Some Cities Are Scrambling. Oxnard Isn't.
A city’s budget is a promise. It tells residents what services they can count on, what their tax dollars are actually paying for and whether their city will still be standing on solid ground next year. I've treated it that way for all 13 years I've served on the Oxnard City Council. Not every city can say the same, and the difference shows.
What Happens When the Promise Breaks
The City of Santa Barbara's reserves currently sit empty. The city has started pulling from money set aside for actual disasters, and it was at risk of missing its own deadline to pass a budget. Fullerton shows what happens when a budget gets built on bad numbers: a delay of more than a month, 26 vacant positions eliminated, library services slashed and even the New Year's Eve celebration canceled just to close the gap. Huntington Beach is now bracing for possible bankruptcy by 2030, according to its own city treasurer, after years of commitments the budget couldn't keep. Its police officers were told to wait on a raise they had already earned, because the money wasn't there.
None of that happened by accident, and none of it happened overnight. Cities rarely run into this kind of trouble because of bad bookkeeping. It happens when nobody draws a line around what the city can actually afford to take on, and the budget stops being a plan and turns into a reaction.
Why Oxnard Is Different
I bring this up because Oxnard faces the same rising costs and the same demands on services as every other city in this state. What's different is that we haven't waited for a crisis to force our hand. In December 2024, S&P upgraded Oxnard's issuer credit rating from A+ to AA-, the city's ninth rating upgrade in four years. S&P's own analyst credited the upgrade to Oxnard's “stable financial performance and improved reserve position, underpinned by strong financial management practices.” We've passed every audit. Our budget is balanced.
None of that happened on its own, and none of it happened without some hard votes along the way. Fiscal discipline isn't free. It sometimes means saying no to something popular in the moment so that the city can keep its word later. That's the job I've done for 13 years, and it's the job I intend to keep doing: making sure Oxnard is never the city residents read about with drained reserves, canceled services or a budget passed a month late. Oxnard deserves a city government that plans ahead, not one that scrambles to catch up, and I intend to keep it that way.
— Bert
Here's how you can help keep it that way:
