By Francis Taylor, Executive Editor
Inglewood Treasurer Wanda Brown, second from Right, beside Congresswoman Maxine Waters, as the Congresswoman invited her on the podium at her life-time recognition in Black History Month.
The South Bay Black Journal, currently an online publication, recently had an opportunity to speak with the most tenured member of the City of Inglewood’s elected Executive Team. The Honorable Wanda Brown, PH. D, has served as the City Treasurer for 37 years, having defeated the incumbent in 1987 who held the position for 28 years. The following are the questions presented to Treasurer Brown and her responses.
Thank you for allowing me to ask you questions for an article that will be published on South Bay Black Journal’s website.
Please share a little of your financial background and education that has prepared you for this position and some of the record-breaking investment decisions you have made on the city’s behalf.
I have an earned B. S. degree in Business Education with an accounting emphasis from CSULB, in 1969, and an MBA with an accounting emphasis from UCLA in June 1973. I also hold a Life Insurance, Real Estate Broker, and Securities 6 & 67 Securities California State Licenses for over 20 years as a self-employed entrepreneur.
How would you describe the top few financial decisions you have made over the years as the city’s treasurer?
My primary duty as Treasurer is to safely invest all monies coming into my hands in banks or financial institutions approved by the City Council. I have earned more than $90,000,000 in gross investment interest income during my tenure as City Treasurer by investing and reinvesting Bond Proceeds and other city idle funds. During my tenure none of the city funds have been lost or misappropriated that was under my direct control. What I am particularly proud of is the City Treasurer Student Intern Program I started about 16 years ago that offers Inglewood and other students from 8th to 12th grade a four-week program where I teach basic financial concepts, how their local elected officials represent their community, provide tours of several city departs, and a hot lunch at the beginning of the program. At the end of the program, students are given a final exam to test what they learned where they must achieve a minimum score of 83%. I am proud that not a single student has failed to achieve the minimum score. In addition, I have also provided free income tax preparation for seniors, and I have provided a free Getting Your House in Financial Order Workshop for the Inglewood Community.
How have your job duties, in terms of financial overview and reporting, changed with the SOFI Stadium and the anticipated Intuit Dome?
Investments remain the same. However, increased sources of revenue have come in from the NFL’s SOFI Stadium. Increases in revenue from ticket sales from NFL games, concerts, special events, parking tax revenue, and other related fees, have enhanced the city’s revenue stream.
Will the tax revenue that those venues generate keep Inglewood in the ‘black’ for years to come?
Inglewood’s General Fund revenue, such as state and local taxes combined, accounts for 82.5% of budgeted revenues that are devoted to paying the obligations of the City. 17.5% is derived from department specific General Fund fees and other fees. Fees derived from both SOFI and the anticipated NBA INTUIT Dome, will not generate enough revenue to keep us in the “black.” The owners of SOFI and INTUIT will reap the greatest benefit, as it should be, since it is their capital investment that built the venues.
The press has reported that your salary and job duties were minimized following several public ‘run-ins’ with the mayor. What is the latest you can share about this report?
I endorsed the mayor in 2010 but, during council meetings, he tended to make snide remarks to me regarding my investments of City funds. I would report the total amount of gross investment interest earned but after the council meetings he would often say to me, “you are only investing the money the council made and never complimented me for the results.
I would like to add that when the council honored me for 31 years of excellence in investing at a city council meeting, I knew the idea was suggested to him by a staff member during Black History Month and the mayor knew it would not look well for him if he denied the honor. He took the lead and gave the city council credit for the event. Absolutely, no event took place without his direct approval because the council voted lockstep with him because he financially supported two of their election campaigns. Three of the five-member council control what gets passed on the agenda.
Were you banished from city council meetings and your office? Are things back to normal?
On one occasion, when I returned from a Treasurer Conference Mayor Butts had removed the Treasurer and City Clerk from providing public oral reports. When I questioned Mayor Butts he said, a Treasurer Report is not needed. Only when I agreed to organize a committee to help get signatures for a ballot measure to get his and the other council member’s salary raised did he allow me to give a public report. He also said he would raise my salary; however, I never organized such a committee.
