CITY OF POMONA
COUNCIL REPORT
February 26, 2024
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Anita D. Gutierrez, City Manager
Submitted By: Andrew Mowbray, Finance Director/City Treasurer Rosalia Butler, City Clerk
Sonia Carvalho, City Attorney
SUBJECT: IMPACT ANALYSIS REPORT ON THE POSSIBLE EFFECTS OF THE PROPOSED INITIATIVE PETITION TO AMEND THE CITY CHARTER TO REQUIRE 10% OF ANNUAL UNRESTRICTED GENERAL FUND REVENUES BE TRANSFERRED TO A NEW SPECIAL FUND RESTRICTED TO FUNDING NO COST SERVICES TO CHILDREN AND YOUTH, WITH A MINIMUM 65% OF SUCH MONIES GOING TO NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS THROUGH A COMPETITIVE GRANT APPLICATION AND AWARD PROCESS OVERSEEN BY AN APPOINTED CITIZEN BOARD RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended the City Council:
Receive and file the Impact Analysis Report on the possible effects of the proposed “Pomona Kids First” initiative petition to amend the Pomona City Charter as described herein; Based upon the Impact Analysis Report, Submit the Measure to the voters at the “next regular municipal election” occurring at least 88 days later. Under Elections Code section 348, a “[R]egular election is an election, the specific time for the holding of which is prescribed by law.” The next being the City’s upcoming General Municipal Election on November 5, 2024.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
On February 5, 2024, the City Council directed staff to prepare an impartial and informational report analyzing the impact of the proposed “Pomona Kids First” initiative petition (“PKF Initiative”) to amend the Pomona City Charter. There are 13 provisions included in the proposed PKF Initiative (Attachment No.2); the primary focus of the analysis herein is on the 8 operative financial provisions of the PKF Initiative and are summarized as follows:
Sections 1, 7 and 9. Create a new special fund called the Children & Youth Fund. Create within the City Manager’s office a new Department of Children & Youth to administer the Fund. Create an Accountability Board with designated powers, responsibilities, and oversight of the Fund and Department, including hiring the Department’s Executive Director and recommending the award of all monies from the Fund (see Section 11 below).
Sections 2 and 6. Require an annual transfer of revenue from the General Fund to the Children & Youth Fund as follows:
Unrestricted Revenues. A specific percentage of total unrestricted General Fund revenue starting at 2% in fiscal year 2025 and rising to 10% by fiscal year 2031; and Base Percentage. A “Base Percentage” of existing revenue, which is defined as the amount equivalent to the City’s current youth-oriented expenditures that are “eligible expenses” under the initiative (see Section 4 below). The determination of the “Base Percentage” amount is made jointly by the City Manager and Accountability Board. This is in addition to the 10% transfer described above.
Section 4. Restricts the eligible expenditures from the Fund to “no cost services provided to children and youth from birth to 18 years old and their caregivers, and… disconnected transitional-aged youth from ages 18 to 24 and, when relevant, their caregivers.” Programs that predominantly serve these populations are also eligible for funding.
Defines categories of eligible programs and services with minimum annual allocations.
Restricts eligible recipients of monies from the Fund to public agencies and non-profit community-based organizations. Further restricts public agencies (including the City) from receiving more than 20% of annual monies expended from the Fund through the competitive grant application/award process (see Section 11 below).
Allows a maximum of 10% of annual revenue into the Fund to be used for administration, and 5% for evaluation.
Section 11. Establishes a competitive grant application/award process as the exclusive means for expending monies from the Children and Youth Fund (except for administration and oversight, and evaluation – see Section 4 above). The Accountability Board reviews grant applications and recommends funding awards to the City Council. The City Council has no authority to independently award funding and can only approve or reject the Accountability Board’s grant funding recommendations in their entirety.
Section 12. Provides that annual revenue transfers from General Fund to Children and Youth Fund can be reduced in cases of “fiscal emergency.” Defines a “moderate fiscal emergency” as a decrease in General Fund revenues by 10% to 20% from the prior year. If this occurs, there can be a 10% reduction in revenues transferred to the Children and Youth Fund.
Defines a “severe fiscal emergency” as a decrease in General Fund revenues by 20% or more from the prior year. If this occurs, there can be a 20% reduction in revenues transferred to the Children and Youth Fund.
