Simi Valley gets thumbs up from auditor on financials: Will be raising most city fees

By Debra Tash

At their January 26th meeting, the Simi Valley city council heard a presentation by Peggy McBride, CPA and Principal with Vasquez & Company regarding the annual audit and Comprehensive Annual Financial Report.  Ms. McBride gave the city a clean bill of health.  She went on further to state that she’s been using Simi as an example of sound management to other cities she deals with.

The council also heard a presentation by Eric Johnson, Principal with Government Software Systems, Revenue & Cost Specialists regarding proposed amendments to Simi Valley’s Schedule of Fees and Charges.  The city hasn’t raised fees in years.  The four hundred page document produced by the consultant boiled down to a recommendation to raise all the fees but ten.  Those ten would be lowered.  They also proposed twenty four new fees.

Mayor Pro Tem, Stephen Sojka, who has been a businessman, was concerned in relationship to planning: “Sometimes we drive costs up.”  He also said, “We want to be business friendly,” and “You can drive someone out of business before they are in business.”

The report contained detailed information about costs, number of employees, how many times in a year the city service was called on, etc.  The city is not a for profit entity and is seeking only to recover direct costs for services.

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Since this was only an informational presentation the council wasn’t asked to vote on it tonight.  Councilmember Glen T. Becerra asked that the consultant include fee comparisons from other cities in the County,  including neighboring Moorpark, which is struggling to keep businesses from leaving.

The fee proposals will be presented at two additional meetings in Simi and if adopted will go into effect on July 1st, the beginning of the city’s fiscal year.

Debra Tash is Editor-in-Chief of Citizensjournal.us, past president for Citizens Alliance for Property Rights, business executive and award-winning author, residing in Somis.

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