HIT — It wasn’t too many years ago that the City of Chico’s financial straits were so dire, it was a national news story.
Facing a $3.5 million structural deficit in early 2013, the city undertook a massive reorganization, reducing the number of city departments from 10 to five. It was a painful undertaking, but not as painful as the bankruptcy route taken by cities such as Stockton and San Bernardino around the same time.
What a difference a decade can make.
In perhaps the most positive sign yet of the city’s financial footing, the City of Chico’s Finance Committee got an unqualified endorsement of Chico’s municipal accounting practices from an outside firm earlier this week.
Certified Public Accountants from CliftonLarsonAllen in Roseville issued a “clean audit” for the first time in the four years the firm has reviewed the records. The finance committee received the report Wednesday and it’ll move on to the full city council for acceptance.
“It’s a big deal,” said councilor Sean Morgan, who was elected to the city council in 2012. “It was only 10 or 11 years ago where, just before Christmas, we were working on getting a bridge loan from Golden Valley Bank to make payroll — that’s how precarious the city’s financial situation was.”
According to the unmodified report, the 2023-24 budget “continues the city’s record of sound fiscal management using sound fiscal policies.” Per the audited financials, 2022-23 revenues were $9.4 million over budget projections and expenditures $266,000 under, figures Morgan credits to the council’s “conservative budgetary approach.”
That’s great news, and it’s especially nice for all of that “bankruptcy” talk to be so far back in the rear-view mirror.
MISS — Continuing a topic that’s found its way into hits and misses far too often the past couple of years, we got another horrible example of some young people doing bad things this week.
Action News reported Friday that two teenagers are being sought for setting a bag of feces on fire and throwing it at a group of homeless people in a parking lot at Main and Sixth streets early Friday morning. One man said he was burned in the altercation and was taken to the hospital.
The report raises many questions. First, what are teenagers doing downtown at 2 o’clock in the morning? And where did they acquire such a hatred of homeless people? Couldn’t possibly have been because of things they’ve heard at home or read on social media, right?
The concern shown by many citizens over crime and litter originating from some homeless camps is certainly understandable. But we’re at a loss to understand how this sort of action is supposed to help anything or anybody.
HIT — The preceding item reminded us, again, of the importance of positive role models for today’s youth.
Fortunately, we never have a shortage of such people in our area, and one of them received a well-deserved honor this month.
Chico High School wrestling coach Keith Rollins, who has led the Panthers to 14 consecutive Northern Section titles, has been named the National Federation of State High School Association (NFHS) California wrestling Coach of the Year. His name has been entered into a pool for national coach of the year.
We can’t overstate the role coaches like Rollins play in shaping the lives of young, at-risk teenagers. Often, people who end up going down bad paths in lives do so because they don’t see a better way — often because nobody was there to encourage them.
“When you build an environment that is so filled with encouragement and kids not afraid to make mistakes, kids not afraid to lose, it brings out the best in the kids,” Rollins said. “When it brings out the best in the kids, more kids come because they want to be a part of an environment where they’re really encouraged and supported … I think what it comes down to is your connection with kids, and I think that’s where coaching is the most underrated area.”
Perfectly said.
MISS — There are right around 177 miles between the In-N-Out Burger in Chico and the one in Oakland, and probably close to an equal number of differences in terms of societal and economic disparities. Sometimes, though, we can’t help but be struck by the things we read.
For the first time in its 75-year history, In-N-Out Burger has announced it is closing one of its restaurants, “due to a wave of car break-ins, property damage, theft and robberies affecting customers and employees alike,” according to an Associated Press report. The restaurant, located just southwest of the Oakland Coliseum complex, has been the site of nine robberies, two commercial burglaries, four domestic violence incidents and — get this — 1,174 car break-ins since 2019, an average of almost one per day.
It’s another huge loss in a part of town that has already seen more than its share, thanks in no small part to the vanishing act performed by professional sports franchises on the other side of I-880.
Hits and misses are compiled by the editorial board.
