Stevenson, Garrett
Subject: FW: Pasadena City Budget
From: Carl Selkin < >
Sent: Monday, May 09, 2022 3:08 PM
To: Acevedo, Gloria <[email protected]>
Subject: Pasadena City Budget
Mayor Victor Gordo
Vice Mayor Andy Wilson
Councilmember Tyron Hampton
Councilmember John Kennedy
Councilmember Steve Madison
Councilmember Gene Masuda
Councilmember Jessica Rivas
Councilmember Felicia Williams
Members of the Finance Committee
While the budget report of the interim City Manager ends on an optimistic note, I am inclined to see the multiple half-empty glasses in the budget, many of which resulting from the Rose Bowl Deficit.
I think our city needs to do more outreach for creative ideas to maintain police staffing and services while adding more of the social, recreational, and housing services that can reduce the need for traditional policing.
Moving toward community policing, adding police station services at local firehouses, are two of my half-baked ideas.
More funds to invest in housing for the missing middle, the unhoused and the at-risk, housing closer to the centers of Pasadena but also on the east side where land and transit are available should also find more support in the budget, as should funds to enhance local non-carbon fuelled transportation.
Thank you
Respectfully,
Carl Selkin
Resident of District 5
SONJA K. BERNDT
Pasadena, CA 91107
May 9, 2022
Mayor Victor Gordo ([email protected])
Vice Mayor Andy Wilson ([email protected])
Councilmember Tyron Hampton ([email protected]) Councilmember John Kennedy ([email protected]) Councilmember Steve Madison ([email protected]) Councilmember Gene Masuda ( [email protected]) Councilmember Jessica Rivas ([email protected]) Councilmember Felicia Williams ([email protected]) Members of the Finance Committee
[email protected]
[email protected]
Pasadena, California
ronHAY -9 AH Uf: 26
Re: 5/9/2022 Finance Committee Meeting Agenda #3: Rose Bowl Operating Company Proposed FY2023 Operating Budget
Dear Mayor Gordo, Members of the City Council,
& Members of the Finance Committee:
I have been a resident of Pasadena for 19 years and I live in District 4. I write to express my deep concerns about the City's past payments toward the massive debt on the Rose Bowl and to strongly urge the City Council to commit to NOT spending any more funds from our General Fund or from our fund reserves to pay the Rose Bowl debt.
As of May 2021, the stadium had collected $197.72 million in outstanding debt from massive renovations years ago. According to City staff, the City had to step in and pay approximately $11.5 million of Rose Bowl debt in fiscal year 2021 and approximately $10 million in fiscal year 2022. Those very substantial debt payments were paid from the City's General Fund and/or General Fund reserves. Last year, former City Manager Steve Mermell advised the City Council that paying the Rose Bowl debt had exhausted much of the City's General Fund Operating Reserve.
For FY 2023, Interim City Manager Cynthia Kurtz reports that the City will not have to pay the Rose Bowl debt obligation this year. This is due in large part because the federal government provided the Rose Bowl with a one-time $10 million Shuttered Venue Grant. But the FY2023 General Fund Five-Year Forecast shows a substantial increase in debt service for FY2024 and beyond due to having to cover the Rose Bowl debt again. Even worse, according to Ms. Kurtz, 1