Stumped! It’s called a ‘reserve’ Elk Grove Mayor Singh-Allen

Elk Grove is ‘led’ by four city council members and a mayor. Even though they are part-time legislators, one would expect them to have a basic grasp of the city’s budget.

As Elk Grove Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen demonstrated yesterday during a question and answer session with the Sacramento Asian Pacific Chamber of Commerce, she may not have any inclination of what is in the city’s annual budget. The mayor was stumped in a discussion about a possible recession and if the city has a “rainy-day” fund.

Had Mayor Singh-Allen bothered to read the first few pages of the city’s 2022-2023 budget, which she and her council member recently approved, she would have noted on page eight that, yes, the city has a “rainy-day” fund. The fund is called the “General Fund Reserve” or, colloquially, the reserve.

Now we don’t expect our part-time legislators to know every budget detail. Nonetheless, is it too much to ask that they have a working knowledge and some terminology awareness of how they spend taxpayers’ money?

It shows they are up there to feed their egos and not to be a steward of the public interests. But are we shocked?