Corcoran Fiscal Sustainability Report and 1% Sales Tax Measure

Unique Characteristics of Project: NHA developed a new financial forecasting model for City finance staff and created a comprehensive presentation for City Council that analyzed historical financial trends, projected financial performance, and potential solutions. The exercise helped build support for a sales tax increase measure that was successfully passed.

Executive Summary: In 2016, NHA worked intensively with the City of Corcoran’s finance staff and the City Manager to undertake a comprehensive “Fiscal Sustainability Report,” which laid the groundwork for attaining ballot measure support from residents and council members in order to approve a 1% increase in sales tax to help bolster the city’s struggling operations. As part of the first phase of this project, NHA collaborated with city staff to do a “deep dive” on the city’s historical financial trends and develop a comprehensive, user-friendly spreadsheet model to assess current and pro forma trends. This model is a tool that has been used by city staff as part of their ongoing fiscal sustainability review, general budgeting and forecasting projects. After a thorough analytical review of the city’s finances, including a review of the city’s pension expenses and reserve policies, NHA “translated” the results into a short, digestible presentation that summarized the results and ultimately helped lay the groundwork for a successful sales tax measure that fall.