Pursuant to Elections Code Section 9212, staff engaged the City’s Financial Advisor, Urban Futures Inc. (UFI) to prepare an Impact Analysis Report on the possible long-term financial impacts of the PKF Initiative. In October 2023, UFI prepared a similar financial impact analysis for an initiative petition currently on the ballot for March 5, 2024, which proposes to reduce the City’s Transaction and Use Tax (TUT) rate from three quarters percent (0.75%) to one-half percent (0.50%) and to repeal the March 31, 2029 sunset (expiration date). In addition to being the City’s Financial Advisor, UFI also developed the City’s Long-Range Financial Forecast Model which was utilized to understand the long-term fiscal impact of the PKF Initiative on the City’s General Fund and associated municipal services.
FISCAL IMPACT:
Per the October 2, 2023 council action, “Notice and Call Primary Election“, It was estimated that the cost of the Primary Municipal Election for the Mayor and three (3) Members of the City Council for Districts 1, 4, and 6 will be approximately $540,000 which has been allocated in the City Clerk’s Fiscal Year 2023-24 Election General Fund budget. The TUT Initiative Measure that was placed on the March 5, 2024 ballot will most likely result in additional election costs in FY 2023-24. The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder invoices the City for election services after the election. The estimated cost of holding an election for the PKF Initiative in addition to the Municipal Elections anticipated for the Mayor and three (3) Members of the City Council for Districts 1, 4, and 6 to take place on November 5, 2024 currently is projected to be $600,000 and will be budgeted in the FY 2024-25 Proposed City Clerk Department General Fund Budget.
Voter approval of the PKF Initiative will require an increasing percentage of annual unrestricted General Fund revenues to be transferred to a new Children & Youth Fund over a period of seven years, reaching a maximum required transfer of 10% by fiscal year 2031 (estimated at $18.2 million) and each year thereafter as detailed in Table 3 herein). Due to the non-supplantation and other restrictive language in the initiative, this will decrease by a proportionate amount, funds available to provide existing municipal services including police, fire, streets, parks and community centers, senior and recreation programs, libraries, and neighborhood services. Detailed financial data and analysis of the PKF Initiative is presented under the heading “Impact Analysis Report (Prepared by UFI).” The data in Table 3 also shows the PKF Initiative creates a significant and growing annual operating deficit in the General Fund for every year of the forecast except the first year (fiscal year 2025). By comparing the Baseline Forecast and Scenario Forecast in fiscal years 2030 to 2034, it can be seen the PKF Initiative has approximately the same negative fiscal impact to the General Fund’s annual operating deficit as the sunset of the TUT. In short, the General Fund revenue loss from the PKF Initiative is roughly the same as the General Fund revenue loss caused by the TUT sunset. Thus, even if the TUT sunset is removed by the voters on March 5th, subsequent voter approval of the PKF Initiative would simply return the City to the Baseline Forecast for the General Fund, under which the General Fund balance and reserves are depleted by Fiscal Year 2033.
PREVIOUS RELATED ACTION:
On February 5, 2024, the City Council directed staff to prepare an impartial and informational report analyzing the impact of the PKF Initiative.
DISCUSSION:
On May 15, 2023, the City received a Notice of Intent to Circulate a Petition and proposed initiative measure described above from a group of Pomona residents who are the proponents of the measure.
Sections 904 and 1601(a) of the City’s Charter provide that local initiative measures to amend the City Charter shall follow the procedures set forth in the California Elections Code, except where in conflict with the Charter or Municipal Code. There are no conflicting provisions of the Charter or Code and, therefore, the Elections Code governs the City’s initiative procedure for proposing charter amendments. In accordance with the Elections Code, the City Attorney’s office timely prepared and sent a ballot title and summary of the measure to the proponents on May 26, 2023. The proponents then had 6 months from receipt of the ballot title and summary to gather enough signatures to qualify the measure for the ballot.
On November 20, 2023, the proponents timely submitted a signed petition to the City Clerk’s Office. As is standard practice, the City Clerk’s Office forwarded the signed petition to the Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters to verify the validity of the petition signatures.
On January 24, 2024, after County verification, the City Clerk’s Office notified the proponents that the petition contains 12,948 valid signatures. While local initiative ordinance measures typically only require the valid signatures of 10 percent of the City’s registered voters to qualify, Elections Code section 9255(c) sets a higher threshold for initiative charter amendment measures of 15 percent of the City’s registered voters. According to the latest official report, there are 74,017 registered voters in the City of Pomona and 12,948 signatures represent more than 15% of that number. Therefore, this initiative charter amendment has qualified for the ballot.
