Finance

City Council South Pasadena | Primuth Apologizes, Finance Ad Hoc Reauthorized | The South Pasadenan | South Pasadena News

Published

2 years ago

May 9, 2024

City Council South Pasadena | Primuth Apologizes, Finance Ad Hoc Reauthorized | The South Pasadenan | South Pasadena News

screencap: South Pasadena City Council Meeting March 1st, 2024. Jon Primuth makes an apology for previous comments made about Finance Commissioner Sheila Rossi and the work she brought to light.

In another dramatic reversal, the South Pasadena City Council last Wednesday unanimously voted to re-instate the financial advisory board it abruptly dissolved only six weeks earlier. The lead up to the vote featured an apology from Council Member Jon Primuth for comments he made about Sheila Rossi, Vice Chair of the newly reauthorized Finance Ad Hoc Committee (FAHC).

Despite impassioned pleas from a group of influential citizens, council members initially seemed poised to reject reinstatement. The fog over what drove the alarming deficit projections that prompted Council in February to create the FAHC was clearing; possible savings in the current fiscal budget that ends June 30 were emerging; and both Council and its standing Finance Commission had since approved the mid-year budget report they’d previously delayed in the wake of the deficit projections.

“Their work is done,” Council Member Jack Donovan said of the FAHC.

Council Member Michael Cacciotti said a renewed FAHC would constitute an unduly heavy demand and inefficient use of staff, particularly in light of the many recent and planned joint council- finance commission meetings. He rejected the mayor’s notion there is a “fiscal emergency” and other “sensationalized” descriptions of the budget, suggested the city spends too much on the finance commission now and blamed concerns over “chronic instability” in finance department staffing on “pressure and comments from community members creating an unwelcome and stressful employment environment.”

But then Primuth, who on March 20 cited Rossi’s “misrepresentations” as the reason for both his loss of confidence in and vote to kill the FAHC, read a long prepared statement. “People are worried the city is running at too much of a deficit. They’re concerned about the integrity of the city’s financial reporting. They are concerned about the anger with which some council members” spoke of the FAHC. “That would have been me.”

Although it was not his intent, Primuth said, “it appears my words had the impact of accusing her of intentionally misrepresenting. And for that I apologize.”

Starting with some “background,” Primuth then explained why he now felt the FAHC should be re-instated. Since the vote to disband it, Finance Director John Downs apologized for the “financial reporting discrepancies that had caused so much turmoil.” One citizen told Primuth he’d counted six times incorrect reports had been pushed out. This caused “a collapse of confidence in some people in the city’s own numbers.”

Now the department is producing reliable monthly reports, though “more improvement is needed” Primuth continued. The alarming projections were based on an inflated baseline. Council and the Finance Commission have taken steps to ensure more reliable projections, given staff direction to update policies, and discerned long- and short-term cost saving–without major staff cuts–by recognizing a slowdown in capital improvement spending, savings from budgeted-but-unfilled staff positions, and that some large costs–such as Caltrans housing, legal expenses, temporary contract staffing, and Housing Element development–are one-time or diminishing expenses.

The city’s financial troubles must be addressed in a way that is “transparent, collaborative and respectful,” Primuth concluded. The FAHC, with its original four members, should now be charged with making recommendations on how the city can improve its financial reporting, precisely because they have experienced what things are like without it. Therefore “they should be the ones to lead the way. That will improve public confidence.”

“There’s been a kerfuffle over the last couple months,” summarized Council Member Janet Braun, who along with Mayor Evelyn Zneimer and citizens Peter Giulioni and Sheila Rossi made up the FAHC. But it’s been good, because it brought out issues–“where things stand, what needs to be looked at.” Sometime, Braun said, “you need a little bit of kerfuffle to get to the bottom line.”

She said the FAHC should be reauthorized to focus on actual financial figures and the protocols for their presentation, rather than be left trying to reconcile budget figures with unreliable or unavailable interim actuals. The FAHC could also help with prioritization of the capital improvement program (CIP).

Mayor Zneimer agreed, adding the FAHC could address the “inadequacies” of the city’s Springbrook financial software, the antiquity of which has contributed to the financial reporting problems.

Citing the heavy calendar of budget meetings and milestones over the next month, and a renewed sense that council, finance commission and finance staff are working more smoothly together, the council ultimately elected reauthorize the FAHC to commence in July after the new budget is adopted, and charged it with reviewing the city’s year-end actual financial results, making recommendations for the presentation and reporting of the actuals, and advising on CIP priorities.

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Finance

How can I illustrate our financial position to a spouse who shows little interest?

Published

53 minutes ago

June 3, 2026

Press Room

How can I illustrate our financial position to a spouse who shows little interest?

