Redding seeks community members for two committees aimed at providing advice on the city’s financial processes
The city is accepting applications to join the newly-formed Financial Advisory Committee and the newly-formalized Audit Committee. Both applications are due April 17.
Amid the debut of new Redding City Manager William Tarbox — who hopes to overhaul the city’s budget and spending with the results of a new efficiency study — the city has put out a call for members of the public to apply to join two committees focused on finances: the newly-formed Financial Advisory Committee, and a more formalized version of the city’s pre-existing Audit Committee.
Over the course of 2025, the city budget was a hot topic as the council underwent tense negotiations on how to make up for a projected $5 million dollar deficit. One unsuccessful attempt to close that gap was a citizen-led tax initiative that appeared on ballots last November, but which voters declined to approve.
Without hope of tax funds, city council members are implementing a new financial committee in hopes of adding more citizen input to the process of budget development. They’ve also formalized the city’s long-standing Audit Committee.
“These committees are an important step in bringing more voices into the financial conversation,” Mayor Mike Littau said in a press release yesterday. “Whether it’s helping with input on our financial future or strengthening accountability, we want local residents to be part of the process.”
The Financial Advisory Committee will include seven members including two city council members who will be appointed by the mayor as well as five community members, each selected by a different council member. Community members selected for appointment will have to be approved by a majority of council members to take their seat. Once formed, the committee will map out strategies and priorities for how the city budget is structured, informed by economic trends and the perspectives of committee members from industry and stakeholder groups.
As newly-structured, the city’s Audit Committee consists of two voting members — the mayor and vice mayor — and up to two non-voting members selected from the public by a majority of the council. This committee also serves in an advisory capacity by helping oversee internal and external audits, analyzing the findings of audits, and promoting best practices in government spending, risk management, and accountability.
To apply to be appointed as one of the five community members on the Financial Advisory Committee, or one of the two non-voting members on the Audit Committee, visit the City of Redding’s website. Applications are due on April 17, at 5 P.M.
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They all need to be replace asap.
Maybe we can get Crye on the committee. He can peel back the onion and find the solution, which would most likely consist of the City signing a multimillion dollar contract with Ninja Coalition for starters and then placing g his cronies in charge of all departments with considerable pay raises and 3 year contracts. Of course when it comes contract time for the employees they will, like the county employees, be offered peanuts for their service because we all know that big government needs to be scaled back because they make way too much as it is. He will suggest doing away with essential services because there really not needed and terminate employees that don’t take a knee. Thus of course will cost the City millions of dollars in lawsuits but Kevin will insist, like at the County level, he is saving the taxpayers millions.
Let’s bring back Barry Tippin, after all, we never had a deficit until he left. Maybe Mike Warren or Leonard Moty as backups?
Crye, needs to go on Vacation for Every.
Seems like Tennesa should be on the audit committee, after all we wouldn’t know we’re in a deficit if not for her.
I think it’s a conflict of interest for the council members to be choosing the people on these committees. It seems to me that the council members are somewhat responsible for the deficit. I’m sure they wouldn’t put anyone on the committees who didn’t align with the very ideas that got us in this mess. Please feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.
In Redding, we are now being invited—graciously, of course—to “participate” in the city’s financial future. Committees are being formed, applications are being accepted, and residents are being encouraged to lend their voices to the difficult budget decisions ahead. On its face, this sounds like civic engagement at its finest. In reality, it feels more like being asked to help steer a ship after someone else has already set the course—and locked the wheel.
Let’s speak plainly. The City Manager position commands a salary in the neighborhood of $330,000 or more, placing it firmly in the upper tier of municipal compensation across California. That might be easier to accept if Redding were a sprawling metropolis with an endless tax base and booming revenues. It is not. It is a mid-sized city facing a projected deficit, asking residents to weigh in on trade-offs that will likely affect services, staffing, and long-term stability.
So naturally, the question arises: if the city is tightening its belt, who exactly is exempt from the exercise? Because from where many residents sit, the answer appears to be “the top.” There is something almost poetic about asking working families, small business owners, and retirees to provide “input” on fiscal restraint while maintaining executive compensation that rivals that of far larger and more complex cities. One might even call it bold—if not for the fact that it risks coming across as tone-deaf.
To be clear, public input is not the problem. In fact, it is essential. But input without influence is not participation—it is theater. Advisory committees, by design, do not make decisions. They recommend. They discuss. They validate. And when the final decisions are made elsewhere, those same committees can be pointed to as evidence that “the community was involved.” It is a neat trick, and one that governments have perfected over time.
If this process is to be taken seriously, it must begin with a simple principle: shared sacrifice must actually be shared. That means every line item—including executive compensation—should be open to scrutiny, discussion, and, if necessary, adjustment. Otherwise, the message being sent is unmistakable: the public is welcome to help solve the problem, so long as it does not involve questioning the structure that created it.
Perhaps the new City Manager genuinely wants to hear from the community. If so, there is an opportunity here—not just to listen, but to lead by example. Transparency, accountability, and a willingness to examine every corner of the budget would go much further than any advisory committee ever could. Until then, residents may continue to participate—but they will do so with a lingering suspicion that the real decisions have already been made, and that their role is simply to applaud the outcome.
WELL SAID