At the February 5, 2024 meeting, the City Council received the City Clerk’s Certificate of Sufficiency of Initiative Petition certifying that the PKF Initiative has obtained the required number of signatures. Therefore, the City Council’s options under Elections Code sections 1415(b) and 9255(c) were as follows:
Submit the PKF Initiative to the voters “…at an established statewide general, statewide primary, or regularly scheduled municipal election. …occurring not less than 88 days after the date of the order of election.” The next “established statewide general election” and the next “regularly scheduled municipal election” occurring at least 88 days later will be on the same date – November 5, 2024. It is now too late to place a measure on the March 5, 2024 Statewide and Municipal Primary Election ballot. b) Direct Staff to prepare an impartial and informational report analyzing the impact of the PKF Initiative on the City’s finances, ability to provide public services, land use and development regulations, and the like. Staff must present the report not later than 30 days after the City Clerk certifies to the Council that the petition is sufficient (by March 5, 2024). After receiving the report, the Elections Code requires the Council to place the PKF Initiative on the November 5, 2024 Statewide and Municipal General Election ballot.
At that meeting, the City Council directed staff to prepare an impartial and informational report analyzing the impact of the PKF Initiative on the City’s finances, ability to provide public services, land use and development regulations, and the like.
Staff worked with the City’s the City’s Financial advisor, Urban Futures, Inc. (UFI), to prepare the following financial impact analysis.
Financial Impact Analysis Report (Prepared by UFI)
If approved by the voters, the PKF Initiative would result in the following financial changes to the City’s General Fund:
A defined increasing percentage of annual total unrestricted General Fund revenues will be transferred to new Children & Youth Fund in accordance with the following schedule:
Table 1
FY 2025
FY 2026
FY 2027
FY 2028
FY 2029
FY 2030
FY 2031
2% of last six months
5%
6%
7%
8%
9%
10%
After fiscal year 2031, the annual 10% transfer will continue permanently unless the charter provisions are repealed or amended by Pomona voters. Additionally, an undetermined amount of existing General Fund expenditures for youth-oriented programs and services may be classified as “base percentage” and must be annually transferred to the Children & Youth Fund under the PKF Initiative. Therefore, the transfer of General Fund revenues to the Children and Youth Fund may ultimately exceed the 10% figure.
From the funds transferred to the Children & Youth Fund, up to 15% may be used to support the administration, oversight, and evaluation of the Fund by a new Department of Children and Youth. The remaining 85% are designated to be disbursed to non-profit community-based organizations and public agencies through a competitive grant application and award process, with public agencies receiving a maximum of 20% of grant awards. This effectively means that of the annual City revenues transferred to the Children and Youth Fund, the City could only potentially receive back through grant awards a maximum of 17% to support its current youth-oriented programs and services. Currently, the City expends approximately $15.3 million annually on youth-oriented programs and services, which represents about 10% of its annual unrestricted General Fund revenues. It is unknown at this time exactly how much of this $15.3 million may have to be annually transferred to the Children and Youth Fund as the “base percentage”. See below and for further details.
Fiscal Impact Evaluation Tool - City’s Long-Range Financial Forecast Model In accordance with its adopted fiscal policies, the City utilizes a Long-Range Financial Forecast Model “to evaluate known internal and external issues impacting the City’s financial condition.” The Financial Forecast Model is intended to help the City achieve the following:
Attain and maintain financial sustainability.
Obtain sufficient long-term information to guide financial decisions.
Identify sufficient resources to provide programs and services for the stakeholders; Identify potential risks to on-going operations in the long-term financial planning process and communicate these risks on an annual basis; Establish mechanisms to identify early warning indicators; and Identify changes in expenditure or revenue structures needed to deliver services or to meet the goals adopted by the City Council.
When evaluating the City’s future financial condition, the City employs the following two-step process utilizing the Financial Forecast Model:
Baseline Forecast. The first step is to create a “Baseline Forecast.” The Baseline Forecast establishes a neutral projection of the City’s 10-year financial outlook based on the City’s current organization, operations, and revenue/expense structure. The Baseline Forecast represents the City’s best prediction of the City’s future financial condition assuming no changes to the City’s organizational structure or operations, with all revenues and expenses projected using current econometric forecast data, the City’s historic financial data, and appropriate forecasting algorithms.
Scenario Forecast. The second step is to create a “Scenario Forecast.” The Scenario Forecast provides an alternative projection of the City’s 10-year financial outlook based on a set of identified changes to the assumptions in the Baseline Forecast. The Scenario Forecast can be compared to the Baseline Forecast to evaluate the near and long-term financial impact of the changed assumptions.
