Commentary
How is your city doing? My city just announced that it’s looking at putting two measures on the ballot to increase taxes and fees. And based on its low ranking, it either needs to reduce spending and debts or raise revenues or both. My city refused to reduce debts, so suggesting tax increases came as no surprise.
If you reside in San Diego County, the last annual comprehensive financial report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024, was just released by the city of La Mesa. So, we can finally see how the 18 cities are faring.
The graph below shows the key statistics. The first is the city’s population. The second is the city’s unrestricted net position for governmental activities, provided on the statement of net position in the basic financial statements. Dividing the population into the unrestricted net position (retained earnings in the private sector) provides a per capita, which can be ranked….