Yorba
Linda – along with all other governmental entities in the county –
must respond within 90 days in writing to the findings and
recommendations from the Orange County Grand Jury that are applicable
to city or agency operations.
This
city's most recent responses are to eight findings and eight
recommendations in three Grand Jury reports dealing with unfunded
retiree health care obligations, the county animal shelter and issues
with joint-power authorities.
One key
report impacting Yorba Linda deals with substantial unfunded retiree
healthcare benefits in 32 responding cities and agencies in the
county totaling more than $1 billion.
The
Grand Jury says Yorba Linda ranks 12th in total retiree
health benefit liability at $18,725,000 and third in the annual cost
of benefits as a percentage of general fund expenditures at 6 percent
or $1,583,193.
And the
city is eighth in unfunded liability per resident at $292 in a $1 to
$694 range and third in required annual contributions as a percentage
of payroll at 22.95 percent, based on a covered payroll of $7,619,000
and contributions of $1,748,362.
But
significantly, Yorba Linda is one of 21 cities that haven't
established an account to help fund retiree health care liabilities.
The county has socked away $116 million-plus and Anaheim more than
$67 million in such accounts, according to the Grand Jury's report.
Yorba
Linda officials say they “will begin to evaluate the priority of
funding of this obligation during the next budget cycle,” and
evaluate “the need to contribute something towards the unfunded
liability during the next budget cycle.”
A second
report recommends Yorba Linda and 17 other contracting cities “review
their long-term commitment to be part of Orange County Animal Care as
opposed to pursuing animal-care opportunities on their own or joining
with neighboring cities that have shelters.”
The
74-year-old county shelter, notes the Grand Jury, “is rundown,
overcrowded and unable to sustain” its “primary responsibility,”
the “compassionate care of the county's companion animals.”
This
city says it “has and will continue to evaluate” the county
entity “as its service provider,” but the recommendation requires
further analysis of benefits, costs and schedule estimates.
A third
report focuses on joint-powers authorities, including this city's
Public Finance Authority, created in 1989 and associated with the
now-disbanded Redevelopment Agency. The Grand Jury says the
authority should be eliminated due to “the potential for misuse or
obfuscation of public funds.”
The
city's response: “Over the next several months the Yorba Linda
Public Finance Authority will confer with its legal counsel to
determine whether its existence should be terminated and what the
necessary steps are to carry that out.”
The
authority “is currently inactive with no assets, liabilities,
revenues, expenditures or reserves,” according to the city.