Although this Warren Kusumoto’s second term as mayor, it was his first time to ever “have the honor” of delivering the “State of the City” address.
Kusumoto delivered his address to a packed house in the main banquet hall of the 79th Theatre Sustainment Command on the Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos on Wednesday. This year’s theme was Los Alamitos, “this is home” and it included a video featuring citizens, businesses and comments from local elected officials.
“We are the biggest little city in Orange County,” said Kusumoto. “We do have significant challenges ahead,” he added, referring to current projections that projects that if the current financial trajectory is left unchanged, the city could be broke by 2024.
Nevertheless, Kusumoto told a room jammed packed with area leaders, business groups along with state and federal officials that the city does “have a plan to create long-term fiscal sustainability.”
The mayor’s keynote address included graphs of city revenues which indicate the three main drivers of city revenues were strong. Kusumoto said more than $9 million of the annual $13 million budget is collected from property taxes, sales and use taxes and utility taxes.
All three show upward trends, he said, and incoming projects will only drive additional revenues in the future. Among the projects, Kusumoto said the Marriott Fairfield Inn now under construction will become the first major hotel project to locate in Los Alamitos in quite a while.
Also, he said additions to the Los Al Medical Center, a 107-unit luxury apartment project and other multi-family projects will generate new revenue for the city.
In addition, Kusumoto said the city’s AAA credit rating keeps the city’s borrowing costs low and he noted that the Government Finance Officers Association has presented the city with a “Certificate of Achievement for Financial Reporting.”
The mayor also noted major strategic partnerships and cooperation with local municipalities as representatives from state and local offices looked on. Also attending were and other local officials from Stanton, Seal Beach, Cypress, Stanton, Orange County Fire Authority, West Cities Communications District and the Los Alamitos Unified School District.
Representatives of many city contractors and local nonprofits also attended the event.
Major General Eugene LeBeouf, in command of the 79th TSC, briefly expressed the desire of JFTB to remain an integrated partner with the community as he provided a warm welcome to the large crowd.
City Manager Bret Plumlee acted as Master of Ceremonies for the event began with a moving rendition of the national anthem by Raivyn Hearne of the 40th ID and a JFTB color guard presented the colors.
Courtesy photo