CSMFO Magazine March 2017 - Conference Edition

CSMFO C A L I F O R N I A

S O C I E T Y

O F

M U N I C I P A L

F I N A N C E

O F F I C E R S

M A G A Z I N E C O N F E R E N C E

E D I T I O N

MARCH 2017 #13

WHAT MAKES

US GREAT?

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CONFERENCE EDITION

A HUGE THANK YOU TO OUR 2017 CSMFO CONFERENCE SPONSORS & EXHIBITORS DIAMOND JUBILEE

DIAMOND

SAPPHIRE • Bank of America Merrill Lynch • Stifel, Nicolaus and Company, Inc. PLATINUM • Bartel Associates, LLC • BNY Mellon • Chandler Asset Management • Fieldman, Rolapp & Associates, Inc. • HdL Companies • LSL CPAs • MuniServices • PFM Asset Management, LLC • The Pun Group, LLP • U.S. Bank • Willdan Financial Services • Wilmington Trust, N.A

GOLD • BLX Group LLC • Insight Investment • Kroll Bond Rating Agency • Maze & Associates • National Public Finance Guarantee • NBS • Raymond James • Richards, Watson & Gershon • Vavrinek Trine Day & Co., LLP

CONFERENCE EDITION

SILVER • Accela • AccFund • Association Reserves • Assured Guaranty • Bank of the West • BBVA Compass • Best Best & Krieger • Brandis Tallman, LLC • Brown Armstrong Accountancy Corporation • Build America Mutual • CA Infrastructure & Economic Dev. • CalPERS • CGI Technology and Solutions, Inc. • Citizens Business Bank • Clearwater Analytics • ClientFirst Technology Consulting • Complus Data Innovations, Inc • CostTree • David Taussig & Associates, Inc. • DivDat • Fidelity Capital Markets • First Empire Securities

• Fitch Ratings • FTN Financial Capital Markets • FTN Financial Main Street Advisors • GovInvest Inc • Holman Capital Corporation • InfoSend, Inc. • Invoice Cloud • Jones Hall, APLC • Lincoln Financial Group • LTAS Technologies Inc. • Mann, Urrutia, Nelson, CPAs • MUFG Union Bank, N.A. • Multi-Bank Securities, Inc. • MuniTemps • NexLevel Information Technology, Inc. • NOVATime Technology • OpenGov • PARS • Payment Service Network, Inc. • Paymentus • Piper Jaffray • Plante & Moran

BRONZE • BerryDunn • California Special Districts Alliance • Caselle • ClearSource Financial Consulting • CMTA • Columbia Capital Management, LLC • Emphasys Software - SymPro Division • Empower Retirement • Harris & Associates • ICMA-RC • Keenan & Associates • Professional Credit • Rahban CPA Consulting Inc. • Robert W. Baird & Co. • RSG, Inc. • SAFEChecks • SCI Consulting Group • Simpler Systems • Thales Consulting • Urban Futures Incorporated • Van Iwaarden Associates

• Public Trust Advisors • Questica Inc • Revenue & Cost Specialists, LLC • Rogers, Anderson, Malody & Scott, LLP • RSM US LLP • SoftResources LLC • SunGard Public Sector • TimeClock Plus • Turbo Data Systems • Tyler Technologies • Umpqua Bank • Utility Cost Management LLC • Workiva • Zions Bank Corporate Trust

GOLF SPONSORS • Hilltop Securities, Inc. • Jones Hall • LSL CPAs • PARS • Rogers, Anderson, Malody & Scott LLP • Stifel

TENNIS SPONSORS • Bank Of The West • LSL CPA’s • Wilmington Trust, N.A.

CONFERENCE EDITION

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M A G A Z I N E MARCH 2017 #13 C O N FE RE N C E

E D I TI O N

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2017-18 Board of Directors President Drew Corbett, City of San Mateo President-Elect Margaret Moggia, West Basin MWD Past President John Adams, City of Thousand Oaks Scott Catlett, City of Yorba Linda Jimmy Forbis, City of Gilroy Brent Mason, City of San Bernadino Karan Reid, City of Concord Chu Thai, City of Monterey Park Jennifer Wakeman, City of Lafayette Executive Director Melissa Dixon, MBA, CAE Editorial Designer & Photographer David Blue Garrison Editors Steve Heide, Chino Valley Independent Fire District Joan Michaels Aguilar, City of Dixon Additional Photography Tim Przybyla Chu Thai Cover head shots by Orange Photography Pexels, Pixabay and Stocksnap The California Society of Municipal Finance Officers is the statewide organization serving all California municipal finance professionals. We promote excellence in financial management through innovation, continuing education and the professional development of our members. CSMFO members are deeply involved in the key issues facing local agencies. We value honesty and integrity, and adhere to the highest standards of ethical conduct.

Thank you to all the authors in this issue for sharing with us their time and expertise. If you have an idea for a future article, please contact Melissa Dixon at the CSMFO office at melissa.dixon@staff.csmfo.org.

Included Updates

For more information on CSMFO or this Magazine, please contact the CSMFO office at 916.231.2137 or visit the website at www.csmfo.org.

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CSMFO MAGAZINE MARCH 2017 CONFERENCE EDITION

The views and opinions expressed in these articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of CSMFO.

CONFERENCE EDITION

CONTENTS MARCH 2017 #13 CO N FE R E N C E

E D I T I O N

FEATURES

Thank You To Sponsors & Exhibitors of the 2017 Conference P.

2

Keynote Speaker - Take Away from Members P.

22

Effects of the New CalPERS 7.0% Discount Rate P.

38

Innovations You Can Implement P.

12

Impressions from a CSMFO First-Time Attendee P.

30

Bringing Fun to Revenue P.

44

California Dreaming

P.

16

P.

The Early Bird Catches The CalPERS P.

Let’s Groove Tonight

32

18

What you need to know about Prop 64 P.

35

Job Opportunities

P.

47

INSIDE CSMFO President Drew Corbett’s Letter P.

6

The CSMFO Award Season in Review P.

40

Executive Director Letter P.

8

President’s Dinner 2017 P.

42

Phoenix in the San Francisco Peninsula P.

15

P.

Distinguished Service Award P.

46

The Non-Finance Perspective

28

Looking Toward 2017 P.

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CSMFO MAGAZINE MARCH 2017 CONFERENCE EDITION

PRESIDENT’S LETTER Drew Corbett

We Ventured...

W

ow! What a conference! I hope that for those of you able to attend that you had as great an experience as I did. Watching the conference unfold from my perspective was tremendously gratifying, as it represented 11 months of dedicated work from a small army of amazing people. The Host and Program Committees, along with the phenomenal folks at Smith Moore and Associates and Meeting & Association Management Services, did a fantastic job executing on this incredible event.

I wanted to share with you my top five highlights of the conference. It was really hard coming up with this list because I really enjoyed all aspects of the conference, but here goes: 1. Connie Podesta and Alex Banayan’s keynote speeches (tie) – I went back and forth and could not choose one speech over the other for the top spot, so I decided to take the easy way out and declare a tie.

• The Wednesday keynote really sets the tone for the conference, and in our pre-conference meeting with Connie, David Cain and I stressed how important this presentation was to her. Connie ensured us she’d deliver… and she did! You know someone’s keynote has resonated when you hear folks talking about it for the rest of the conference. I heard people talking about circles and squares all the way through the final keynote, where even our final speaker figured out he was a circle! Connie did an amazing job and really got me thinking about how I can better interact with people in all aspects of my life.

• As important as the Wednesday keynote is to setting the tone for the conference, the Friday closing keynote is essential to ending the conference on a high note. As I noted to Alex during our pre-conference discussion on his speech, this is the riskiest of the conference sessions because it is at the end of the conference and is the final session prior to people either catching flights or driving home. If the session doesn’t capture attendees’ attention, they either won’t show up or they’ll leave early.

I remember getting into the ballroom about 11:00 that morning prior to Alex going on at 11:15 and hoping to see the room fill up. After having spoken with Alex prior to the conference, I knew that his story was compelling and that he would engage our audience…if they stuck around to see him. Sure enough, the room was packed, and Alex came through big time. That was one of the best keynotes I have ever seen, and I think his message really resonated with our membership. And his energy, passion, and enthusiasm were contagious, as our audience really seemed to connect with him. In fact, I can’t remember so many of our members wanting to take selfies with a keynote speaker before. Truly an amazing and inspiring speech.

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2. Chris Thornberg’s keynote – Chris is a CSMFO favorite, having done keynotes and early bird sessions at prior conferences. His ability to provide us with up-to-date information on the state of the economy while keeping us thoroughly entertained is unparalleled. I always enjoy getting the chance to hear him speak, and this year’s Thursday keynote was no exception.

3. Taste of Sacramento – I always look forward to the Thursday night event at the annual conference, and I think this year’s event was fantastic. I was actually in the ballroom between the Thursday general session and the Taste of Sacramento event, and it was amazing to see the transformation of that room from serving lunch to 900 people to becoming a street fair celebrating some of Sacramento’s best food in just a few hours. One of the things the Host Committee wanted to do when planning the Thursday night event was to celebrate our host city, and I definitely think that was accomplished during the Taste of Sacramento event.

Watching the conference unfold from my perspective was 4. Cafeteria tremendously gratifying, as 15L – We tried it represented 11 months of something new dedicated work from a small this year – the army of amazing people. “after party” – and I think it was a resounding success. Everyone I spoke with at the event, or those who I spoke with after the event, had a great time. I know that I did! The music, the food, the games… everything was great. The best part for me, however, was the number of people I got to speak with at the event. I got the chance to not only catch up with a number of my colleagues that I don’t get to see very often, but I also got to meet a whole lot of new people. I love getting the chance to speak with our membership to learn more about them and what they do, and the event at 15L was a great opportunity for me to do just that. Overall, I could not have been happier about how the Cafeteria 15L event (or the Taste of Sacramento event) went on Thursday night.

For those of you who we able to Venture to the Capital for our Annual Conference, I hope that you found the experience rewarding. For those of you not able to make, we missed you!

I hope you are all able to join us in Riverside next February.

CONFERENCE EDITION

WHAT DIDN’T QUITE GO AS PLANNED AT THE CONFERENCE? There was a leak in the ballroom ceiling right above the President’s table, and it dripped on me during the Wednesday keynote. I did my presentation with a wet shoulder.

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EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S LETTER Melissa Dixon

The Capital Over The Mouse (just this once)

Y

ou may find this hard to believe, but I enjoyed the Thursday night event this year better than last year’s at Disneyland. I know, right? But at Disneyland, I couldn’t stop thinking about all the things that went wrong, the things I hadn’t planned for (who would’ve thought they’d only start checking bags once we were actually allowed in the park?? I’m still upset about that); plus, there were so many people there I actually had difficulty finding my friends. Being in the park after-hours was amazing, walking around with a margarita was even better—but my favorite part of the night was at the very end when we were all together, dancing to Uptown Funk in front of the Jungle Cruise. And in Sacramento? The entire night felt like that moment to me. The “Taste of Sacramento” at the Hyatt went off beautifully (thanks almost entirely to Marisa Anticevich. Her efforts perfectly realized the committee’s vision). The henna station, the local musicians, all the restaurants with the fabulous food, the photo stations…and most of all everyone I saw was smiling and having a good time. Then, the After Party at Cafeteria 15L was exactly what I expected it to be. Pinball machines, quiet conversation area, dance party… Sure, there were things that went wrong— The dedication and karaoke, anyone? But even that was kind of fun. And even though you all knew that focus of the CSMFO something went wrong with the karaoke, odds are you didn’t know that staff was up leadership, the singular in the DJ booth frantically trying to brainstorm fun dance songs to download onto goal of elevating the one of our iPhones so the music wouldn’t stop. There was a bit of a high there, with profession—I will never that. There’s nothing quite as gratifying as there being a snafu and handling it so that cease to sing those the attendee experience is unaffected! praises.

I think, though, that one of my favorite parts of the conference was how many new faces I saw—at the conference itself, but primarily at the leadership level. Every year we hold a Chapter Chair Breakfast on Thursday morning, and this year I only really knew maybe half the people in the room. Stephanie Remier, Margaret O’Brien, Tim Kirby NAMES. All ‘regular members’ just like yourselves who have stepped up and decided to not just benefit from CSMFO, but to contribute to it. To help enhance the member experience, to help improve service to the public through education for our members. The dedication and focus of the CSMFO leadership, the singular goal of elevating the profession—I will never cease to sing those praises.

And who knows? Maybe next year the singing will be literal.

WHAT DIDN’T QUITE GO AS PLANNED AT THE CONFERENCE? The Hyatt gave us a meeting room on the second floor for our after-after party on Thursday night, because we were too loud in the president’s suite!

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FEATURED STORY

Innovations You Can Implement Written By Craig Boyer

S

Craig Boyer, County of Alameda

ince 2013, CSMFO has been recognizing members who implement innovative ideas in local government finance. CSMFO established the Innovation Award Program to recognize current innovations and to encourage other local governments to consider implementing similar measures.

Each year, the Professional Standards and Recognition Committee solicits submissions to the Innovation Award Program. An Innovation Award Review Panel reviews each submission and selects submissions for award. Each award winner is presented a plaque to acknowledge the innovation and is given the opportunity to speak to the membership at the Friday Morning Breakfast Meeting at the Annual Conference.

The Innovation Award Review Panel selected two local governments as recipients of the 2017 CSMFO Innovation Award: West Basin Municipal Water District – Asset Management System

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“West Basin appreciates the recognition of the CSMFO Innovation Award. We know we are not alone in managing a fast-growing capital campaign with no formal procedures in place. We successfully leveraged the operations team efforts towards their CMMS to identify the critical level and condition assessment of each asset. This level of detail provided the finance staff a roadmap to better identify the useful lives and replacement costs of the individual components, improve financial records and develop a more

CSMFO MAGAZINE MARCH 2017 CONFERENCE EDITION

CSMFO INNOVATION AWARD

2017 realistic capital replacement budget.” - Margaret Moggia, Chief Financial Officer, West Basin Municipal Water District The District went through a comprehensive process of identifying and separating the individual components of its water infrastructure and equipment so that it can better track the estimated useful lives and replacement cost of individual components. The value of individual components that had been disposed were removed from the accounting records. In 2015, the implementation year, the District disposed 236 individual components with a disposal value of $27.1 million.

The District’s change in accounting methodology for recording capital assets created many benefits. From an accounting perspective, the District’s new methodology has resulted in more accurate financial statements. When the District’s recycled water facilities were placed in service, the infrastructure was recorded with a 40-year useful life based on industry standards.

Based on actual operating experience, most of the individual components of this infrastructure have experienced a much shorter life.

From a budgeting perspective, the District’s new methodology has provided more accurate data regarding the cost of replacing capital assets. The District has used this information in the development of its capital budget. In addition, better understanding of capital replacement costs has also improved the understanding of recycled water costs. More accurate capital replacement costs have also been incorporated into the calculation of water rates.

The District contributed both financial and human resources in implementing its innovation. The District spent $250,000 for the system upgrade to separate and record the individual components of its water infrastructure. In addition, in the implementation year, the District assigned one engineer and one senior accountant for asset assessment and asset management

Innovation Award Program CAFR Award Program

system upgrade projects. The engineer was dedicated 100% to the project for the implementation year while the senior accountant spent 16 hours per month.

City of Newport Beach – Excel-Based Pension Funding Amortization Model “Long-term cash flow modeling is an essential element in making wise financial decisions. For decades, local agencies have focused solely on annual CalPERS rates and have not had the tools to analyze long-term expected cash flows. This obstacle has severely hampered their ability to evaluate more cost effective payment strategies.” – Dan Matusiewicz, Finance Director, City of Newport Beach

liability within an acceptable range. The model was first implemented in 2013. The City opted to accelerate payment of its unfunded liability by amortizing payments on a fixed declining schedule, rather than the rolling 30-year amortization schedule. Paying over a fixed and shorter time period helped the City to potentially avoid $113 million of interest expense over 30 years. Similar actions have been taken in subsequent years as new experience gains and losses are identified by CalPERS.

The City’s model has been set up so that any local government who is a member of CalPERS and a non-pooled entity can use the model to replicate its expected payment on its unfunded liability and select payment terms that best suit The City developed a model that allows Since 2013, CSMFO has been the local government. By using the model in local governments in CalPERS to understand conjunction with consultation with the local recognizing members who how the default amortization period for implement innovative ideas government’s actuary, local governments can CalPERS amortization bases affects local in local government finance. analyze their payment options with no outgovernments’ unfunded pension liabilities. of-pocket costs. By applying the GFOA best The model displays the advantages of practices that the City implemented, other local accelerating payment of the CalPERS amortization bases as governments could experience similar levels of savings. soon as they are known.

The City has adopted a pension funding policy that is consistent with many of the core principles espoused by the GFOA Best Practice, “Core Elements of a Pension Funding Policy”. The model has helped the City to effectively analyze the schedule of amortization bases provided by CalPERS each year and to take action to avoid negative amortization. The City amortizes all gains or losses over no longer than a 20-year closed period.

The City has used this model to maintain its unfunded pension

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You Can Implement These Innovations in Your Local Government!

CSMFO established its award programs to recognize best practices and to encourage all local governments to consider implementing them. The Professional Standards and Recognition Committee is proud to recognize the 2017 Innovation Award winners and their contributions to local government finance. If you are interested in implementing these best practices in your own local government, visit the CSMFO website at www.csmfo.org/about/programs for more information about these innovations.

Craig Boyer is the chair of the Professional Standards and Recognition Committee, which administers the CSMFO Award Programs. Craig chaired the committee last year when it implemented CSMFO’s new award management software, Award Force. Craig currently works at the County of Alameda as a Division Chief in the Auditor-Controller Agency. Craig has spent time in both the Special Projects and General Accounting units focusing on accounting and financial reporting issues.

Prior to working at the County of Alameda, Craig worked at the Transbay Joint Powers Authority, which is responsible for the development of the Transbay Terminal in San Francisco.

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INSIDE CSMFO

Phoenix in the San Francisco Peninsula

Venture with

Confidence

Written By Richard Lee

T

Richard Lee, City of South San Francisco

he San Francisco Peninsula is home to Silicon Valley, and includes the counties of San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara. The Peninsula is one of the most desirable places to live in California, and is commensurately accompanied by one of the highest costs of living in the world.

The area, which happens to be home to CSMFO President Drew Corbett, and several past CSMFO presidents, including Jesse Takahashi, Pauline Marx, Thomas Fil and John DeRussy, has two very active finance officers’ groups in Santa Clara and San Mateo, thus the CSMFO Peninsula Chapter had been fairly dormant for a number of years. In 2016, new leadership utilized the Peninsula Chapter to collaborate with the panoply of talented municipal finance professionals at all levels, on a larger regional scale.

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The first chapter meeting was held in August at OpenGov’s offices in Redwood City, and included presentations from Michael Coleman and Mike McCann, Vice President of OpenGov. In December, the Peninsula Chapter and East Bay Chapter combined forces to hold a joint annual holiday luncheon at Fogo de Chau in San Francisco, with presentations from Jon Haveman, Principal with Marin Economic Consulting, and Sarah Graham, Principal with Strategic Economics.

The first meeting of 2017 will take place on March 10th, hosted by the City of Redwood City. The speakers will be Stephen Levy, Director and Senior Economist of the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy (CCSCE), and Kevin Harper, CPA. Richard Lee, Director of Finance for the City of South San Francisco, serves as the Chapter Chair, and Tim Kirby, Director of Finance for the City of Sunnyvale, serves as Chapter Vice Chair.

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FEATURED STORY

California Dreaming Written By Carmen Randle

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Carmen Randle, President, Alaska Government Finance Officers Association

ast month I had the honor to be treated as royalty at the California Society of Municipal Finance Officers (CSMFO) Annual Conference in Sacramento. Each year the presidents of the California, Oregon, Washington and Alaska government finance officers associations participate in each other’s conferences. As the President of the Alaska Government Finance Officers Association (AGFOA), the California conference was my first visit.

On the evening before the conference, I was invited to dinner with CSMFO President Drew Corbett, board members, past-presidents, and other out-of-state guests. The evening began when I stepped into a long black limousine. Inside the shiny chariot I met Don Hudson, president of the Oregon Government Finance Officers Association, and Ade Ariwoola, president of the Washington Finance Officers Association. Together we experienced an exquisite evening and met so many wonderful people. At the end of the evening, the entire group was presented with a CSMFO diamond anniversary glass gem.

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The conference began the next day, with keynote speaker Connie Podesta. For an hour plus, Connie captivated the audience with her presentation on leadership, communication and human behavior, and at the end of her presentation, some 900 people left the hall displaying their personality as a square, triangle, circle or squiggly line on their name badge.

(While I initially drew a circle on my badge, I later changed it to a circle caught inside of a square.)

When the afternoon educational sessions were complete, I met up with CSMFO board members, the other out-of-state association presidents, and a few other lucky folks as we made our way on foot to the brand new Golden 1 Center to watch a Sacramento Kings versus Boston Celtics basketball game. This was not an ordinary event. We had box seats in a brand new arena, and the home team won! This was my first professional basketball game and I had a great time. I doubt that I will ever have an opportunity to top this experience.

The next day of the conference was Thursday and this meant that I was going to give a short five-minute presentation to the CSMFO membership. In Alaska, our conferences include maybe 80 people and so all morning long I was nervous about what I should say. I began jotting down some interesting facts about Alaska and arranging them in a sequence that made sense.

Finally, right before the keynote speaker Chris Thornberg was scheduled to present, President Drew Corbett invited me to the stage.

To my surprise, the lights facing the podium were so bright that I could not see anyone in the audience. I began my speech with a joke about Alaska’s size and suggested that we cut Alaska in half to make Texas the third largest state. The crowd cheered and I continued talking about living in Alaska, its variation of daylight hours and the Northern Lights.

I spoke about the State of Alaska’s budget crisis and its effect on our municipal governments and local communities.

I described the travel hardship our members face getting to the AGFOA conferences, and I thanked Don Maruska for his willingness to work with us on establishing an educational webinar program. I presented CSMFO with a check for their scholarship fund and presented Drew with an aluminum picture of two sled dogs on the Yukon Quest Trail, with the Northern Lights dancing in the sky.

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After my presentation I felt like a movie star. Many, many people talked to me about their desire to go to Alaska. When I walked into conference sessions that afternoon, I was greeted with applause and cheering. All of my nervous energy relaxed and I was ready for the CSMFO banquet and after party at Cafeteria 15L. Sadly, Friday morning was the last day of the conference. After two educational sessions, the day and the conference ended with keynote speaker Alex Banayan describing his inspirational journey to interview the world’s most successful people to uncover their secrets of success.

The CSMFO conference was so much more than I ever dreamed it could be. The educational sessions were top notch and the entertainment was unprecedented.

The vendors were informative and The CSMFO conference professional; without their commitment was so much more than I the CSMFO conference and activities ever dreamed it could be. would not be possible. For me, the most The educational sessions impressive aspect of the conference was were top notch and the people. I was immersed in kindness the entertainment was from everyone I met. The true value of unprecedented. the conference was the networking and comradery I built with the people I met.

My special thanks to David Cain for being a spectacular host.

Carmen Randle, CPA, is the Chief Financial Officer for the City of Fairbanks and the President of AGFOA.

Northern Lights

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FEATURED STORY

Let’s Groove Tonight Written By Chu Thai

S

Chu Thai, City of Monterey Park

hare the spice of life. Baby slice it right. These lyrics set the rhythm to one of my favorite conference events, the Thursday Night “Taste of Sacramento” at the Hyatt ballroom, and After Party at Cafeteria 15L. In the words of Earth, Wind and Fire, “We’re gonna groove tonight!”

The Taste of Sacramento brought together a local band, local produce and renowned local restaurants to create CSMFO’s version of Sacramento’s famous farm-to-fork festivals. Among the eleven local flavors, Localis, brought their hyper-seasonal food with big flavors. Hot Italian sliced up their delectable pizza made from fresh ingredients and traditional piemaking techniques. Ginger Elizabeth Chocolates and Devine Gelateria served up tempting desserts for those with sweet tooth, and it would not be complete without a few drinks from Corti Brothers’ Exquisite Whiskey and Heringer Estates Winery, both based in the Sacramento Valley. Fresh fruits and vegetables, farm flowers, bales of hay, white picket fences and the yellow incandescent string lights transformed the ballroom to what’s reminiscent of a charming hometown festival, sans the farm animals and scary carnie operators. The deliberately intimate space gave all 600+ cheerful attendees the opportunity to run into old friends and colleagues, and strike up warm conversations.

For those conference participants with untiring stamina, the festivities continued into the late stormy night, as we moved to the nearby Cafeteria 15L. A refreshing five-minute walk from the hotel is Sacramento’s popular and eclectic urban restaurant offering American comfort cuisine with a classic

flair. 15L provided a hip urban lively atmosphere of music, dancing and lengthy conversations inside the lounge and out in the plush outdoor patio. It was satisfying to see the Sacramento restaurant taken over by our finance professionals. The dance floor was packed shoulder to shoulder with people waving their hands in the air like they just didn’t care. Word up. As if there wasn’t enough already, the Amazing Zoltar was also on hand to tell fortunes, a prop-laden photo booth donned one corner, pinball machines and pool tables peppered the bar, and cookies and cupcakes providing a much-needed sugar rush.

Scheduled to end at 11pm? Not a chance. Not this group. They kept the party going close until after midnight. There was word that the party was winding down back at the Hyatt. Let’s keep the groove going, folks!

What do some of our members have to say about this?

I was very impressed by the ballroom event. I enjoyed the live music, all the different kinds of food, and the photo ops. We had a great time at the Cafeteria 15L. I enjoyed getting an opportunity to relax, dance a little bit and talk with new friends.

Kristin Griffith – City or Irvine One of the conference’s highlights was the Thursday evening gala dinner. A fun time was had by all… networking, socializing, singing, dancing, eating and drinking.

Julian Robinson – CalPERS Thursday night’s CSMFO event was successful on multiple levels. It provided great entertainment, food and mostly an environment for camaraderie to form amongst familiar friends and new acquaintances. The costume photo booth sealed our delight and friendship onto digital photos for us to peruse as we await CSMFO Conference 2018.

Lauren Lai – City of Marina The conference gets better and better each year, and you can see and feel the high quality and the effort put forth in the Thursday night event. It totally did not feel like a typical finance conference.

Kim Sao – City of South Gate As I’m walking around the venues with my camera, I couldn’t help but observe through my lens how much we needed this, and was fortunate to capture so many groovy moments.

Thursday night’s event was quite a Venture to the Capital indeed.

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INSIDE CSMFO

Keynote Speaker - Take Away from Members Written By David Cain

T David Cain, City of Fountain Valley

hese four quotes from the keynote speakers at the 60th CSMFO Annual Conference at Sacramento Convention Center, California left lasting impressions for everyone in attendance.

“We are all in ‘sales’!”

– Connie Podesta

“The Economy is Good” – Chris Thornberg

“Infrastructure – We need to look at this challenge differently” – Michael Coleman

“To get in 100% -- Burn your ship – 99% is not enough” – Alex Banayan

I asked those in attendance to give us their thoughts and specific take-away from the four outstanding keynote speakers. Thanks to the CSMFO members who made these keynote speaker’s presentations come alive through their eyes.

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Connie Podesta

ABOUT THE SPEAKER Educated me one laugh at a time.

Learning can be fun.

Never thought a speaker could get everyone to talk about shapes for days.

THE TAKE AWAY We must adapt to other personalities – know what makes a square, tringle, circle, or squiggle tick.

Don’t be afraid to ask people what kind of meeting they would like to have, in order to gain insight into their communication style.

We are all sales people! We all need to sell our financial information to the community and to our community leadership.

Learning each other’s learning style, and how to best present our information is key to effectively communicating our information.

I am a circle, but regardless of what I am, to succeed and create great partnerships and become a great employee, I must learn what the other person’s personality is and adapt to that personality. Comes back to “it’s not about me, but about the other person – your customer: whether is your boss, coworker, employee, or customer”. Once you do this, your desire outcome will be more successful. It’s a fact, I tried it and it does work.

Ask the person you are meeting with WHERE they want to meet.

It will help you determine if they are square/triangle or circle/ squiggle.

I realized the importance of knowing your audience and taking the time to learn about how to engage different people.

I’m a square, but not literally - I need to buy a watch! She taught us that learning can be fun, too.

Everyone talked about their “Shapes” for the rest of the conference. Got all of us thinking about our type of personality and how we need to relate to others.

Meet others on their terms and you will close the “sale”.

Understand where the other person is coming from so that you can tailor your approach for what works for them.

It is important to stop and think about not only our own communication style, but those to whom we are communicating with. Just because we like things a certain way – on-time vs flexible, down to business vs. conversational – but everyone we interact with approaches things differently. In order to be effective in whatever we do, we need to recognize and embrace these differences and learn how to tailor our ‘sales pitch’ depending on people’s communication style.

WHICH ARE YOU?

I can gain five days per year, just buy / wear a wrist watch.

Sell ideas more effectively by making other personality types more comfortable.

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Chris Thornberg

ABOUT THE SPEAKER Chris is one of my all-time favorite economists.

His information is educational and he is entertaining.

Always a great speaker.

THE TAKE AWAY Great information about California’s economy – it’s not so bad.

Things are not as bad as they seen, and being a radical centrist is the best position to take.

Folks had better sit down and discuss revenue streams.

No big hiccups for economy this coming year. Housing is the next nut to crack in California.

The California Economy, overall stronger than we may think.

No recession likely in the next 2 years.

I learned that California is just fine, but we do have to make sure we properly address our problems.

The economy should continue forward at its current level of activity. CA is growing like crazy. Seemed overly optimistic to this skeptic.

Folks had better sit down soon and discuss revenue streams!

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Michael Coleman

ABOUT THE SPEAKER Very informative, per usual Very insightful with current information THE TAKE AWAY Take the time to perform your fiscal health diagnostic checkup – know your financial health Finally, a presentation that does not have to focus on state take aways!

There is uncertainty about marijuana . . . . . what is the impact on Cities?

Michael cautioned that voter approved measures often require an agency to supplement, not supplant General Fund spending.

Uncertainty about marijuana. What will be the turn impacts on California?

There is a change in the nature of transportation which requires looking a funding in a different way.

