Commentary
The city of Anaheim, Calif., has been reacting to an FBI investigation, resulting in the resignation of its mayor, and having its residents questioning what has allowed the mismanagement of this premier city.
Anaheim, home to Disneyland, the Convention Center, and the Angels and Ducks, has taken a devastating blow from Gov. Newsom’s coronavirus lockdown. To stay afloat, it has recently borrowed some $216 million and now finds itself in 33rd place out of 34 Orange County cities, based on the per capita of its unrestricted net position.
By reviewing a city’s required annual financial audit, usually available online in its Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, one can take the unrestricted net position for governmental activities from the basic financial statements and divide this number by the city’s population. This provides a simple metric to gauge the temperature of a municipality. It also provides an overall range, top to bottom, to compare cities in the state or region. Anaheim’s poor showing of a negative $2,022 per capita should be cause for concern for its residents….