Another balanced budget for Tehachapi

It’s been said that a government’s budget is its most clear policy document. For the City of Tehachapi, the budget adopted by the City Council on June 5, 2017 should demonstrate that the City’s policy priority continues to be fiduciary responsibility of taxpayer funds. With projected General Fund revenues of $6.58 million and General Fund expenditures expected to total $6.48 million, the City is continuing its tradition of positively balanced budgets, just as it did throughout the recession.

“Adopting balanced budgets has been a priority of the City Council for years,” said Mayor, Ed Grimes, “and I’m proud that we’re continuing that tradition for our upcoming Fiscal Year.”

The City’s fiscal year begins on July 1 of each year and ends on June 30 of the next year. While the General Fund includes the police department, public works, planning, building safety, accounting, and general administration staff, it’s not the only fund managed by the City.

“In addition to the typical government services, we also run several other businesses” said Assistant City Manager, Chris Kirk. “Our water department, sewer department, airport, and refuse departments are all what we call enterprise funds and it is just as important that they be healthy like the General Fund.”

Specifically across all of the various funds the City receives and spends to maintain public assets and services, the expected revenues for the upcoming year total $21.66 million and planned expenditures are $19.96 million. While it is only a budget at this point, those numbers put the City solidly in the black for another year.

“I am typically very conservative when projecting future revenues” said City Finance Director, Hannah Chung. “It helps us to control expenditures and lessens the chance that we will have a negative variance because of unforeseen circumstances during the year.”

The City’s budget also includes a five-year projection of revenues and expenses. Doing so helps the City Council and City Management see trends in expenditures that might create problems in the future so that needed corrections can be made earlier. According to the five-year budget the City expects to be in the black until at least 2022.

“The Council and I have shared the same goal of balanced budgets and strong reserves since I began my tenure here” said City Manager, Greg Garrett. “With their continued leadership, and the fantastic team we’ve built, I know that Tehachapi will continue to shine for years to come.”

For more information contact, Greg Garrett, City Manager at (661) 822-2200 ext 105 or at [email protected].