Gary Condit’s Bankruptcy Claims Are False and Misleading

Gary Condit is once again taking outdated budget projections, removing the context, and presenting them to residents as if they were current facts.

His claim that the City of Ceres has only 6% in reserves and is facing the “legitimate possibility” of bankruptcy is false and irresponsible.

The 6.6% figure was never the City’s current reserve level. It was a worst-case projection showing what could happen if the City Council approved a proposal to use approximately $2.4 million in General Fund reserves to cover the original projected deficit. That proposal was NOT adopted.

Instead, the Council selected the balanced-budget option. We took a projected deficit of approximately $5.6 million, reviewed expenditures line by line, identified additional revenues and savings, and ultimately approved a structurally balanced budget with a small projected surplus, without using General Fund reserves to cover a multimillion-dollar deficit.

That is the fact Gary conveniently leaves out.

Gary also claims that the remaining reserves would cover only one more year’s deficit. That argument assumes the rejected deficit proposal became the final budget and ignores how municipal budgeting actually works. A city budget is a financial projection prepared before every dollar of revenue has been received. Revenue continues coming into the City throughout the fiscal year, and some major revenue streams are not fully realized until January or February. A projected number from an early workshop is not the same thing as the City’s final year-end financial position.

Claiming that Ceres is headed toward bankruptcy because of one projected reserve percentage is also completely misleading. Municipal bankruptcy requires actual insolvency… meaning a city is generally unable to pay its debts as they become due. A reserve percentage by itself does not establish insolvency, and Gary has provided no evidence that Ceres cannot pay its obligations. Its doesn’t exist.

The City does face real financial challenges. Rising pension obligations, employee costs, the fire agreement and other operating expenses have placed significant pressure on the General Fund. I have never attempted to hide those challenges. I spoke publicly about them, asked difficult questions and worked with the Council during city council workshops and meetings and the City manager to produce solutions that were provided to the council.

Throughout that process, public safety remained our number-one priority. We protected three police cadet positions and their academy training because I refused to balance the budget by weakening law enforcement. We continue working toward full staffing, reducing overtime pressure and ensuring our officers have the personnel, training and equipment necessary to protect Ceres families.

Facts are facts.

Gary Condit continues to use fear, misinformation and political gaslighting to divide our community. As a sitting Planning Commissioner seeking a seat on the City Council, he has a responsibility to understand public financial documents before alarming residents with reckless claims about bankruptcy.

If he cannot distinguish between a preliminary workshop projection, a rejected budget scenario and the budget that was actually adopted, that raises serious questions about whether he is prepared to serve on the City Council or properly fulfill the responsibilities of the position he currently holds.

Ceres does not need fearmongering. We need leadership that understands the facts, confronts challenges honestly, protects public safety and brings people together.

That is exactly what I will continue to do.