The economy is doing well, Californians are employed, and we keep moving forward with challenges as they come up. We are optimistic about 2017.

The State budget is focused too strongly on the capital gains taxes of our riches 1%, however there’s no sign that real “reform” (whatever your view of that word is) happening anytime soon.

State budget and reserves in much better shape, however the personal income tax is volatile; Marijuana fees/taxes/etc. can be steep and have to be figured out; more street funding on the table with a new bill but don’t budget for it.

I appreciated the focus on transportation funding and the need to take a serious look at how the State (and locals) fund road improvements given the changing nature of transportation (i.e., the shared economy) and the fact that the traditional gas tax source of revenue will dwindle as driving habits change.

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Alex Banayan

ABOUT THE SPEAKER His story inspired and connected with me.

Great energy & entertaining Kept my attention on the last day, last session!

I was surprised how much I took away from Alex Banayan.

He has years of knowledge and wisdom that defy his age.

THE TAKE AWAY Quit trying to change the world. Do good work and let your work change the world.

The Flinch – Deal with it through passion Burn your ship – to get in 100% -- 99% is not enough Superhero Cape – Taking a risk means getting out of our comfort zone and into accomplishing our dreams Never give up!

Turn up the volume to what you want, and turn it up so high that it drowns out your fears. (“your flinches”) Be ruthless with what you allow into your circle / “Fish Bowl”.

We are a profession that is generally cautious and conservative, and generally risk adverse. So this message of taking a leap of faith and taking risks may not be the best message for the group.

Makes you think about how much determination you need sometimes in life Learned that although we all experience that scary feeling in the pit of our stomach, Alex calls the “flinch”, it is the courage that comes from an individual that is driven by a Passion, which helps us to jump into destiny and with fear and all we must sometimes take a leap of faith, put on our superman/ superwoman cape and reach for our dreams/goals. This is the difference between playing it safe and staying in the comfort zone and aiming higher for our dreams and our passions…that is called taking a risk.

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Piper Jaffray is committed to California municipal finance CONFERENCE EDITION

For more information, contact the following representatives from our California public finance team: Mark Adler Managing Director 310 297-6010 mark.j.adler@pjc.com

Tom Innis Managing Director 415 616-1635 thomas.p.innis@pjc.com

Katie Koster Managing Director 949 494-6110 katherine.a.koster@pjc.com

Dennis McGuire Managing Director 916 361-6520 dennis.j.mcguire@pjc.com

Russell Reyes Managing Director 310 297-6014 russell.c.reyes@pjc.com

Victor Ume-Ukeje Managing Director 415 616-1662 victor.e.ume-ukeje@pjc.com

Tony Rapista Vice President 310 297-6031 anthony.l.rapista@pjc.com California municipal finance banking offices are located in Los Angeles, Orange County, Sacramento and San Francisco 27 CSMFO MAGAZINE MARCH 2017 CONFERENCE EDITION Since 1895. Member SIPC and NYSE. Š 2016 Piper Jaffray & Co. 9/16 CM-16-0858

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INSIDE CSMFO

The Non-Finance Perspective Written By David Blue Garrison

I David Blue Garrison, SMA Communications Specialist

n this conference edition of the CSMFO Magazine, I wanted to express my gratitude and appreciation for all that the Board, the committees, the members, and the sponsors and exhibitors do that continues to take CSMFO to the next level. Other than the occasional email from myself or Amanda, we stay behind the scenes.

Like any good Stage Manager in a theatre production, you should never know we were there at all. (Though with Amanda’s red hair and my tenacity for attention, behind the scenes isn’t always where you will find us.)

My first CSMFO Annual Conference was in Anaheim…the infamous Disneyland trip. I was proud of the work SMA and Meeting & Association Management Services (M&AMS) had done, but also proud of CSMFO for having the capacity to imagine their conference this way and to let it happen through various other professionals they trust. It was a rush to see everyone walking around with bags, programs, pamphlets, t-shirts, and even pins that I designed. (Did you know the voice of that cardboard cutout of Jack Sparrow was me??)

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I thought that last year’s conference may have been spoiling me, and perhaps gave an unfair impression of how awesome CSMFO is. But after a year, the magic hasn’t worn off. This year was even a bit more special because we were in my home city and Sacramento I love that the conference played a key role in the is an annual marker for us conference’s personality, all to look back at the year, especially the “Taste of measure our successes, Sacramento” event—it plan for the future and to was great fun to see a celebrate what it is to be a concentrated chunk of professional finance officer. what Sacramento has to offer. It was also great because we were celebrating 60 years of CSMFO.

Over the last few months I’ve had the pleasure of collecting interviews with CSMFO Past Presidents and some members of the leadership, compiling it into our Anniversary Video (which you can see by going to CSMFO’s Vimeo page). The night we showed it in the Crest Theater, at the President’s Dinner, with a large majority of the Past Presidents in attendance? That’s a night I will never forget.

It was even more memorable showing the video to the membership on the first day of the conference. I was nervous about everyone finally seeing it, but you laughed and applauded at all the right places. I thought it was great when President Drew Corbett allowed the bloopers to be shown to the membership as well. I really got a kick out of that and I think the attendees did too. (Although I don’t think Past President John Adams will ever forgive me.)

I love that the conference is an annual marker for us all to look back at the year, measure our successes, plan for the future and to celebrate what it is to be a professional finance officer.

Like any job, I’m sure the life of a finance officer can sometimes seem mundane, not-glamorous and often thankless. But you should know that with every chapter meeting announcement or membership email we send out, there are your fans (us!) cheering you on and happy to deliver another memorable year celebrating what makes you and this organization great.

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As things came to an end on Friday morning (and I was desperately trying to get rid of the remaining swag) I overheard a lot of people talking about how this conference had outdone the previous year and that they didn’t think that was possible.

But as Drew Corbett said in the Anniversary video, each year will bring the best and most impressive conference to date, because that’s what we do.

SMA and M&AMS could not create a meaningful conference experience if we weren’t inspired by the organization itself… and CSMFO offers a lot to be inspired by. From one nonfinance person to a thousand plus professionals: Thanks for making this year fun, I look forward to what 2017 will be for us and I will see all of you (at the best CSMFO Conference ever) in Riverside!

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INSIDE CSMFO

Impressions from a CSMFO First-Time Attendee Written By James Russell-Field

A

James RussellField, City of Thousand Oaks

s a new employee with the City of Thousand Oaks, I am typically offered unique assignments and growth opportunities. I am always eager to take on these opportunities, driven by a desire to learn mixed with the constant reminder of a year-long probation!

With that said (and definitely without any pressure from my Finance Director), I thought I would write about my experience as a first-time attendee to the CSMFO Annual Conference.

Grumpy, groggy, and questioning why 4 a.m. exists, I took off for Sacramento in the morning not knowing what to expect. I had moved to California to work with the City of Thousand Oaks in October of last year, and only had four months of experience in California municipal finance. Although I heard constant references to CSMFO, I had only It didn’t take long for me to attended a training and a recognize the unique and local chapter meeting. As lasting value that CSMFO I arrived in Sacramento, provides, and that first I was excited to see what session set the tone for how CSMFO had to offer. to strategize and approach the conference.

I arrived at the start of “Making the Most of Your CSMFO Membership.” Panelists Bob Biery, Grace Castaneda and Marcus Pimentel made a great pitch about the importance of getting involved in CSMFO. It didn’t take long for me to recognize the unique and lasting value that CSMFO provides, and that first session set the tone for how to strategize and approach the conference.

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There were too many sessions to recap individually. However, here is a list of the sessions I attended: • Leveraging Your CSMFO Member Benefits, a Moderated Panel Discussion (Leadership & Management) • Top 10 Common Mistakes Municipal Investment Programs Make (Treasury & Debt Management) • How the Marijuana Industry is Reshaping City Finances (Financial Management) • Storms on the Horizon: Protecting Your Agency’s 457(b), 401(a), or 403(b) Retirement Plan from the Coming Fiduciary Lawsuits (Financial Management) • Everything You Wanted to Know About Property Taxes (Budget & Financial Planning) • GASB Update – Waiting in the Wings (Accounting & Reporting) • GFOA’s New Best Practices (Accounting & Reporting) • The Ontario Way – Transformational Leadership and Creating a Culture of Innovation and Engagement (Leadership & Management) Choosing between concurrent sessions all covering different topics is challenging. On one hand, it’s easy as an accountant to default to the “Accounting and Reporting” sessions because I know this information will be directly applicable to my position. However, I made a goal to attend sessions outside of my comfort zone to expose myself to diverse topics as I start my career in municipal finance. Thousand Oaks’ Finance Director and CSMFO Past President John Adams made achieving that goal possible by encouraging me to attend the sessions that interested me, without worrying about what I thought I “should” attend. In the end, I am happy with the balance I achieved between the session types. Thanks to John for helping me find that balance!

Each of the keynote speakers provided valuable insights into local finance, management, strategy, and personal growth.

I particularly enjoyed Connie Podesta’s “shape” personality

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test that perfectly balanced humor and introspection all at once. The presentation provided interesting discussion for the rest of the conference over what “shape” everyone was.

In case you were wondering, I was the best shape: triangle!

Chris Thornberg, Michael Coleman and Alex Banayan all deserve recognition as well for their excellent presentations!

Following my Thousand Oaks co-worker, Gilbert Punsalan, into the Exhibitor Hall was an adventure. It seemed like Gilbert knew every person in the room, and he did a fantastic job of introducing me to the many commercial partners and contacts we crossed paths with. The area hummed with the energy of people coming together, especially on the last day when fantastic prizes were raffled off. I had a great time getting to know the commercial partners and exploring the many booths in the Exhibitor Hall.

One of the most important aspects of the CSMFO conference is the networking. In three days, I was able to meet a large number of people from all over California during the day and evening events. I never pass on free food and drinks, and adding great people to that combination made for a fantastic time! The opportunity to ask questions, get insight into other organizations, and simply chat and laugh with peers is an amazing asset that adds immeasurable value to the CSMFO conference.

Needless to say, I picked up a lot of knowledge in Sacramento at my first CSMFO conference. It was an eyeopening experience, and energizing to see the involvement and commitment of municipal finance professionals! I’m excited to be a member in an organization with a strong commitment to high standards.

