Once considered a promising aberration in the troubled Inland Empire, the City of Beaumont now suffers from a level of fiscal insolvency that rivals even that of pre-bankruptcy Stockton.
Beaumont “is in crisis,” said Treasurer Nancy Carroll, one of the people charged with the unpleasant task of sifting through the city’s finances. “We’ve been turned upsidedown.”
Last year, a state audit concluded that the city’s accounting controls were virtually non-existent. And in May, seven former city officials were arrested and charged with stealing nearly $43 million in funds. The criminal case has ensnared a near entirety of the city’s former top leadership from its city manager to its planning department head. But that could turn out to be the least of Beaumont’s problems in the end.
The city is now waist-high in debt and is desperately working to avoid bankruptcy. On top of its $6 million to $10 million deficit, a court has ordered it to pay nearly $43 million plus interest to the Western Riverside Council of Governments. In addition, it owes the state $2.8 million for redevelopment money that was improperly transferred to its general fund. An investigation into the issuance of city bonds by federal security officials is also underway.
Read more about Beaumont’s troubles here.