Is the Inglewood Mayor Misleading City Employees and the Public on the City’s Financial Standing

Mayor Butts we need to talk.  Curbed LA already caught you embellishing crime stats and 2UrbanGirls has just received copies of the city of Inglewood’s Basic Financial Statements and Supplemental Information for year ending September 30, 2017, and it looks like we closed FY 2016-17 with a $54 million dollar deficit including nearly $490 million in pension liabilities.  Despite this you have heaped a good portion of taxpayer money to fund outrageous salary increases for your alleged girlfriend, pictured here with you, Inglewood Police Chief Mark Fronterotta and a host of your friends (contractors) while continuously ignoring the hardworking clerical employees on the front line serving residents.  

A reputable news media entity, Curbed LA, found you embellishing the city’s crime stats.  You yourself have admitted we have recorded murder #15 for 2018, which exceeds the total murders for 2017.  You spoke with Jenna Chandler, in her article titled “Meet the Candidates Running for mayor of Inglewood”, about the most pressing issue facing the city of Inglewood:

The management of our success, making sure all of our mass transit options match our development, ensuring our development partners follow through with the goals of the development agreement for 35 percent local hire, to continue to push our unemployment rate down, and to continue our eighth consecutive year of the lowest crime rates in the history of the city. [Note: The city’s crime rate has fluctuated from 2010 to 2017, and the number of overall crimes and the overall crime rate were up between 2016 and 2017.]

You have also told the LA Sentinel that the city’s budget was an indicator that the city is headed in the right direction under your leadership.

Related: City of Inglewood Adopts FY 2018-19 Budget

In most recent negotiations with employees, represented by SEIU 721, their current MOU dates from 2016-2020, which gives employees an opportunity to reopen salary increase negotiations should the city budget revenue exceed expenditures by $25 million in FY 2018-19 over the FY 2017-18 general fund net surplus.  This seems highly impossible when FY 2016-17 closed $54 million in the red.

In essence you built in a salary negotiation bargaining tool, to be leveraged during your re-election campaign, by promising SEIU 721 employees salary increases that the city can’t afford.  The 2018-19 budget presentation on September 18, 2018, shows a budget surplus of only $56,179 which would not meet the criteria to entertain any salary increases.  Unfortunately, SEIU 721 representative Kevin Monk encouraged the employees to support your re-election despite the city removing arbitration from the MOU and not offering Cost of Living Increases you gave to Police Department personnel to cover inflation.

E. Salary Adiustment FY 2019-2020

1. Should the City’s General Fund project a surplus wherein on-going (e.g., expected to endure five [5] years or more) revenues exceed expenditures by more than twenty-five million ($25,000,000) by the end of FY 2018-19 over the previous FY 2017-18 General Fund net surplus, SEIU and the City agree to reopen negotiations with the City on possible salary adjustments for their unit employees and initiate a salary and benefits survey. Under no circumstances will the use of unobligated General Fund reserves in either year be used in the calculation of revenues.

2. lt is understood by both SEIU and the City that no salary adjustments can be implemented and be effective unless it is mutually agreed to in writing by both SEIU and the City

2UrbanGirls sent the documents we received to a local City Treasurer who refused to be quoted in this article but did allow their statements to be used.

This seems to show this entity has large unfunded pension obligations. This is a balance sheet. Not an income statement. The reason for the negative net position is unfunded pension obligations. I’m surprised deferred inflows and outflows of assets are even included in a statement showing current assets. Is the entity currently deficit spending?

Well it will be hard to meet future pension obligations if it continues to spending on an annual basis than it brings in.

City of Inglewood homeowners have a line item on their property taxes that covers Inglewood employee pensions.  Is this why many residents are outraged by the huge increase on this years taxes?  Did they go up because of the refinancing of the pension bonds against their home value?

An avid reader of 2UrbanGirls has tallied up your lies.

1. Stadium deal
2. Trash contract
3. City’s financial status
4. Crime stats
5. Crony favors (tax breaks)
6. Inflated salaries
7. Shady personal real estate deals
8. Threats to citizens

Mayor Butts if you haven’t told the truth regarding any of the above, why should employees and residents believe you now and re-elect you?  You sir are a professional liar and you have got to go!