Three members of the Ceres City Council decided they didn’t want to entertain items for future agenda items calling for a forensic audit of the city’s books.
The three also rejected Councilman James Casey’s idea to have Ceres voters decide if the city treasurer is a necessary position given that financial duties largely fall to the city Finance Director.
Regarding the ballot measure discussion, Councilwoman Rosalinda Vierra said she hoped to just get an explanation of what the city treasurer’s job entails but added, “I don’t know if I necessarily wanted it on the agenda.” She abstained from weighing in. The agenda request ended up failing with Casey and Councilwoman Cerina Otero saying they wanted to pursue a discussion and Mayor Javier Lopez and Vice Mayor Daniel Martinez voting “no.”
City treasurer Kayla Martinez is the wife of the vice mayor.
In another request, Councilwoman Cerina Otero failed to convince members Lopez, Martinez and Vierra to begin a discussion to explore a forensic audit.
“There has been lots of city turnover in the past several years and due to these leadership changes and it’s important to verify our fiscal integrity during these transitions,” said Otero. “I think it’s important to ensure there’s not any financial discrepancies so that we can improve our current financial situation. Obviously, I don’t know what the cost would be, which is why I’m asking city stuff to evaluate and present to the council the options that that we have.”Mayor Lopez quizzed Deputy Finance Director Sonia Ledesma about why a forensic audit would be needed and was told “Anytime there is an assumption of this misuse of funds or investment that’s happening in the city.”
Lopez replied: “Being that there isn’t, I cannot support this.”
Martinez asked how far back Otero wanted to delve and she replied, “10 years would be sufficient.”
The vice mayor also asked Ledesma about the status of the current financial audit. The audit of 2024-25 is expected to be completed by the summer of 2026.
Vierra suggested that other than the issue of the last audit being late, she didn’t support Otero’s request.
Otero clarified that she only wanted a “deeper dive into our financial situation.”
Only Otero and Casey wished to pursue talk about a forensic audit.
The council also rejected Casey’s request to place a future agenda item on starting food vendor audits by code enforcement and quarterly reports on sales tax collected.
He said he visited five mobile food vendors and found that none of them were collecting sales tax and wasn’t sure if they were covering it for the customers.
Economic Development Director Julian Aguirre said all the city can do is verify that businesses have a seller’s permit but that it’s up to each business to report taxes to the state Franchise Tax Board. That process is already being done for mobile food vendors before they get a business license.
Lopez, Martinez and Vierra all said “no” to the request for that issue to appear on a future agenda.
Council members routinely ask for referrals to get items placed on future agendas.
