“It is a tool we can use to take control of our financial future. Creating this [new agency] gives us the opportunity to both balance the budget, and deliver what our residents have told us they wanted.” Mayor Freddy Puza offered a positive outlook on the decision made to create a new agency, a Joint Powers Authority, to offer bonds through the city as a financial tool.
At the City Council meeting of March 16, 2026, the council unanimously approved authorizing City Manager Odis Jones to pursue the formation of a Joint Powers Authority to finance existing city obligations and future special projects.
The city has been working toward finding a way out of it’s historic structural deficit, and creating more revenue. Last August 26, 2025, through a special all-mailed election, voters approved Measure CL with 67.1% percent of the votes, adding to the local sales tax. The city is expecting the measure to generate approximately $5.6 million annually.
This new revenue will help offset the city’s deficit, but additional actions are needed to balance the budget and replenish reserves.
On February 14, 2026, the City Council held a day-long Special Strategic Planning Meeting and Financial Summit. City Manager Jones, along with representatives from Orrick, provided an overview of the process to form a JPA and how the city could issue lease revenue bonds using one or more of the city’s or the Parking Authority’s parking structures as the leased asset.
At the February meeting, Council consideration a JPA as a mechanism to repay the General Fund and the Housing Authority for their past and future contributions to the Jubilo Village Project, and create a separate fund to pay for future projects.
The amount of the annual debt service to be paid from the City’s General Fund would ultimately depend on the amount of lease revenue bonds sold.
The Council also approved a professional services agreement with Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP for the establishment of the JPA and bond counsel services, a professional services agreement with PFM Financial Advisors LLC for financial advisory services related to lease revenue bonds, and a professional services agreement with Ernst & Young U.S. LLP for financial analysis.
Joint powers authorities are widely used in California where they are permitted under Section 6502 of the Government Code. Other cities that have JPA agreements include Chico, Petaluma and Santa Rosa.
Municipal Bonds are a common tool for local governments to raise revenues for planned projects. Lease revenue bonds are a type of municipal bond used to finance the construction of facilities using lease payments as the financial guarantee for investors who purchased the bonds used to finance the construction of the facility.
In this proposal, the bonds would be issued by the JPA as lease revenue bonds. The leased asset would likely be one or more of the parking structures owned by the Parking Authority or the City.
The City would be responsible for paying the debt service on bonds issued by the JPA.
The community meetings on priority budgeting will begin next week, on April 7, 2026.
Judith Martin-Straw
Additional text, City of Culver City
