Where is the Economic Expertise on City Council?

At the March 10 City Council meeting, Glendale’s Finance Dept. presented a three-year financial projection for our city. Astonishingly, these rosy projections entirely ignored the massive macroeconomic shock of the current war in Iran.

Anyone who understands basic finance knows this global disruption will severely impact inflation, strain supply chains, and, most dangerously, threaten CalPERS investment returns. When CalPERS misses its aggressive market targets due to global instability, Glendale taxpayers are forced to cover the multimillion-dollar unfunded liability.

Yet, when it was time for the council to scrutinize these numbers, Councilmember Dan Brotman – who presents himself to voters as a “Professor of Economics” – sat in absolute silence about this major macro-economic shock. 

He asked no questions about downside risk. He requested no stress tests for our utility bonds. He proposed no freezes on runaway departmental overtime to prepare for an inevitable revenue shortfall. I had to approach the public podium to point out the glaring elephant in the room and demand realistic forecasts, because the “economist” on the dais said nothing.

A rigorously trained economic academic would instantly demand a sensitivity analysis to protect the General Fund from a looming market shock. Instead, we got political silence to keep the status quo running until Election Day.

Glendale taxpayers deserve rigorous, mathematically sound financial oversight, not politicians who ignore the math hoping the bill doesn’t come due until after the June election.

Herbert Molano
Glendale