City of Davis Fails to Meet Model County Standards for Budget Management
July 07, 2025
By Elaine Roberts Musser
The County Board of Supervisors has set for itself a series of excellent budgeting principles they are following in a very responsible way. Below in italics are the ones most applicable to the City of Davis budget. What follows are comments under each sensible standard briefly explaining how our City Council is faring.
“The budget should be structurally balanced…” With the adoption of the new two year budget cycle, the City’s General Fund expenditures will have exceeded revenues for 5 years in a row, which is just not fiscally sustainable.
“Ongoing expenditures should not be funded by one-time or non-recurring revenue sources.” American Rescue Plan funds were used to create new programs, with no discernible plan on how to continue funding them once the money dried up, other than new taxes. Citizens don’t have money trees growing in their collective backyards to fund continual demands for new taxes every time the City runs out of money.
“Reserves… shall be funded at levels consistent with best practices…” The General Fund reserve is about 11%, $4 million dollars short of the city’s target of 15%. So what happens if there is another fiscal emergency?
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