable concerning how few of the major projects—listed repeatedly in the CIPs over these years—have been completed.
Related Recommendations (1)
R4
For the larger and more complex projects such as Bell Canyon Reservoir, Upper York Creek Dam, and the Wastewater Plant retrofit, the City should consider hiring or otherwise engaging the services of an outside project manager to oversee the project, in order to lessen the burden on City Staff and assure a timely and appropriate outcome for the project completion. These assignments should take place commensurate with the start of the July 1, 2020 budget year.
F5
The City’s Water and Wastewater Enterprise rates are suspect, due to an inaccurate water and wastewater rate report.34
Related Recommendations (1)
R5
The City should review and implement the findings in the new Water Rate study, on or before June 30, 2020, and thereafter review then-current and relevant engineering and rate studies to determine appropriate multi-tiered Water and Wastewater rates.
F6
The SHAPE Committee recommendations to the City did not include the less- expensive options in the SHAPE Committee Report.
Related Recommendations (1)
R6
In accordance with the new Water Rates, and no later than June 30, 2020, the City should identify, review, and renegotiate all water contracts with commercial and residential users located inside and outside the City limits. All such rates and contracts should be identified publicly to all City taxpayers and residents.
F7
On a regular basis, the City’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report has not funded the cost of deferred asset maintenance, which has left its physical assets in disrepair.
Related Recommendations (1)
R7
The City should follow and seriously consider the findings in the current LAFCO municipal services review, cited in the Water Quality Report by this 2018-2019 Grand Jury published June 14, 2019.
F8
The cost of the City’s ‘City Attorney’ is remarkably higher than comparable small cities in Northern California.
Related Recommendations (1)
R8
The City should reconsider the proposed City Hall project, on or before June 30, 2020. The estimated costs and sources for funding the proposed City Hall project should be included on the most current Capital Improvement Plan docket and 15 Long-Range Financial Forecast. Emphasis should be placed on possible use of the City’s existing real property assets as “City Hall” offices.
F9
There is no budgeted or written method for dealing with the City’s unfunded pension liabilities, as reported to the City in the Bartel & Associates Report.
Related Recommendations (1)
R9
Beginning in the 2020-2021 Fiscal Year beginning July 1, 2020, and continuing thereafter, the City should allocate a designated percentage of the General Fund each year for additional payments toward its unfunded liabilities to CalPERS as well as deferred maintenance costs for City real property assets.
F10
The City’s residents are not adequately informed of the financial impact of decisions made by the City Council and City Staff. As reported in the St. Helena Star on May 29, 2019, a dispute with the consultant for part of this report recently has been settled for ~$1 Million. https://tinyurl.com/y638xapl . 14
Related Recommendations (1)
R10
Beginning with the fiscal year commencing on July 1, 2020, as the City hires additional full-time personnel, such as new full-time firefighters, the City should recalculate the effect of such hires on unfunded pension liabilities to CalPERS and include those new liabilities in the allocated budget.

Additional Recommendations 2

These recommendations are not explicitly linked to specific findings.

No Responses Found 1

Government entities assigned to respond to this report. No response documents have been linked in our database.

St. Helena City