Score: +18
(18/0/0)
Sacramento County Grand Jury
• 2024-2025
On the Brink of Bankruptcy:
⚠️ 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 Grand Jury finds the Isleton City Council repeatedly failed to timely adopt final budgets denying the City the necessary tool to track and assess its financial position. (R1)
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
The Grand Jury recommends the City Council annually adopt a final budget, including a separate accounting for restricted funds, no later than June 30 for the coming fiscal year, beginning with Fiscal Year 2026-2027. (F1)
F2
The Grand Jury finds the Isleton City Council violated state law and the City’s own municipal code by not ensuring the completion of an annual independent audit in a timely manner, which created an obstacle to securing grants and resulted in the loss of revenues for the city. (R2)
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
The Grand Jury recommends the City Council ensure an independent annual audit of City operations and accounting occurs no later than 6 months following the end of the fiscal year, and that the City work with a licensed CPA with experience in municipal accounting, to conduct missing audits by March 30, 2026. (F2)
F3
The Grand Jury finds the lack of oversight of the City Manager resulted in delayed discovery of the violation of state laws relating to misusing and comingling restricted funds. (R3)
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
The Grand Jury recommends the City Council require the City Treasurer to ensure restricted funds are segregated (rather than co-mingled) and create and implement a plan with the City auditor to account for restricted funds, with progress reports every quarter, beginning no later than December 31, 2025. (F3)
F4
The Grand Jury finds members of the City Council did not adequately monitor the City’s finances, thereby contributing to a state of serious indebtedness. (R4)
Related Recommendations (1)
R4
The Grand Jury recommends the City Council continue to closely monitor the City’s financial position and assess whether bankruptcy or disincorporation is in the best interest of the residents of Isleton, and report out on their conclusion in a public meeting by December 31, 2025. (F4)
F5
The Grand Jury finds the City Council failed to provide appropriate oversight of the City’s cannabis program to ensure collection of revenues and timely review of compliance with conditional use permits, thereby resulting in a loss of revenue to the City. (R5)
Related Recommendations (1)
R5
The Grand Jury recommends the City Council enforce its ordinances related to cannabis enterprises, beginning no later than December 31, 2025. (F5)
F6
The Grand Jury finds the City Council failed to provide appropriate oversight of the City Manager to ensure the City Manager carried out his duty to keep the Council continuously apprised of the financial state of the City, which resulted in the City Council making uninformed financial and operational decisions (R6)
Related Recommendations (1)
R6
The Grand Jury recommends the City Council require the City Manager and Finance Director to keep Council continuously apprised of the financial state of the City by providing account balances, expenditures, debts, investments, and reports that compare budget to actual results, on a monthly basis, beginning no later than December 31, 2025. (F6)
F7
The Grand Jury finds members of the City Council lack experience and training in city governance thereby denying the residents of Isleton of effective representation. (R7)
Related Recommendations (1)
R7
The Grand Jury recommends each City Council member undergo comprehensive training on their duties and responsibilities as council members, and publicly provide verification of their completion of this training and understanding of their roles, by no later than December 31, 2025. (F7)
F8
The Grand Jury finds the City Council did not follow its own Code of Conduct which created a public distrust in city officials and added stress to City staff members resulting in several leaving their positions. (R8)
Related Recommendations (1)
R8
The Grand Jury recommends the City Manager, City Attorney, and City Council determine an appropriate course of action, including sanctions, for violations of the Code of Conduct and announce those actions at a public meeting, beginning no later than December 31, 2025. (F8).
F9
The Grand Jury finds that City staff failed to maintain complete and accurate records of City finances and other City operations which hampered the City’s ability to complete audits, enforce ordinances, and make sound financial decisions. (R9)
Related Recommendations (1)
R9
The Grand Jury recommends the Council direct the City Manager to ensure complete and proper recordkeeping for all city operations by December 31, 2025. (F9)
Agency Responses 2
Government agencies' official responses to this report's findings and recommendations. Click on a response to see the structured breakdown.