This Week in City Hall, January 23

21/22 Fourth Quarter Financial Report

The City’s finance department will share the Fourth Quarter Financial Report for the 2021 & 22 fiscal year. Year end revenue to the City came in $10.8M over projections, even after a mid-cycle $13.7M increase in projected income, for a total of $308,100,000 – a 6.5% increase over the previous year.

City Staff is requesting Council approval for a carryover of “unexpended funds” of approximately $3.3 million in the General Fund and $39.3 million in other City funds and to use the $34.7 million in surplus reserves for City staff salary increases, the City’s Capital Replacement Fund, and a trust established to CalPERS obligations.

City Council and Mayoral Compensation Review

Every other year January Council reviews it’s own compensation (salary + benefits) alongside the Mayor’s. Any increase in salary requires at least five affirmative votes and may not exceed 5% of the existing salaries. Council has not approved an increase since 2015.

The current monthly salary for the Mayor is $6,897 and the City Council is $3,448. If Council votes to increase the compensation, a public hearing will be scheduled for February 28, 2023, for final action.

Redistricting Update

The City began a required review of ward boundaries in August 2002 through a process dubbed: Reshape Riverside.

The FAIR MAPS Act requires wards of relatively equal population size that share common simple borders (rivers, streets, highways, etc.) and maintain “communities of interest”.

Six maps are under consideration:

1. Map A3: based on existing Ward map with minimal neighborhood splits (22 neighborhoods kept whole, 5 neighborhoods split)
2. Map B: outline to minimize population deviation while maintaining existing current lines as much as possible (14 neighborhoods kept whole, 13 neighborhoods split)
3. Map C2: Map created by public citizen through redistricting website (16 neighborhoods kept whole, 11 neighborhoods split)
4. Map C3: Map created by public citizen through redistricting website which keeps all of the Hunter Industrial Park neighborhood together (17 neighborhoods kept whole, 10 neighborhoods split)
5. Map D: Submitted by the Brown and Black Redistricting Alliance (18 neighborhoods kept together, 9 neighborhoods split)
6. Map D3: Downtown-Eastside split

Council will hold a final public hearing tonight before making a final decision next month.

Establishing Commision of the Deaf

With an estimated 156,176 individuals with hearing difficulty living in the Inland Empire, Council is consider the adoption of an ordinance establishing a Commission of the Deaf to advise the City Council on matters affecting members of the deaf community.