For purposes of evaluating the impact of the citizen initiative, the City updated the Financial Forecast Model with the City’s FY 2023-24 Adopted Budget data, updated econometric data, and updated data and information from the City’s third-party tax consultants.
General Fund (Status Quo) – Baseline Forecast
As stated above, the Baseline Forecast assumes the “status quo,” which includes the existing revenue and expense structure of the General Fund. The Baseline Forecast also does not include any assumption regarding possible outcomes of the two ballot measures scheduled for the March 5, 2024 election, both of which propose to remove the March 31, 2029 sunset for the City’s Transaction and Use Tax (TUT).
The City currently receives approximately $154 million annually in unrestricted revenue that is deposited into its General Fund. Unrestricted General Fund revenue is used to pay for the costs of delivering municipal services including police, fire, streets, parks and community centers, senior and recreation programs, libraries, and neighborhood services. As noted above, approximately 10% of the unrestricted General Fund revenues ($15.3 million in the current fiscal year) are annually expended on youth-oriented programs and services such as libraries, parks and recreation, school crossing guards and resource officers, after school programs, and youth public art.
The Baseline Forecast shows the General Fund with slight annual operating surpluses until the current TUT (local sales tax) sunsets on March 31, 2029. Upon expiration of the TUT, the General Fund revenue declines by about 10% annually creating annual operating deficits that start at $18 million and grow annually through the remainder of the forecast. If the City maintained its current level of service delivery, its General Fund balance and reserves would be depleted by Fiscal Year 2033. Balancing the budget and avoiding this financial result would require a significant restructuring and reduction in the current municipal services delivered to city residents and businesses. The City has been aware of the financial outlook caused by the TUT sunset and has placed a measure on the ballot for the upcoming March 5th election to remove the TUT sunset. The following graphs show the fiscal outlook for the status quo Baseline Forecast of the City’s General Fund:
Transactions & Use Tax Expiration (March 2029)Annual Operating Deficits of $18+ million (FY30-34)Annual Operating Surpluses (FY24-29)Transactions & Use Tax Expiration (March 2029)Annual Operating Deficits of $18+ million (FY30-34)Annual Operating Surpluses (FY24-29)Transactions & Use Tax Expiration (March 2029)Annual Operating Deficits of $18+ million (FY30-34)Annual Operating Surpluses (FY24-29)Transactions & Use Tax Expiration (March 2029)Annual Operating Deficits of $18+ million (FY30-34)Annual Operating Surpluses (FY24-29)Transactions & Use Tax Expiration (March 2029)City Reserves and Fund Balance Depleted (FY33)Transactions & Use Tax Expiration (March 2029)City Reserves and Fund Balance Depleted (FY33)
Transactions & Use Tax Expiration (March 2029)
Annual Operating Deficits of $18+ million (FY30-34)
Annual Operating Surpluses (FY24-29)
Transactions & Use Tax Expiration (March 2029)
Annual Operating Deficits of $18+ million (FY30-34)
Annual Operating Surpluses (FY24-29)
Transactions & Use Tax Expiration (March 2029)
Annual Operating Deficits of $18+ million (FY30-34)
Annual Operating Surpluses (FY24-29)
Transactions & Use Tax Expiration (March 2029)
Annual Operating Deficits of $18+ million (FY30-34)
Annual Operating Surpluses (FY24-29)
Transactions & Use Tax Expiration (March 2029)
City Reserves and Fund Balance Depleted (FY33)
Transactions & Use Tax Expiration (March 2029)
City Reserves and Fund Balance Depleted (FY33)
General Fund with PKF Initiative – Scenario Forecast
If the PKF Initiative is approved by the voters, the General Fund will experience the financial changes summarized at the beginning of this section. The Financial Forecast Model can be used to evaluate both the near-term and long-term impact of these financial changes to the General Fund by creating a Scenario Forecast in which all assumptions and inputs to the Baseline Forecast are held constant, except for the changes proposed by the PKF Initiative.
In developing the Scenario Forecast, however, the following potential fiscal impacts to the General Fund which could not be reasonably reduced to forecasted amounts due to their uncertainty were not included:
Undetermined existing General Fund expenditures for youth-oriented programs and services that may be classified as “base percentage” and annually transferred to the Children & Youth Fund (Section 6 of the PKF Initiative).
Any annual amounts the City may receive back from the Children and Youth Fund due to successful grant awards for children and youth programs and services, not to exceed 20% of all grant awards (Sections 4 and 11 of the PKF Initiative).