Reader question: My spouse has little interest in our financial position. As we age, this concerns me. I try to share some basic information (income, spending, account balances, debt, and so on) each month but rarely get a response. I think graphs or charts might be of more interest to her than a bunch of numbers. What recommendations would you have for illustrating our financial position so that I am not the only person aware of how we are situated? Thanks!

Answer: Your situation is pretty common. Most couples I know develop a division of labor over time, where one person is in charge of financial matters and the other person is less involved. That’s definitely the case for my husband and me. He’s in charge of paying all the monthly bills and preparing our tax returns, but the financial planning and investment decisions are up to me. This type of arrangement might work well for a long time, but can become less sustainable with age, particularly if the “finance person” in the relationship dies or develops a major health issue.

Online tools and mind maps

Illustrating your financial situation with charts and graphs is a great idea that might help your spouse become a little more involved. Morningstar’s  Portfolio X-Ray  tool includes a variety of images that help illustrate your financial situation. Websites for most major brokerage firms also include some visual tools. Schwab, for example, offers a Portfolio Checkup and a bar graph illustrating your account’s monthly income from dividends and interest income. Vanguard has a Portfolio Watch tool and a variety of performance illustrations, tools, and calculators.

A  mind map, which we used with clients when I worked for a financial advisory firm, can be another way to picture your entire financial situation on one page. There are various  softwaretemplates  for drawing a mind map, or you can simply sketch it out with a large sheet of paper and a pencil. Start with your names at the center of the page. Then draw spokes connecting to various categories, such as names of other family members; investment accounts; real estate and other assets, insurance policies, estate plans, key goals and values, and contact information for accountants, estate planners, and other professionals. It can be helpful to go through the mind map together and make any updates needed at least once a year.

Other ways to communicate about money

A few other ideas—though not related to charts and graphs—might also be useful.

I like the idea of putting together a  net worth statement  that itemizes cash, taxable accounts, real estate, retirement accounts, and debt for each member of the couple as well as items owned jointly. It’s a good idea to update this document at least once a year and  discuss it as a couple. If you set up the document as a spreadsheet, you can include columns with additional information such as account numbers, what each account is used for, which accounts are subject to required minimum distributions, or tax issues like potential capital gains.

Many couples also put together a  binder  (sometimes humorously called a “Doomsday Book”) that contains information about where to find important paperwork, insurance policies, how bills are paid, what each account is for, steps the surviving spouse will need to take, final wishes, and any other critical information.

A well-qualified financial adviser can bridge the information gap

Finally, you could consider working with a good  financial adviser,  who can help involve your spouse in financial matters while you’re still living and step in to fully manage investments and personal finance decisions if you pass away before your spouse. Make sure the adviser holds the Certified Financial Planner designation and charges fees that are reasonable. Although a 1% fee is still the industry standard for accounts of $1 million or less, it’s possible to find advisers who charge significantly less, including a few who price their services based on hours worked instead of a percentage of assets under management.

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This article was provided to The Associated Press by Morningstar. For more personal finance content, go to https://www.morningstar.com/personal-finance.

Amy C. Arnott, CFA, is a portfolio strategist for Morningstar and co-host of The Long View podcast.

Finance

Proximo Congress 2026: US Energy & Infrastructure Finance | Insights | Mayer Brown

Published

11 hours ago

June 3, 2026

Press Room

Proximo Congress 2026: US Energy & Infrastructure Finance | Insights | Mayer Brown

Mayer Brown is a proud sponsor of Proximo Congress 2026. This senior meeting of the US energy, infrastructure, and digital infrastructure finance community is shaped around the questions credit and investment committees are actually asking in 2026: how asset classes are converging, how risk is being priced in a recalibrated policy and geopolitical environment, and how public and private capital are being structured together to deliver projects at scale.

Mayer Brown has also been recognized for three separate awards which will be presented during the event. These awards include:

Proximo North America Transport Deal of the Year 2025 – SR 400 Peach Partners
Proximo North America Rail Deal of the Year 2025 – Brightline West
Proximo North America LNG Deal of the Year 2025 – Port Arthur LNG 2

For more information, visit the event website.

Finance

What are nonconforming mortgages and what are the risks?

Published

21 hours ago

June 2, 2026

Press Room

What are nonconforming mortgages and what are the risks?

If you have ever taken out a mortgage, you’ll know there are a lot of requirements to meet. You may need to put down a certain amount and have a debt-to-income ratio below a certain threshold. You may also run into limits on how much you can borrow or what sources of income the lender will count.

These rules do not apply to all mortgages — just to conforming mortgages, which is what the majority of borrowers take out. However, mortgage lenders are increasingly offering what are known as nonconforming loans, or mortgages that do not “comply with every one of the strict standards put in place after the housing crisis,” said The Wall Street Journal. While “still a small portion,” the “share of mortgages using alternative lending practices” has “doubled in size over the past three years.”