To wrap up, I just wanted to share some final thoughts and tips from my first conference: • Book your room early! I joined Thousand Oaks long after everyone had reserved their rooms for Sacramento and unfortunately the Hyatt was completely booked. Although I was only staying a half mile away from the Hyatt, it would have been more convenient to stay closer to the conference.

• Take advantage of everything CSMFO has to offer!

CSMFO is an organization that needs the contribution and strength of government finance employees. It is a great resource for information and an awesome opportunity to get involved.

• Look for opportunities to grow! Attend sessions, trainings, and workshops that could benefit you through exposure to new topics and ideas.

• Network and have fun! When an accountant who enjoys sitting at home with his cat gives this tip, you know it’s serious.

A huge thanks to everyone who made the CSMFO annual event so amazing, I’m already looking forward to next year!

Last October, James Russell-Field moved from Utah, where he was working for the Federal Government (Department of Interior), to Thousand Oaks to become a Senior Accountant for the City.

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FEATURED STORY

The Early Bird Catches The CalPERS Written By Marcus Pimental

O

Marcus Pimental, City of Santa Cruz

ver 400 attendees were up early Wednesday morning for the first 9:15am Early Bird Session “WHITHER GOEST CALPERS?” As we all recognize, CalPERS has been busy these past few years (completion of their fiveyear strategic plan, replacing their retired Chief Executive Officer and Chief Actuary, lowering their discount rate, etc.). Accordingly, attendees were eager to hear from and found themselves subsequently challenged by the distinguished and influential CalPERS panel. Led by moderator Mary Bradley (CSMFO Past President and our 203 Distinguished Service Award recipient), attendees were introduced to CalPERS Board representative Richard Costigan, along with newly appointed CalPERS Chief Executive Officer Marcie Frost and newly appointed CalPERS Chief Actuary Scott Terando.

Mr. Costigan brought a strong message and high energy level to awaken and challenge the attendees to get involved with CalPERS committees and board.

Although he is faced with big demands from his day job as the Senior Director of State and Government Affairs with Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP, he clearly is passionate about making CalPERS fiscally sustainable in a way that supports the other “E”, employers.

Accordingly he challenged us to help him help us “to do the right thing in (our) name.”

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He also shared his perspectives on Prop 13 and CalPERS’ 1999 landmark SB 400 that together, changed the fiscal landscape of California. He started with recalling the summer of 1977 when he moved here with his parents. “Why is this important?” he asked. “Because it was after the passage of Prop 13. I didn’t vote for Prop 13, my parents didn’t either. Yet it is the fabric of our society, as is SB 400.” “I didn’t vote on SB 400. I wasn’t around when SB 400 came along,” just like many of us who are here now trying to fix the impacts of SB 400 to pay the benefit our prior officials promised and that can’t be changed.

As he wrapped up, Mr. Costigan reminded us that CalPERS is not done. Their November 2015 action to reduce the discount rate from 7.5% to a 7.0% was “just step one.” He added that from a fiduciary perspective, what really needed to be done was make the discount rate cut immediate with no phase in. But, as he indicated, CalPERS “heard us” and gave time for this to start with a phase in. But insisted that we must all remain engaged as they will next review asset allocation, capital market assumptions and their experience study, followed by reconsidering the discount rate as soon as February 2018 (where we can expect discussions of a 6.0% discount rate).

The attendees were then introduced to the next panelists, Marcie Frost, Chief Executive Officer and Scott Terando, Chief Actuary of CalPERS. Ms. Frost’s comments and approach were well received by attendees as she shared her perspectives and talked about her naturally inquisitive style and how her goal is to work with local government. She feels both of these are critical to find the best approach to keep CalPERS sustainable. To that, she too encouraged involvement and asked attendees the following six questions: (1) How can CalPERS best serve the membership?

She emphasized that the reason CalPERS exists is for one purpose, to serve the member; (2) Do we and our agencies have what we need to be successful? Is there information or data that CalPERS can share with employer’s to make our financial leadership jobs easier; (3) How can CalPERS be a best practice leader? As she reminded us, “when you are the

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biggest public pension plan, you will get a lot of attention.”

So it is critical to embrace best practices to let other’s learn from and implement those practices; (4) What is the best way to be a vigilant resource steward to provide more efficiency and effectiveness in achieving the targeted rate of returns; (5) How can CalPERS, employers and members ensure the longterm sustainability of the fund to meet the promises made for generations to come; and finally (6) How can CalPERS be a “reliable” partner to us and other key stakeholders? They want to be seen as a partner to local agencies and their Finance leaders.

She also reminded and affirmed Mr. Costigan view that more changes are coming and cited the rate example where the board reached “nearly unanimous agreement” in moving the discount rate to 7.0%, and that the lone dissenting voice was actually from a board member who wanted the rate to be lower.

this plan are (1) provide retirement security; (2) maintain the defined benefit plan structure; and (3) strive for satisfying their fiduciary responsibility. He also shared their biggest risk factors staring with CalPERS plan demographics. “Our plans are maturing with more retirements of the baby boomers” (10,000 turn 65 each year) and that these trends “will continue for the next 10 to 15 years,” along with retirees expected to live 5 to 10 years longer than previously expected.

As Mr. Costigan publically encouraged us, he wants to hear from us and views us both on the same team as fellow allies.

To that, he encouraged us to advocate by contacting him (rcostigan@manatt.com or his direct line 916-552-2370) and attending any of the Board and Committee meetings, CalPERS forums and training events.

Scott Terando, the new Chief Actuary, closed the session.

During his detailed presentation, he reminded attendees that although many economists are pegging the next 10-year expected rate of return near 6%, CalPERS takes a longer view and puts more weight on their 20-year rate of return (which is currently near 7%).

He reviewed the recent changes, including reducing their equities target portfolio asset allocation from 60% to 54% as part of their Asset Liability Management plan. The goals of

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What you need to know about Prop 64 FAST FACTS FOR MUNICIPAL EXECUTIVES

Written By Scott Johnson

N

Scott Johnson, Advisory Services Macias Gini & O’Connell LLP (MGO) CPAs & Advisors

ow that voters have made recreational marijuana legal in California, city and county executives are facing a myriad of questions associated with the local implementation of Prop 64 [the Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA)]. What are the regulatory implications? How does the new law reconcile with existing medical marijuana guidelines? How will recreational marijuana be taxed at the local level? This article breaks down the fundamentals of Prop 64 for municipal managers as they face the wave of challenges accompanying this emerging new industry.

What does Prop 64 do?

Of course, the primary impact of Prop 64 is the legalization of nonmedical marijuana for adults 21 and over. It also creates a regulatory system for recreational marijuana businesses – including cultivation, manufacturing, testing and retail operations. And it changes the penalties for marijuana related crime.

Municipal executives are typically most interested in provisions of the law related to taxation and local regulation.

Prop 64 explicitly empowers local governments to prohibit or regulate and license commercial non-medical marijuana.

What is allowed under Prop 64?

The law makes it legal to smoke marijuana in a private home or a business licensed for on-site consumption. Which, of course,

introduces one of the core challenges for city and county governments: establishing a system for licensing businesses that have an interest in allowing on-site consumption.

Prop 64 also makes it legal to process, transport, purchase, obtain, or give away without compensation to persons 21 or older up to 28.5 grams (roughly one ounce) of marijuana and 8 grams of marijuana concentrate. And it allows people to grow up to 6 plants at home. However, local governments are given the authority to regulate – but not ban – growing marijuana in their homes. For example, local governments may select to only allow indoor growing. Or they may choose to require a permit for home growing operations.

What isn’t allowed under Prop 64?

One of the first questions asked by those unfamiliar with Prop 64 is whether or not we will soon be seeing people smoking marijuana in public places in California. The answer is… Yes, but with limitations. Marijuana smokers will be prohibited from smoking in any public place where smoking tobacco is prohibited. Moreover, smoking while driving continues to be illegal.

There are also clear restrictions on possessing, smoking or ingesting marijuana or marijuana products in or upon the grounds of a school, day care center, or youth center while children are present. In addition, it is illegal to provide marijuana to minors for non-medical purposes.

Finally, it is not legal to grow marijuana in an area that is unlocked or visible from a public place.

What are the difference between Medical Marijuana and Recreational Marijuana laws?

While recreational marijuana regulations were outlined under Prop 64, medical marijuana is regulated under the Medical Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MCRSA).

MCRSA authorizes local agencies to impose excise taxes on medical marijuana businesses. Prop 64 exempts medical marijuana from state and local sales taxes, but permits local governments to impose their own tax rates on recreational 35 CSMFO MAGAZINE MARCH 2017 CONFERENCE EDITION

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marijuana – giving municipalities a great deal of flexibility on how they choose to regulate and tax the product.

Prop 64 directly imposes state taxes on the purchase and cultivation of recreational marijuana.

Under the new law, local governments may allow, regulate, or prohibit commercial marijuana businesses within their jurisdictions. But local governments that prohibit cannabis businesses from operating will be prohibited from accessing Prop 64 grant funds which are likely to be significant. Local governments are also barred from prohibiting use of public roads for deliveries in other jurisdictions.

MCRSA allows local governments to prohibit all personal cultivation. Prop 64 allows local governments to reasonably regulate personal cultivation but prohibits local bans on private indoor personal cultivation How will the revenue from recreational marijuana be distributed?

A percentage of tax revenue collected under Prop 64 will be allocated for administrative and research funding. First, it will be used to pay back state agencies for administrative costs not covered by licensing fees. Some of the specific allocations include: • $10 million will be allocated to job placement assistance and substance abuse treatment, which will increase by $10 million a year for 5 years until the annual allocation reaches $50 million.

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• $10 million annually to research and evaluate the effects of Proposition 64.

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• $3 million to the California Highway Patrol to develop protocols and best practices to determine when someone is driving impaired.

• $2 million to the University of California, San Diego Center for Medical Cannabis Research, to study the risks and benefits of medical marijuana.

All remaining funds, which will make up the majority of revenue, will be distributed as follows: • 60 percent for youth programs, including substance abuse education, prevention and treatment.

• 20 percent to clean up environmental damage caused by illegal marijuana grows.

• 20 percent to fund DUI and traffic safety programs and help state and local governments enforce the new law.

