☆ CPC releases local fiscal health dashboard (sorry, SJ gov't: you're not off the hook)

In this Opp Now exclusive, California Policy Center's Lance Christensen introduces their new Local Fiscal Health Dashboard. This tool tracks and grades every CA'n city, county, and school district on fiscal strength. Here's a hint on what grade letter both SJ and SCC earned (and see below for answer): it's, um, barely a passing grade.

California State Auditor Elaine Howle, who retired two years ago, was amazing. She'd track data for high-risk cities with fiscal problems, etc., but the new Auditor 86'd the program. The Legislature should hold cities to account, especially if they're giving them more money. So the fact that they axed Howle's program without notice is curious to me.

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The California Policy Center has been developing a similar resource for the public, which we recently published on our website: the Local Fiscal Health Dashboard. Working with Stanford University, Cato Institute's Marc Joffe, and others, we've tracked—for every city, county, and school district in the state—their overall fiscal strength based on factors like general fund reserves, debt burden, pension obligations, etc. We've gone through much data to rate these municipalities based on their financial situations, using an objective letter grade system. [Editor's note: San Jose Unified, City of SJ, and Santa Clara County all currently have a “D” in fiscal strength (respectively rated 57, 53, and 54 out of 100 for overall score). More details, including a breakdown of what factors led to this appraisal, here.]

It's often the case that city councils, supervisors, board members, etc., from years past wrote checks they couldn't cash. They knew they wouldn't be in office years down the road, so they kicked the can for future leaders to deal with. What's more, a large number of these jurisdictions going to voters for money haven't even completed their annual financial reports (required for receiving federal monies in California). It's funny that they can't produce those reports and account for what they've done, but they're willing to beg voters for money via ballot measures.

With this in mind, CPC's database allows folks to make better determinations based on the region they live in. For instance, if they see that their city/county/school district hasn't submitted a final financial report—or hasn't been a good steward of taxpayer funds—they might reconsider voting for higher taxes.

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Related:

• California State Auditor’s scathing report on SJ, state homelessness programs: Where did all that money go?

• Libertarian AI bot takes a stab at San Jose's most pressing challenges

• Unaccountable Housing Dept drains city coffers while police dept starved

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