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Public commenter warns Glendale may be on a path to fiscal distress, urges audit committee action
Summary
Longtime observer Herbert Milano told the Audit Committee he believes Glendale's long-term obligations and unfunded liabilities place the city at significant fiscal risk and urged immediate collection of up-to-date debt, bond, and pension data to inform oversight.
"Is Glendale on the road to bankruptcy?" asked public commenter Herbert Milano, who told the Audit Committee he had compiled charts and public-records analyses showing substantial unfunded obligations. Milano urged the committee to obtain current totals of bonded debt, pension obligations and other liabilities rather than waiting for year-end statements.
Milano said the city's GASB-compliant financial statements omit figures that would show the full burden of depreciation, long-term bonded debt and pension obligations. "When we add all of the infrastructure, the long term bonded debt and the long term pension obligations, we are in the whole billions of dollars," he said, and asked the committee to seek more current data well before December.
During public comment later in the meeting Milano expanded his concerns by offering three specific findings he said the city's records show: only 3 of 91 contracts over $1,000,000 have received a contract-compliance audit (about 3.3% coverage); police sworn overtime in 2025 totaled around 63,000 hours with large undefined categories and some individuals earning very high overtime sums; and human-resources records show 7 of 51 recent hires had family members already on the payroll. He urged the committee to include those items in the FY27 audit risk assessment.
Committee members thanked Milano for the materials and staff confirmed the committee would consider the submissions during risk-mapping. Staff and another commissioner clarified timing and the process for what goes to council and what remains within committee purview.
Milano urged a special meeting or expedited attention to charter and audit-staffing changes, saying independent audit capacity is essential to detect governance and procurement problems.