Reconciling MCRSA and Prop 64 – AB 64 There are some key differences between medical marijuana laws and Prop 64. AB 64, was introduced by Assembly members Bonta, Cooley, Jones-Sawyer, Lackey and Wood in December 2016, in order to protect public safety, communities, patients, consumers and the environment. AB 64 addresses the following key issues and provisions: • Advance $3 Million in CHP Funding – Prop 64 funding for this purpose does not begin until fiscal year 2018-19, this would advance those funds to the 2017-18 fiscal year. continues

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• Recognize Non-Storefront Dispensaries – provides a pathway to license and guide local governments in allowing delivery services as non-storefront dispensaries.

• Facilitate Corporate Restructuring – allows medical cannabis collectives to operate on a “for profit” basis and engage in necessary corporate restructuring, prior to applying for state license.

• Protect Cannabis Advertising Standards – applies the advertising restrictions and marketing by licensees to all entities in the medical and adult use cannabis industry.

• Preserve Intellectual Property – allows the Secretary of State to issue state trademarks for medical and adult use cannabis and cannabis products, facilitating protections of intellectual property and trademarks.

Conclusions While the emerging recreational and medical marijuana industry provides challenges to municipal executives, the opportunities are equally significant. Some sources estimate that legalized cannabis in California could generate over $1 billion in annual tax revenue to cash-strapped government agencies.

Ultimately, government executives are navigating the emerging landscape to regulate legal marijuana by working together through organizations such as the League of California Cities and the California Society of Municipal Finance Officers (CSMFO). Peer-to-peer collaboration allows state and local regulators to tap into emerging best practices and solutions across dozens of government agencies.

Scott is the lead partner for MGO’s State and Local Government Advisory Services. He has over 29 years of high-level organizational management and leadership experience, 24 of which was working for local government agencies including the cities of Santa Clara, Milpitas, San Jose, Oakland, and Concord and the County of Santa Clara. In the area of Medical Marijuana, as Director of Finance for the City of San Jose, working with his Team, Scott led the effort to implement a marijuana business tax; including drafting a ballot measure, developing an outreach and training program for medical marijuana businesses; working with the police and planning departments as well as the City Manager and City Attorney’s offices on regulations and enforcement; and developing an audit program to audit compliance of medical marijuana dispensaries on state and local medical marijuana laws and taxes. He currently works with his municipal clients in assisting them on implementing best practices in cannabis regulatory and tax compliance. Scott is a past president of CSMFO (2011) and continues to be an active member of the organization. He welcomes any questions or comments via email: sjohnson@ mgocpa.com.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of CSMFO or Macias Gini & O’Connell LLP (MGO).

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Effects of the New CalPERS 7.0% Discount Rate Written By Brian Whitworth

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Brian Whitworth, Hilltop Securities

n December 2016, CalPERS approved reduction of its discount rate from 7.5% to 7.0%, phased in over the next several years. This is a faster reduction of discount rate than was expected in 2015 when CalPERS approved the “glide path” of reducing the discount rate to 6.5% over approximately 21 years.

Of course, the lower discount rates will result in increased contributions for employers, both for normal cost and for unfunded liabilities.

CalPERS 7.0% discount rate, and its phase-in will have at least three distinct effects on employers: 1. Future contributions. Finance officers will easily be getting questions from elected officials over the next few months. You will be relieved to know that the answer to “Will this affect our 2017-18 budget?” is “No”. The phase in of new rates starts in fiscal year 2018-19 for local agencies. The State itself will start contributing higher rates earlier, in fiscal year 2017-18.

• The phase in of the new discount rate of 7.0% will be complete for normal cost in fiscal year 2020-21. At that point, the normal cost rates would be fully phased in, with increases in normal costs of 1-3% of payroll for miscellaneous and 2-5% of payroll for safety. However, the UAL contribution changes will not be fully phased in until fiscal

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year 2024-25, with an expected increase in contributions of 30-40% above what was projected in August 2016 (measured in dollars, not percentage of payroll) . Yes, that is likely to be real money, but you do have some time to plan for it.

• CalPERS has not yet provided individualized estimates of the effects for local agencies, but has provided estimated ranges. Based on that information, we at Hilltop Securities have created estimates that are specific to a particular issuer for use in their longer term budgeting. As always, even if the calculation is done carefully and correctly with the current assumptions, CalPERS might make other changes in the future which would require revisions.

2. Upcoming CAFRs. This is not likely to be much of a problem for anyone with a 6/30 to 12/31 fiscal year. By then, CalPERS will likely have plan specific calculations. In 2016, both the current numbers and projections of normal cost and contributions toward the unfunded liability projected five years into the future were released in August. CalPERS states that “The June 30, 2016, annual valuations will provide updated projections of expected future year pension contributions. These reports will be available this summer.”

3. Bond Issuance/Ratings. Those who will be issuing bonds between now and August 2017 may encounter questions from rating agencies and potential investors hoping for estimates of future contribution rates or unfunded liabilities before the issuer has estimates directly from CalPERS. According to Kevin Civale, Shareholder of Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth, P.C., “Consider disclosing what you already have in the most recent actuarial study (e.g., August 2016), which includes projections of multiyear contribution increases.

Explain that those earlier estimates did not include the reductions in discount rate from 7.5% to 7.0%., which are expected to cause additional increases. Once you receive updated projections from CalPERS which are specific to the issuer (e.g., summer 2017), disclose them.”

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• The State itself already has estimates of its increases in CalPERS contributions, and an example of disclosures related to the CalPERS and the discount rate change can be found in the $2.4 billion State of California GO March 2017 preliminary official statement (for example, see pages EX-1-5 to EX 1-1-11) .

Source: CalPERS Circular 200-004-17 Source: CalPERS Circular 200-004-17, “summer” is summer 2017 See https://www.munios.com/download/2017/CAState01aPOS.pdf Disclaimer: This article is intended for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or investment advice, nor is it an offer or a solicitation of an offer to buy or sell any investment or other specific product.

Information provided in this paper was obtained from sources that are believed to be reliable; however, it is not guaranteed to be correct, complete, or current, and is not intended to imply or establish standards of care applicable to any attorney or advisor in any particular circumstance. The statements within constitute views of the author and not necessarily the management of Hilltop Securities Inc. as of the date of this article and are subject to change without notice. This article includes historical information, which is not an indication of future performance. Hilltop Securities Inc. is a member of NYSE, FINRA and SIPC and headquartered at 1201 Elm Street, Dallas, TX 75270, (214) 859-1800.

Brian Whitworth is a Director at Hilltop Securities Inc., specializing in pension and OPEB issues. He has worked on issues such as ratings, disclosures, OPEB trusts, pension stabilization funds, CalPERS lump sum contributions, pension bonds, and pension reforms. He is a frequent speaker on these topics, for both issuers and institutional investors. He has testified before GASB on proposed accounting rules at their request.

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FEATURED STORY

The CSMFO Award Season in Review Written By Sara Roush

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Sara Roush, Sacramento Regional Fire/EMS Communications Center

s the award season concludes, the CSMFO Professional Standards and Recognition Committee has a chance to reflect on the changes to the award program that occurred over the past year and plan for new opportunities in the upcoming year. In 2016, the committee launched the new Awards Force software. Committee Chair Craig Boyer spent countless hours entering data and properly setting up the system. Thanks to his hard work, the implementation was an incredible success.

This software has provided the committee with more efficient processing of budget documents, better tracking of data, and an automated review process that is helping to minimize discrepancies among reviewers. Awards Force is highly intuitive and user-friendly. By using its automated administrative processes, committee members were able to save much of the time usually spend processing budget award applications.

The 2016 award program received 20 first time submissions this year compared to just four in the prior year.

The increase is attributable to the new easy-to-use online application process and even more first time applicants are expected in the 2017 due to the effectiveness and efficiencies of Awards Force. Utilizing the new software, Professional Standards processed a total

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of 110 applications for the budget award programs, including 14 for capital budgets and 96 for operating budgets. There were also six applications for the Innovation Award. With the help of our dedicated volunteer budget reviewers and the new streamlined process through Awards Force, the committee met its goal of having all reviews completed, vetted, processed and awarded prior to the 2017 CSMFO annual conference.

The diagram to the right depicts the entire budget review process. Each step involves volunteers donating their time to the success of the program.

The 2016 award review program was an amazing success thanks largely to the dedication of our CSMFO member volunteers. These professionals provide valuable feedback and perspective for our applicants. Professional Standards is proud to report that some 143 people selflessly donated their time to review award applications this year, with several volunteers willingly taking on the challenge to perform multiple reviews.

As the program continues to grow, more reviewers are needed to maintain the high quality of our awards program. If you are interested in serving as a budget reviewer, please email committee chair Craig Boyer at Craig.Boyer@acgov.org. For those of you who want to get involved but aren’t quite sure where to start, we have several very capable and seasoned professionals who would be happy to mentor you in the budget review process.

Each year California local government finance personnel work diligently on enhancing financial documents to provide more accurate and comprehensive information. Award applicants continue to impress the committee with their creativity, dedication and hard work. Providing these important documents to our elected officials, members of the public and other interested parties, helps to prevent communication breakdowns and promote transparency in government finance, which is to be commended. This year Professional Standards awarded six Meritorious Budget awards and 84 Excellence

in Budgeting awards for operating budgets. In addition, 14 agencies were awarded the Excellence in Budgeting Award for capital budgets. Even when not presented with an award, applicants can use the feedback provided by reviewers to make changes and reapply the following year with great success.

professional growth for its members. The Committee will also be posting brief training videos to the CSMFO website in the near future.

For more information on the CSMFO awards programs, please visit csmfo.org or contact the author at sroush@srfecc.ca.gov.