While the above fiscal impacts are currently unknown and unquantifiable, using the City’s Long-Term Financial Forecast Model, Table 2 below, projects both the annual and cumulative General Fund revenues that would be transferred from the City’s General Fund to the new Children & Youth Fund, and the potential maximum annual and cumulative amount the City may receive back from the Children & Youth Fund.
Table 2
PKF Initiative – Transfers Out of General Fund & Maximum Potential Grant Awards to City General Fund Revenues Transferred to Children & Youth Fund Maximum Amount of Grants City may be awarded from Children & Youth Fund (1) Forecast Year
Annual
Cumulative
Annual
Cumulative
FY 2025
1,585,915
1,585,915
269,605
269,605
FY 2026
8,201,787
9,787,702
1,394,304
1,663,909
FY 2027
10,146,647
19,934,348
1,724,930
3,388,839
FY 2028
12,213,917
32,148,265
2,076,366
5,465,205
FY 2029
14,399,705
46,547,970
2,447,950
7,913,155
FY 2030
14,981,181
61,529,151
2,546,801
10,459,956
FY 2031
17,159,964
78,689,115
2,917,194
13,377,149
FY 2032
17,688,558
96,377,673
3,007,055
16,384,204
FY 2033
18,224,953
114,602,626
3,098,242
19,482,446
FY 2034
18,772,087
133,374,712
3,191,255
22,673,701
(1)Amounts assume annual competitive application and award process results in City receiving the maximum 20% of all grant awards available to public agencies.
Only looking at the annual and cumulative amount of General Fund revenues transferred to a new Children & Youth Fund required by the PKF Initiative, however, fails to consider the net impact to the financial position of the General Fund. Using the City’s Long-Term Financial Forecast Model. Table 3 was prepared to show the impact of the PKF Initiative on the General Fund’s long-term annual operating (deficit)/surplus and fund balance.
Table 3
PKF Initiative - Impact to Long-Term Financial Position of City’s General Fund (1) Baseline Forecast
General Fund Status Quo
Scenario Forecast
General Fund with PKF Initiative
Forecast Year
Annual Operating (Deficit)/Surplus
Fund Balance
Annual Operating (Deficit)/Surplus
Fund Balance
FY 2025
2,656,360
60,793,660
1,070,445
59,207,745
FY 2026
2,344,842
63,138,502
(5,856,945)
53,350,800
FY 2027
1,679,511
64,818,013
(8,467,136)
44,883,664
FY 2028
1,292,120
66,110,133
(10,921,797)
33,961,868
FY 2029
787,803
66,897,936
(13,611,902)
20,349,966
FY 2030
(17,977,610)
48,920,326
(32,958,791)
(12,608,825)
FY 2031
(18,198,378)
30,721,947
(35,358,342)
(47,967,167)
FY 2032
(18,742,736)
11,979,211
(36,431,295)
(84,398,462)
FY 2033
(19,215,028)
(7,235,817)
(37,439,981)
(121,838,443)
FY 2034
(19,836,911)
(27,072,728)
(38,608,998)
(160,447,441)
(1) Amounts do not include two potential fiscal impacts that are currently unknown and unquantifiable: any annual “base percentage” transferred to the Children & Youth Fund (Section 6 of PKF Initiative) and any potential grant awards received by City from the Children & Youth Fund, not exceeding 20% of all grant awards (Sections 4 and 11 of PKF Initiative).
The data in Table 3 shows the PKF Initiative creates a significant and growing annual operating deficit in the General Fund for every year of the forecast except the first year (fiscal year 2025). By comparing the Baseline Forecast and Scenario Forecast in fiscal years 2030 to 2034, it can be seen the PKF Initiative has approximately the same negative fiscal impact to the General Fund’s annual operating deficit as the sunset of the TUT. In short, the General Fund revenue loss from the PKF Initiative is roughly the same as the General Fund revenue loss caused by the TUT sunset. Thus, even if the TUT sunset is removed by the voters on March 5th, subsequent voter approval of the PKF Initiative would simply return the City to the Baseline Forecast for the General Fund, under which the General Fund balance and reserves are depleted by Fiscal Year 2033 (see Table graph above on page 6 of this report).
