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Amid ongoing questions about Hollister’s fiscal status, city officials on Oct. 30 released a new 10-year cash position report on Hollister’s general fund that shows the city is now projecting a $1 million deficit, far less than the $6.9 million gap reported by former City Manager Ana Cortez.
But the new deficit assumes use of about $6 million in reserves that Cortez declined to tap into and new acting City Manager Jeff Crechriou also told BenitoLink he prefers not to use.
Without the use of the reserves, the city would still be facing a deficit of about $7 million and Crechriou told BenitoLink his goal remains to close that gap between city spending and revenue.
According to the new analysis, which was included with a city news release, the city ended last fiscal year with a $6.1 million surplus, which is $1.2 million less than previously reported by Cortez.
Cortez used the deficit as the basis for laying off at least 37 city employees. The layoffs were later rescinded by the City Council after it terminated Cortez’s employment.
According to the release, the city is undertaking a “comprehensive” review of its finances and reports after staff identified “discrepancies” in fiscal information previously provided to the council. The release did not provide an explanation for the updated deficit projection.
Crechriou told BenitoLink that as the city continues to conduct its fiscal analysis he didn’t want the “message to get lost in translation” that cuts are likely still needed to balance the budget.
“Please note that the updated figures are preliminary and unaudited and remain subject to change,” Crechriou said in the news release.
While the new report shows a drop in revenue and expenses of about $10 million a year in both income and costs since the 2022-23 fiscal year, it also shows a total of about $9.8 million in deficit spending since 2023.
The report also says that for fiscal years 2021-22 and 2022-23, the city received and spent $4.87 million from the federal American Rescue Plan Act.
The report indicates that the 2022-23 financial reports have been audited and show that the city spent $4.2 million more than what it had budgeted.
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