CSMFO awarded eight Comprehensive Annual Financial Report Starting in 2013 as a 9-1-1 dispatcher with Sacramento (CAFR) awards this season. The CSMFO CAFR award program Regional Fire, Sara Roush was quickly recognized by provides valuable feedback that enhances and refines the CAFR management as a better fit in administration. As part of a process for applicants. Applicants often use this program and 3 person accounting team, Ms. Roush quickly taught herself our feedback to improve their CAFR documents and ultimately accounting procedures and a brand new ERP system, assisted apply for the GFOA award. The CSMFO program can also with withdrawing funds from county treasury, assisted with serve as a cost effective alternative to the more expense GFOA the transition of performing all accounting function in house, CAFR award program for some agencies. If you are interested implemented new procedures, and created the monthly budget in preparing a CAFR for your agency and to actual report. After discovering her interest are unsure where to begin, sign up for The 2016 award program in government finance, Ms. Roush committed training through CSMFO or reach out to received 20 first time herself to furthering her education and recently your local chapter for additional training submissions this year completed her Master’s Degree in Accountancy and advice. Producing an award winning compared to just four in the from CSU Sacramento. Ms. Roush is passionate CAFR provides a great benefit to your prior year. about improving financial reporting and agency and to the public you serve. increasing transparency in government. She Going forward, Professional Standards will continue to enhance CSMFO’s various awards programs. Committee members are working on further streamlining the budget review process and re-addressing review requirements to further minimize discrepancies among budget reviewers. The Committee is also investigating new ways to recognize the selfless volunteers who donate their time each year to make the awards program a success. As part of the new CSMFO strategic plan, Professional Standards will be working closely with other committees to identify gaps in training and opportunities for further

donates her time as the Vice Chair for the CSMFO Professional Standards and Recognition Committee. Ms. Roush has acted as the project manager for her agency’s budget document for the past 3 fiscal years, leading her team to winning both the CSMFO and GFOA budget awards for the first time in the history of her agency.

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FEATURED STORY

President’s Dinner 2017 Written By Steve Heide & Marcus Pimental

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t the CSMFO President’s Dinner reception on February 7th in the historic, art deco Crest Theatre located in downtown Sacramento, President Drew Corbett welcomed the 21 past presidents in attendance and recognized them for their dedicated service to our organization. Each past president joined Drew on stage and received a handsome, personally engraved, Tiffany-style, cut glass diamond shaped paperweight commemorating CSMFO’s 60th anniversary.

Steve Heide, Chino Valley Independent Fire District & Marcus Pimental, City of Santa Cruz

The annual dinner represents the unofficial kick-off to the CSMFO conference. The guest list for this year’s event included board members, chapter and committee leaders, sponsors, and other esteemed guests, including CSMFO’s past presidents. The reception portion of the evening concluded with a silver screen premier presentation of CSMFO’s 60th anniversary video.

Guests then transitioned to the downstairs Empress Tavern restaurant for an intimate dinner experience.

The combined theatre and restaurant property has an interesting history.

According to the company’s website, the building first opened in 1912 as the Empress Theatre, a vaudeville palace.

For about two decades, starting in the late 1920’s, the Hippodrome Theatre operated at this site until the Crest Theater opened in 1949. Over the years, the theatre, in its various forms,

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featured movies, live shows and performances, and numerous special events. The theatre’s basement screening rooms were converted in 2015 to accommodate the Empress Tavern, which features exquisitely prepared rotisserie meats, local produce, and micro-brewed beers in a hip setting. Highlights of the superb, five-course President’s Dinner menu included smoked trout fritter, onion roasted short rib, and chocolate chestnut cupcakes.

Past President Dewey Evans (1985) recalled his time with CSMFO which included developing a friendship with founding member Ray Wood and mentoring future members of CSMFO. When asked about the biggest difference between CSMFO then and now, he remarked, “Wow. We were a much smaller organization with just a few hundred members and each of us carried bigger workloads to keep moving CSMFO forward.”

Regarding the President’s Dinner, he went on to say, “I felt honored to be on stage with so many strong past CSMFO Presidents, many who I know and who have continued the tradition of growing CSFMO, to push for more and more training and support.”

Past President Zane Johnston (2003) still holds fond memories of his active time with CSMFO, while embracing his new role as a public speaker to civic and management groups. And, regarding his approach to the presidency, he shared his belief on how, “It was important to bring some excitement [to CSMFO] to attract a broader set of people, and show you didn’t have to be introverted [to be an active and contributing member of our finance organization].”

Past President Pamela Arends-King (2014) along with her friend and former co-worker, Jennifer Leisz, City of Tustin Acting Finance Director, were overwhelmed with the happy vibe of the theatre, the free flowing popcorn, and group photo opportunities. Not even the presence of an uninvited guest (a spider she affectionately called Harry) could dampen their moods. “We had just a great time at the President’s Dinner,” said Pam.

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2017 C PRE S M F O A n n u a l SIDE C NTS o n f e r e r n c e & A MESS DINN AGE FR ER OM C S DREW C MFO PRESIDE NT ORBETT

Thank evenin you for join g for in Finan the C g me on ce a th our m Officers. lifornia So is historic e ciety and s It is a o our d mbership n p to ser honor to f Municip ecial iamo nd al ve be of my favori anniversa as your P elected b reside of ou r y ye y te CS r ar. T M his ev nt during will e past, our p FO events en a re tribute ch be featu sent, and as it is a c ing is one ele ou red in welco video that a spe r future; e bration m w in this e back m ill debut to cial 60th a ras that any o n celeb n nivers ight. fo work. ration I a and to ur Past Pre am thrille r y d siden see th Due to ts to jo to e fr uits o gene the incred f their in us ra ib hard these l vision fo le Host C r this ommit amaz c te ing fo a me onfere e who mora u n r da ce too ble e achie xperi ys, my ma and turne k a ved. enc d it in Th Joan Mich ese peop e for all th goal of cre into a le e Zawa els A ating attend includ gu d David zki, Lily N ilar, Jesse e Pam Are ees was g Ta n Denn Cain, Rob , Anna Va kahashi, ds-King, in is n K our o Kauffman Bertagna Degna, G ate ur de , Russ . The race dic Le H Janet B Salve ated and ost Comm ranson, a ung, n it tti, Te David ri Anti creative sta tee was a d G a rr id c ison, ff: Me and Ju evich ed by C , li s and e tin Lewis. armen Be Marisa An ssa Dixon rr , I ff ti celeb ort that th am gratefu y, Amanda cevich, ey ra l future tion of CS put into to for the tim Smith .

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As President Corbett commented that evening, “We’re 60, and we’ve aged pretty well.” In many local government agencies, 60 is probably pretty close to the average administrative staff retirement age. The annual President’s Dinner provided an opportunity to bring together CSMFO leaders of yesterday and today, to celebrate our organization’s rich history, while recognizing the awesome responsibility to ensure that CSMFO is relevant for at least another 60 years.

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FEATURED STORY

Bringing Fun to Revenue Written By Marcus Pimental

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Marcus Pimental, City of Santa Cruz

ack by popular demand at our 2017 conference was the Revenue FUNdamentals series. This time, attendees participated in Part II of this preconference session that is number six in CSMFO’s development of new live training programs.

The Revenue FUNdamentals Part I session was introduced as part of last year’s preconference session. This year’s session had two esteemed “professors”; CSMFO Distinguished Service Award winner and all around Municipal Finance Funny Man Michael Coleman (CSMFO and League Consultant) and Tim Seufert of NBS (past CSMFO Committee volunteer, host and frequent presenter).

This sell-out February 7 preconference session in Sacramento’s Hyatt Hotel had 55 CSMFO members from 40 agencies throughout our great state.

This new series provided a wide-ranging discussion of municipal revenues and important content to a broad spectrum of attendees from City engineers to Treasury staff; from Accounting Technicians to Finance Directors; from Budget Analysts to Administrative Services Directors.

The focus of this Part II session was not on general taxes per se, but rather the many forms of “Special Financing Districts” (SFDs) and the wide range of fees and charges. SFDs include special assessment districts, parcel taxes, Community Facilities Districts (CFDs), and property-related fees. General user and regulatory fees, as well as utility and refuse rates were discussed, and juxtaposed to the other sources of local

44 CSMFO MAGAZINE MARCH 2017 CONFERENCE EDITION

revenues. Propositions 13, 218 and 26 were prominent features in such discussions. Many current practices, case studies, and recent developments were reviewed against the backdrop of the state of general municipal revenues in California.

We were glad to have Overall, the importance of time to catch up with a evaluating and enacting few of the attendees and new revenues during a time get their impressions when the economy and our of this class. Kathryn communities are enjoying a Downs, CPA, with the City positive economy is critical. of Carson shared with us, “I’m glad I attended Revenue FUNdamentals! Carson is looking for new revenue sources, and this session couldn’t have come at a better time.

I was able to get specific process questions answered, and learned the background of how and why some revenue tools were developed. The CSMFO conference is always chockfull of relevant info, and Revenue FUNdamentals was no exception!”

Cheryl Fyfe, Assistant Finance Director at the City of Santa Cruz, felt the timing and content of this session was fantastic.

“With the development of our newer Accounting professionals, this class provided a broader sense of municipal finance so effortlessly to our team. In just a few hours they had a deeper insight into local finance that took much longer in my earlier career to develop individually.”

First time conference attendee Michael Manno appreciated the pace and discussion periods of this class. “I really appreciated the questions and live discussions that helped provide clear examples of how our City could maximize replacing our aging infrastructure through district financing.”

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The importance of regularly tuning up all fees, charges, and rates was clearly an important takeaway for the audience. “In these times, with an economic slowdown possible around the corner, now is the time to talk with your governing body about the level of subsidy provided to developers as compared to the lack of critical funding available for city core programs and affordable and work force housing. Bringing fees closer to cost recovery and building in annual increases indexed to CPI is a must today to prepare us for tomorrow’s increases in pension and health care rates.” Brent Mason, Finance Director at the City of San Bernardino.

Overall, the importance of evaluating and enacting new revenues during a time when the economy and our communities are enjoying a positive economy is critical.

Both our professors enjoyed the energy of the attendees and the questions and level of interest that this session provided.

“It was gratifying to have a large and interested audience for this important revenue discussion. And, I appreciated that the attendees laughed at my attempts at humor!” Tim Seufert, NBS. This and the need to fund our government infrastructure and/ or services was front and center in the discussion. With a little advance planning, development of best practices, outreach, transparency and due diligence, such new revenues can be successful parts of sustaining your agencies fiscal future.

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INSIDE CSMFO

Distinguished Service Award Written By Mary Bradley

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Mary Bradley, City of Fremont

he CSMFO Distinguished Service Award recognizes outstanding service on the part of an individual in the field of government finance. This is the highest honor that is bestowed by our organization. It is not necessarily made annually, but is given by the President at such times as a person is judged to be deserving of this honor. Since CSMFO’s beginning, 29 individuals have been award recipients.

