Put Lake Forest First

Two stores in my local shopping center just went out of business. The nearby shopping center on Muirlands and Lake Forest is practically empty.  Everyone knows that times are tough, businesses are failing, and people are out of work. The $35,000,000 per year the city spends can certainly be used to help the people and businesses here at home. So I took a look at the warrant register for the City of Lake Forest for July 2012. My purpose was to see how much of our money is spent inside the city and how much goes outside.

In the area of professional services, the City spent nearly $150,000 in July. 100% of that was spent on people and services outside Lake Forest.

Are there no auditors in Lake Forest? Do we have no engineers? Are our IT professionals unworthy of city dollars?

The city spent over $5000 in office supplies. 100% of that was spent on people and services outside Lake Forest.

We purchased business cards, copier supplies and services from Costa Mesa, Fullerton, Newport Beach, Irvine, and even out of state.

In the area of entertainment, the City spent more than $25,000 in July. 96% of that was spent on people and services outside Lake Forest.

Entertainers were hired from Costa Mesa, Anaheim, Tustin, Buena Park, and Los Angeles. Services were purchased from Fullerton, Laguna Hills, Hollywood, San Diego, and Cypress. Of 20 checks written, only 2 were made out to Lake Forest residents, and the total was less than $1000 out of more than $25,000.

In the area of instructors, the City spent more than $10,000 in July. 88% of that was spent on people and services outside Lake Forest.

Instructors were hired from Irvine, RSM, Santa Ana, Mission Viejo, and Laguna Hills. Of 12 instructors, only 3 were from Lake Forest. Is there no one in Lake Forest who can teach tennis, painting, dance, dog obedience, or agility training?

In the area of general maintenance, the City spent more than $100,000 in July. 86% of that was spent on people and services outside Lake Forest.

Payments for repairs were made to people or businesses in Mission Viejo, Chino, San Juan Capistrano, Anaheim, Laguna Hills, etc. Only 2 businesses in Lake Forest were used and they received only $15,000 of the $110,000. I know more than a dozen handymen and contractors who could sure use some of that business.

When you add it all up it looks like 95% of the city's budget is spent outside the city.

I’m not saying that just because you live in Lake Forest the city should hire you or use your business. We want the city to use the best people at the best possible price. But when you look at these figures, you’ve got to wonder why more city money isn’t spent in the city.

When I ran for City Council  in 2010 I used a printer here in Lake Forest (ACE) and I bought my T-shirts from the shop next to the 99 cent store on El Toro Rd. I purchased advertisements from a great guy (Gary Eilts) who lives in Lake Forest and I hired people to work in my campaign who lived in Lake Forest (Blake Tuttle and Doris Johnson). All the fund raising expenses I had I used on facilities and food in Lake Forest. Bottom line – 48% of my campaign expenses were spent in Lake Forest.

I don’t expect the city to match that kind of performance, but surely we should be able to do better. Surely our own city should look out for our own citizens and where we can, spend our money here. When it comes to spending Lake Forest dollars, Put Lake Forest First.