“DEREK LAZZARO:
”I believe the FAC has served a useful role in advising the city council on financial issues and involving a broader swath of the community in examining the city’s financial health.

However, I believe some members of the overall PVE community have exaggerated the risks associated with the city’s financials. For example, I do not believe that the city faces a pension crisis as some have suggested – the pension debt fluctuates each year based on the CalPERS discount rate, actuarial calculations, market performance, etc. Yes, the city has more pension debt that we would ideally want, but the city has also paid off approximately $2 million in pension debt in recent years, and has an updated pension policy that accelerates payments when it is fiscally prudent to do so..’””

“DESIREE ‘“DEZ” MYERS:
”1. FAC is underutilized.
2. FAC would benefit the City by advising on how to solve financial problems. The Council should provide policies and direction to Committees so everyone is moving in the same direction. Council has not informed the FAC on how they can best help the City.
3. Examples of what the FAC can do to help:
• Evaluate and advise if current financial policies, processes and procedures are adequate
• The auditor found many problems. What does the FAC advise?
• Review current Operational and Financial controls and determine if improvements are needed.
• Now that the pension policy failed to stop new debt from amassing, what does the FAC advise?
• Advise if the finance department can and should be outsourced, given the extensive turnover and lack of financial controls. They can help interview financial candidates.
• The Council has stated our financial systems are out of date. The FAC can look at alternatives, including shared services or whether this issue is solved by outsourcing.
• Implement an accrual based budget, so all costs are included, so we all have the full financial state known before appropriation decisions are made. This aligns to best practices established by Truth in Accounting for governments.””

“CRAIG QUINN:
”The FAC serves a role and should be called upon to be collaborative and supportive of the Council’s needs. It was first to develop a long-term forecast, projecting the impact associated with the expiration of Measure E and associated challenges. The Council needs to be in a position to make high level decisions; the FAC is more able to dive into specific details. This does not mean the Council should not understand the details; but utilizing the FAC more effectively will allow the Council to balance its priorities and accomplish more.””