Chapter Round-up: Orange County
On December 1st, the CSMFO Orange County Chapter held its first in-person holiday event since 2019. The sold-out event of approximately 120 attendees was held at the Tustin Ranch Golf Club.
Our guest speaker, Michael Coleman of CaliforniaCityFinance.com, provided a thorough presentation to update us on the latest news regarding the results of revenue-related ballot measures from the November 2022 election, trends in State gasoline taxes, and the latest on other California local revenues. He only went through a portion of his 200+ slide deck so we are looking forward to learning more at the upcoming conference in Sacramento! Michael Coleman is a leading expert on California local government revenues, spending and financing. He is the creator of CaliforniaCityFinance.com, the California Local Government Finance Almanac, an online resource of data, analyses and articles on California municipal finance and budgeting. He is the principal fiscal policy advisor to the California Society of Municipal Finance Officers (CSMFO) and, for over twenty-five years, to the League of California Cities.
The Orange County Chapter would like to thank our commercial sponsors. Our Platinum level sponsors (DavisFarr LLP; Fieldman, Rolapp & Associates, Inc.; and Jacob Green & Associates) and Gold level sponsors (Best Best & Krieger LLP; Chandler Asset Management, Inc.; Eide Bailly LLP; and HdL Companies, Inc.) contributed approximately 45% toward the cost of the event. Their financial support helped to keep the per attendee cost of the event reasonable for our Chapter membership.
In addition, I would like to personally express my gratitude to Barbara Arenado, Orange County Chapter Vice Chair and City of Seal Beach Finance Director and Florence Ruiz, City of Stanton Administrative Services Supervisor, for the role each of them played in the planning, preparation, and onsite support of this event. It definitely takes an effective team to make such an event happen successfully!
Michelle Bannigan currently serves as both Orange County Chapter Chair and Student Engagement Committee Chair. Michelle began volunteering for CSMFO when she assumed the Orange County Chapter Chair role in 2020. She is currently Finance Director for the City of Stanton. Michelle earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in accounting from Vanguard University (Costa Mesa, California) and has been a licensed CPA since 2001. She has 24 years of experience in the local government auditing and accounting field, with the last 11 years working in the public sector.
In her free time, she enjoys reading, walking her dog (Zoe), or spending time with her two sons, Jack (20) and Mason (18).
