San Mateo County Grand Jury
• 2012-2013
An Inconvenient Truth About the County’s Structural Deficit Summary | Glossary | Background | Methodology | Discussion
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⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
Findings and Recommendations 10 findings
F1
The County’s “structural deficit” is created solely because the County chooses not to recognize all anticipated revenues in a given fiscal year.
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
The Grand Jury recommends that the County’s Board of Supervisors do the following:
Refrain from stating that the County has or will have a deficit, structural or otherwise, unless it has taken into account all resources, including, without limitation, Excess ERAF, in making its calculation.
F2
The public is best served when the County includes in the budget all anticipated revenues, and not just some.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
The Grand Jury recommends that the County’s Board of Supervisors do the following:
Report in the budget as “resources” all revenues it anticipates receiving in a fiscal year, including, without limitation, Excess ERAF.
F3
In practice, the County has not restricted the use of Excess ERAF to one-time expenditures.
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
The Grand Jury recommends that the County’s Board of Supervisors do the following:
If the Board is concerned that Excess ERAF may be taken away or reduced by the state, it should budget Excess ERAF for only the following purposes: a. Capital projects such as acquisition of real property and construction of, or major improvements to, buildings b. Payment of County obligations with a finite life, other than bonded indebtedness, such as SamCERA’s unfunded liability or other post-employment benefits. c. Similar “one-time” expenditures
F4
Excess ERAF is not “one-time” money.
No recommendations for this finding
F5
The County can address concerns regarding the potential loss of Excess ERAF by limiting the purposes for which it is spent.
No recommendations for this finding
F6
The County is in good financial condition since it has not had an actual deficit since at least FY 2003 and its primary government net assets have increased for each of the past 10 fiscal years.
No recommendations for this finding
F7
County officials had the facts in hand prior to the June 5, 2012, election to know that there would be an actual surplus for FY 2012 but did not publicize this fact.
No recommendations for this finding
F8
County officials had the facts in hand prior to the November 6, 2012, election to know that there was an actual surplus for FY 2012 and that the budget for FY 2013 was balanced, but did not publicize these facts.
No recommendations for this finding
F9
County officials did not adequately inform the public of the County’s true financial condition prior to the June 5 or November 6, 2012, elections.
Related Recommendations (1)
R4
The Grand Jury recommends that the County’s Board of Supervisors do the following:
Be completely transparent with regard to any claim that the County has or will incur a deficit, structural or otherwise.
F10
The public is best served if the Board, as the governing body of the County, as opposed to individual Supervisors, adopts a ballot argument in favor of measures it submits to voters for approval. 27 http://sanmateo.siretechnologies.com/sirepub/mtgviewer.aspx?meetid=104&doctype=MINUTES (May 9, 2013). 28 http://sanmateo.siretechnologies.com/sirepub/cache/2/xwwp5ks01xkrjo4wc5ssswf2/1866105092013123303768.PD F (May 9, 2013). 29 https://www.shapethefuture.org/elections/results/2012/nov/official/NOV12_Final1203.pdf (May 26, 2013). 11
Related Recommendations (1)
R5
The Grand Jury recommends that the County’s Board of Supervisors do the following:
Adopt a procedure with respect to a measure it submits for voter approval that proposes to increase, extend, or impose a tax, fee, or other revenue raising means that: a. Informs the public of the most current assessment of the County’s deficit or surplus condition after accounting for all anticipated revenues, including Excess ERAF. b. Requires the Board to exercise its best efforts to adopt a budget argument in favor of the measure and, if approved, submit the same to the County’s Chief Elections Officer for inclusion in the appropriate Sample Ballot.
No Responses Found 1
Government entities assigned to respond to this report. No response documents have been linked in our database.
San Mateo County Board of Supervisors
Elected County Office