Commentary
The region north of Los Angeles County, bordering the Southern California boundary, includes Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Kern Counties. Looking at the Caltrans District Map, the region includes District 7 without Los Angeles County, Kern County in Region 6, and Santa Barbara and SLO Counties in Region 5. Combined they have 36 cities.
One city, Taft, west of Bakersfield and east of Santa Maria, in oil country, is the last to release its annual comprehensive financial report for the year ending June 30, 2020. Yes, it’s many years behind. Trying to find the rationale for this significant delinquency has not been easy, and the city’s finance director did not shed any light on this sad status. But being in oil country may explain it all….