This is when things worsened. Only the Treasurer had previously signed for the millions of dollars of Release of Bond Proceeds payments where I had signed for all of them. Mayor Butts abruptly and arbitrarily decided he wanted to sign for the release of those funds and had the bank document prepared to make that happen in August 2017. No previous mayor had ever signed off on the Release of Bond Proceeds payments. The very first Bond Proceeds Mayor Butts signed off was done incorrectly and resulted in an overpayment to the vendor of over $77,000. I tried to handle the issue internally by notifying the finance department of the error and was told they knew of the error were aware, but the overpayment had not been returned by the vendor and was told they would deduct the payment from a subsequent vendor contract. I notified the mayor in a private meeting, but he insisted on allowing finance to manage the issue.
Then, Mayor Butts had an item put on the agenda via the City Manager which basically said, the council is eliminating the investment Oversight Committee” developed by the Treasurer and replacing it with their new Investment Oversight Committee, and with their own members of which the Treasurer would be a part of which of course deleted the members of the original Investment Oversight Committee I established at least 20 years before Mayor Butts became mayor as well as some of the council members! Their New Oversight Committee met once but did not invite the Treasurer. Mayor Butts knew I would react to this unnecessary insulting act. I made a comment during the September 2018 council meeting that the finance director is not managing the write-off of uncollectible account receivables properly. Mayor Butts said something to the effect, the Treasurer does not know the proper way to manage accounts receivables and I am going to reduce her duties and salary and did so in December 2018. Mayor Butts used a statement to strip me of most of my duties I was elected to perform and 83% of my salary.
It is important to note the Treasurer’s duties have nothing to do with accounts receivable, which is a finance function. I merely made comments about this matter, and in my view, the mayor acted to do what he wanted to do all along and that is to control every department.
My employee badge was deactivated that precluded me from entering my own office and
the public city hall building. My computer was deactivated so that I could not perform any work whatsoever. My city Email to my phone was deactivated. I was also followed by unknown people from time to time.
All was restored after I filed a lawsuit suing the mayor and city council members which is now in the California Supreme Court on review. The council members were deleted from the lawsuit so I cannot discuss any aspects of the case.
In your view, have the citizens of Inglewood been treated fairly with the development of the SOFI Stadium and the anticipated Intuit Dome?
8. According to what has been printed in local papers and voiced by some residents and small businesses, housing cost has risen tremendously, Inglewood does not have adequate rent control, and residents, as well as small businesses especially, across from SOFI and on Prairie Avenue are impacted horrendously by traffic and parking issues caused by SOFI sports and concerts.
Some business owners have reported business is slow SOFI event days because customers don’t want to deal with traffic and parking issues.
Residents feel that they should have been permitted to vote on whether they wanted SOFI and INTUIT DOME. They feel a ballot measure would have revealed a lot more meaningful information where they could make an informed decision.
How long do you intend to serve the citizens of the City of Inglewood? I intend, God willing, to run for re-election in the November 2024 election.
Overall, what is the status of Inglewood’s fiscal health today?
11. ” On September 26, 2023, the Mayor and Council Members adopted the Fiscal Year 2023-2024 (FY2023-24) consolidated Annual Operating Budget totaling General Fund expenditures of $203,244,522, and General Fund revenues of $189,494,516 with anticipated carryover of $20,310,987, totaling $209,805,503.”
Personally, no comment regarding the City’s Fiscal Health. According to the City, Admission Tax collected for the first quarter Budget Report (October 01 – December 31, 2023) is $512,674 which is 90% less than the $4.6 million they alleged was brought in during the same period in fiscal year 2022-2023.
Finally, what would you like Inglewood residents to know about your service to the people of Inglewood?
Thank you for the good questions and I hope my answers provide the best information for the citizens of Inglewood to decide for themselves. Mayor Butts is Inglewood. He controls all departments and now the Treasurer Department, that I was elected nine times by the voters to accountable to them, not the mayor. I get calls from friends still there about how toxic the environment is and gone are the days where a resident could simply go to City Hall and get on the elevator to take care of needed business. Mayor Butts has established a Security desk where one must sign in with their name and Email information. They are given a badge and escorted to the elevator where the needed floor is punched-in by the security person.