At the Annual Conference in February, President Drew Corbett presented the Distinguished Service Award to Don Maruska, Director of the CSMFO Coaching Program. Don has been a longtime advocate of professional development and has been instrumental in making CSMFO a nationally recognized learning organization.

Don started with CSMFO in 1995 as a consultant to the Career Development Committee, where he developed and implemented the concept of the CSMFO List Serve. Shortly thereafter he added to our on-going learning opportunities with the addition of teleconference calls which presented real-time information to members without the need to travel in order to participate. Over the years, these calls have expanded into digitally recorded webinars on hot topics as well as fundamental skills. Last year, under Don’s direction, CSMFO offered nine webinars which reached a total audience of over 9,000! In 1997, Don established the CSMFO Coaching Program, which has benefitted our members through one-on-one mentoring, speed coaching, and other networking opportunities.

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Don’s talents and dedication for over twenty years have been invaluable in allowing CSMFO to meet its mission to “promote excellent in financial management through innovation, continuing education, and the professional development of our members.” Congratulations, Don and thanks for everything you have done for our profession!

Mary Bradley is a past CSMFO President (1999) and recipient of the Distinguished Service Award. Mary remains committed to the finance profession and the development of future finance professionals through her continued involvement in a leadership capacity in CSMFO. She serves as a Senior Advisor on both the Career Development and Program Committees.

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Budget Analyst Training Academy When: Apr 25, 2017 to Apr 28, 2017 – (Second time on the West Coast / First Time So. California) Program Description: The GFOA Budget Academy is an immersion training course that focuses on skills and techniques critical to public sector budget analyst. Using a combination of exercises, discussions, and lectures, the course will provide an overview of the budget development process, including best practices and techniques required in effective budgeting. This course covers essential elements of public sector budgeting such as goal setting, program development, revenue and expense analysis, position budgeting, capital budgeting, and more. Designed for budget analysts from both small and large organizations, this course will provide critical information for new analysts and allow veteran analysts an opportunity to hone their skills.

Where: Hyatt Regency Newport Beach, 1107 Jamboree Road Newport Beach, CA 92660 Speakers: Michael Gossman, Division Manager of Finance and Administration, Sonoma County Water Agency Scott Catlett, Finance Director / City Treasurer, City of Yorba Linda, CA David Cain, Director of Finance / Treasurer, City of Fountain Valley, CA Jay M. Goldstone, Managing Director, MUFG Americas

Who Will Benefit: This course is designed for new and intermediate analysts or others new to government looking to gain important budgeting skills and improve their understanding of the public-sector budget process and budgeting best practices. Also available are 30 CPE Credits.

Seminar Objectives: • Understand the public-sector budget process • Develop skills for basic forecasting and data analysis • Understand basic accounting principles and how they relate to the budget • Learn how to work with operating departments to develop goals and budget requests • Become familiar with position budgeting and salary projections for public sector organizations • Link capital and operating budgets • Understand how to budget for grant-funded programs • Gain an understanding of the basics of rate setting and internal service charges • Better understand specific operational issues facing local governments • Understand how to present budget information • Network with peers from other organizations Register now at the GFOA Training Website

FEBRUARY 20 - 23

CSMFO RIVERSIDE 2018 CONFERENCE SAVE THE DATE

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PRESIDENT-ELECT

Looking Towards 2018 Written By Margaret Moggia

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Margaret Moggia, West Basin MWD

s I write this month’s message, I realize that the 2018 Annual Conference in historic Riverside is literally just one year away, and I think about the decisions to be made.

Thankfully those decisions are made together with a team of creative and hardworking individuals.

First, we have the team from Smith Moore & Associates (led by Melissa Dixon) and Meeting & Association Management Services (led by Teri Anticevich and Janet Salvetti) that support and/or guide the Program and Host Committees on a myriad of decisions from I enjoy increasing the conference theme member experience and and logo to budget providing high-quality and schedule as resources and training so we well as sponsorships all can meet the demands of packages to the our individual organizations Thursday night and professional roles. event. We are so fortunate to have these amazing people who are committed to the success of the conference.

The Program Committee is comprised of a handful of dedicated individuals whose focus is to bring high-quality training to the CSMFO member over the week of the conference, from Pre-Conference sessions to breakout sessions to individual meetings with a CalPERS actuary.

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Having served on the Program Committee the last two years, I want to extend my heartfelt appreciation to the government members and commercial members who share their story and experience. The sessions are top-notch and give the attendees best practices and information to take back to the office.

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It begins with a call for sessions and the submissions are reviewed by the Program Committee to ensure there are core sessions, like Budgeting 101, to current hot topics, like CalPERS discount rates. To narrow the over-80 submissions down to the 36 sessions is not easy as there are always so many topics to cover and so many worthy submissions. Soon the call for sessions will be out and I encourage you to submit yours.

Thank you in advance to Ronnie Campbell, Laura Nomura, Mary Bradley, Viki Copeland, Jimmy Forbis and Harriet Commons for the hours they will spend to identify and coordinate next year’s conference sessions.

Then there is the Host Committee, whose work includes...well, everything else! We work together, share ideas and bring all the details together. The plan is to visit the conference in the next couple months, to begin envisioning us joining together in historic Riverside next February. We’ll be working to set the best stage possible for making vendor connections, learning new information and best practices, and networking and collaborating with our fellow CSMFO members. For those of you who attended the conference last month or in previous years, consider sharing this experience with your staff next year. Together we can make this profession better and lead the next generation to follow us in public service.

I appreciate the Host Committee members willing to take on this additional role, and I look forward to having a fun time planning the conference. Thank you Anna Van Degna, Brent Mason, Carrie Corder, Chu Thai, Danielle Wood, David Cain, Ernie Reyna, Laura Nomura, Mark Petrasso, Melissa Bellitire, Scott Catlett, and Steve Heide.

12 months and counting,

Margaret

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JOB OPPORTUNITIES Chief Financial Officer, Los Angeles Unified School District Salary Range: up to $265,000 annually Application Deadline: Budget & Financial Analyst, City of Beverly Hills Salary Range: $91,986.36 - $114,282.00 Annually Application Deadline: 3/20/2017 Accountant, Torrance Salary Range: $5,023.20 - $6,250.40 Monthly Application Deadline: Monday, March 20, 2017 at 5:30 pm.

Administrative Analyst 1, Alameda County Water District Salary Range: $81,533-$99,106 Application Deadline: 24-Mar-17 Administrative Services Director, Ralph Andersen & Associates Salary Range: $102,840 to $131,244, including CalPERS retirement.

Application Deadline: Apply Immediately Financial Services Manager, City of South San Francisco Salary Range: $9328-$11,341/month Application Deadline: 31-Mar-17 Assistant Auditor-Controller, Humboldt County Administrative Office Salary Range: $6,115.54 - $7,847.61 Application Deadline: 11:59 p.m. on March 17, 2017 Administrative Services Officer, City of Santa Rosa Salary Range: $39.17 - $51.72 Hourly Application Deadline: 17-Mar-17 Financial Analyst, City of Industry Salary Range: $27.88 to $33.89 per hour Application Deadline: 17-Mar-17 Accounting Manager, City of Norco Salary Range: $72,914-$88,618 Salary Under Review Application Deadline: Continuous Until Filled; 1st Review March 27, 2017 Supervising Procurement Specialist, Stockton Salary Range: $6,473.28 - $8,310.87 Application Deadline: 16-Mar-17 Finance Director, Prothman Company Salary Range: $105,007 - $125,515 Application Deadline: First review: March 26, 2017 (open until filled) Manager of Financial Reporting & Operating Budget, San Francisco Municipal Transportation A Salary Range: Annual salary range: $122,070 to $155,766 DOQ Application Deadline: This position is open until filled. Please apply immediately Controller, San Francisco Municipal Transportation A Salary Range: Annual salary range: $151,372 to $193,180 DOQ Application Deadline: This position is open until filled. Please apply immediately Assistant Director of Administrative Services/Finance, Ralph Andersen & Associates

Salary Range: $158,616 to $214,596 Application Deadline: Friday, March 31, 2017 Revenue Development Supervisor, City of Berkeley Salary Range: $7,951.00 - $9,609.00 Monthly Application Deadline: 13-Mar-17 Senior Accountant, Los Altos Salary Range: $92,534 to $112,450 Application Deadline: Accounting Technician I, San Carlos Salary Range: $24.32 - $29.55 per hour Application Deadline: 5:00pm, Friday, March 10, 2017 CAPITAL AND GRANT PROGRAMS ANALYST, GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE HWY & TRANSPORTATION Salary Range: $93,579.20 - $113,110.40 Application Deadline: Accountant I, Southern California Regional Rail Authority Salary Range: $58,322.00 - $91,119.00 annual Application Deadline: Financial Manager, MSMVCD Salary Range: $103,757 to $116,712 Application Deadline: 28-Mar-17 Principal Administrative Analyst, County of Calaveras Salary Range: $73,777.60 - $89,689.60 Application Deadline: 17-Mar-17 Finance Manager, Community Devel. Comm., County of Los Angeles Salary Range: $8,211 - $12,070/month Application Deadline: Chief Financial Officer, Mesa Water District Salary Range: $143,292 to $197,532 DOQ Application Deadline: 17-Mar-17 Controller, Goleta Water District Salary Range: $9,822 - $11,370/Month plus benefits Application Deadline: Open Until Filled - 3/13/2017 Finance Director, City of Tucson, AZ Salary Range: Negotiable Application Deadline: Friday, March 24, 2017 Accounting Manager, Westminster Salary Range: $80,112 - $102,252 Application Deadline: 8-Mar-17 Accounting Technician (Confidential), City of Vista Salary Range: $4,068 - $4,945/monthly Application Deadline: 2/27/2017 Accounting Technician II, City of Half Moon Bay Salary Range: 4,376 - 5,317/mo Application Deadline: 17-Feb-17 Finance Manager, City of Cambell Salary Range: $9,626.93 ? $11,701.73 per month Application Deadline: Friday, March 10, 2017 51 CSMFO MAGAZINE MARCH 2017 CONFERENCE EDITION

The people.

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