The City of Arcadia’s budget was presented by Hue C. Quach, Administrative Services Director Officer for the City of Arcadia, at the Arcadia Chamber of Commerce’s monthly Government Affairs Forum on May 7.
One point Quach made was that the Capital Improvement Fund gets its revenue stream from the racetrack, with one-third of one-percent of all bets placed at the racetrack going to this fund. But that revenue for capital projects has severely declined over the past three decades from a high value of nearly $4.5 million in the 1980s to about a half-a-million dollars per year now, despite the addition of a spring season of racing. This is due to so many bets being placed off-track and on electronic devices as opposed to being place at the track betting windows.
Another point is that nearly half the City’s overall $103 million budget is not open for decisions by the City Council or others since this is all money that can only be spent for specific purposes.
Quach said the City will show a net profit of $4,387,500 based on approximately $59.3 million in revenue, and $55 million in expenditures in the General Fund. The primary expenditures are for police (35% – $18.864 million) and fire (25% – $13.7 million). Arcadia is a full-service city, meaning the city provides police, fire and public works services as opposed to other area cities that contract out with County fire or the Sheriff’s Department for protection. Together, police, fire and public works accounts for 69.7% of the budget. Some of the sources of general fund revenue include property and sales taxes. Property taxes account for 23% of general fund revenue with sales taxes bringing in 22% of that revenue. For every dollar collected in property taxes the City of Arcadia gets nine cents. With respect to sales tax, the city gets one penny for every dollar spent.