Compared to the status quo Baseline Forecast, voter approval of the PKF Initiative either (i) accelerates the City’s General Fund depletion by three years (from FY 2033 to FY 2030) and doubles the fiscal impact; or (ii) if voters remove the TUT sunset on March 5th, the City’s existing deficits in the Baseline Forecast remain the same. This financial future for the General Fund and the municipal services it provides is perhaps best understood by comparing the graphical outputs of the Long-term Financial Forecast Model for the Baseline Forecast and the Scenario Forecast. Voter approval of the PKF Initiative ensures one of these two forecasts will be the fiscal outlook for the City’s General Fund, unless the City undertakes significant fiscal restructuring of the General Fund and reduction in the current municipal services delivered to residents and businesses.
BASELINE FORECAST SCENARIO FORECAST
General Fund - Status Quo General Fund - Amended by PKF Initiative ANALYSIS OF ADDITIONAL OPERATIVE FINANCIAL PROVISIONS IN INITIATIVE:
Non-supplantation & Restriction on City Receipt of Funds. Sections 4, 6 and 11 of the PKF Initiative operate as a de facto non-supplantation clause. This means if the City wants to continue its existing $15.3 million in annual General Fund expenditures for youth-oriented programs and services, these expenditures will be in addition to the maximum of 10% of unrestricted General Fund revenues that would be transferred to the Children & Youth Fund under the initiative. Below is a more detailed explanation of how the de facto non-supplantation clause operates.
The initiative requires any current youth-oriented expenditures from the General Fund that qualify as “eligible expenses” under the initiative to be annually transferred from the General Fund to the Children & Youth Fund. This amount is called the “base percentage” and is additional to the percentage of General Fund revenue that must also be annually transferred to the Children & Youth Fund. While the City may receive back some of these transferred funds to continue existing youth-oriented programs and services, there is no guarantee because the City must compete for any funding it receives from the Children & Youth Fund against other applicants through the grant application/award process. Furthermore, the initiative prohibits the City from receiving more than 20% of the grant funds awarded in any year (a maximum amount estimated at $3.6 million by fiscal year 2031).
Fiscal Emergency. Section 12 of the PKF Initiative attempts to provide relief from the transfer of General Fund revenues to the Children & Youth Fund in case of a “fiscal emergency.” The initiative defines a “moderate fiscal emergency” as a decrease in General Fund revenues by 10% to 20% from the prior year, and a “severe fiscal emergency” as a decrease in General Fund revenues by 20% or more from the prior year.
A year-over-year decline in the rate of revenue growth (slow-down) by 4 to 6 percentage points is generally considered to be a moderate recession, and typically requires some significant cost cutting by a municipality in subsequent fiscal years. The initiative, however, defines a fiscal emergency as a year-over-year loss in nominal revenues exceeding 10%, which is exceedingly rare. In the last 40 years, the City has only once experienced a year-over-year loss in nominal revenues exceeding 10% and there has never been a year-over-year loss exceeding 20%. At the height of the Great Recession in fiscal year 2010, the City’s total revenues dropped 10.9% from the prior year (an unprecedented impact experienced by few other cities in California). The long-term effects to the General Fund were serious and significant. Over the next decade, the City’s actual total General Fund revenue never recovered to its pre-Great Recession level adjusted for the city’s historical revenue growth rate.
CONCLUSION:
The impartial and information report analyzing the impact of the proposed initiative measure on the City’s finances, ability to provide public services, use and development regulations, and the like displays a financial risk to the City’s General Fund in the immediate future by identifying how the PKF Initiative creates a significant and growing annual operating deficit in the General Fund for every year of the forecast expect the first year (fiscal year 2025). By comparing the Baseline Forecast and Scenario Forecast in fiscal years 2030 to 2034, it can be seen the PKF Initiative has approximately the same negative fiscal impact to the General Fund’s annual operating deficit as the sunset of the TUT. With that said, any type of major General Fund ongoing (not onetime) revenue source reduction or legislative mandated annual appropriation will impact other City services funded by the General Fund including, but not limited to Police, Fire, Library, Parks, Recreational Programs, certain Public Works operations, Development Services, City Council, Administration, City Clerk, Finance and Human Resources. Voter approval of the PKF Initiative ensures one of these two forecasts provided herein will be the fiscal outlook for the City’s General Fund unless the City undertakes significant fiscal restructuring of the General Fund and reduction in the current municipal services delivered to residents and businesses.
Prepared by:
Andrew Mowbray
Finance Director/City Treasurer
ATTACHMENT(S):
Attachment 1 – Fiscal Impact Analysis - PowerPoint Presentation Attachment 2 – Pomona Kids First Initiative: The Pomona Fund for Children and Youth Impact Analysis Report – Pomona’s Kid’s First (PKF) Initiative Petition