Richard Montgomery is proud of his record of financial stewardship, having previously served on the Manhattan Beach City Council during the 2008 financial crisis. He said that hard financial decisions at the time meant cuts to essential city services were not necessary down the road.
That austerity mindset, however, needed some flexibility. In the 2009-10 school year, when Montgomery was on the council, the Manhattan Beach Unified School District was facing recession-induced budget shortages of its own. So the city stepped up and provided nearly $2 million to the district.
The episode is revealing of what emerged in an interview with Montgomery as his view of financial leadership: though he touts his ability to save money, he is equally sanguine about spending it, wisely and when needed.
“When the state was broke, we stepped up and did it. Not as a loan, but as an investment in our schools,” Montgomery said. “It’s not that we had it sitting around in petty cash. But it was the right thing to do then, and it would be the right thing to do now.”
Montgomery is one of eight candidates seeking three city council positions in the upcoming March election. He is running with a lengthy record, having previously served two terms on the council. (His 2005 class of elected officials was the first to be subjected to a city ordinance limiting councilmembers to two consecutive terms.) And though his service was defined by the challenges of the recession, he is confident in his ability to lead in times healthy and lean.
“I hit the ground running on the first day. There’s no down-time with 8 years experience,” Montgomery said.
His campaign hit a snag recently with the release of information appearing to undermine his reputation for financial management. In August 2013, Montgomery agreed to pay $20,000 in fines and investigation costs to the state and to surrender his Real Estate Appraiser License over three appraisal reports done for properties in Rancho Cucamonga and Fontana. In a recent article in the Easy Reader, Montgomery admitted to the mistakes, but said they represented a tiny fraction of his career. He said he is not hiding from his past, but rather asking to be judged by his record as a whole.
“I think it’s exactly fair, and I’m owning up to it…I’m not absolving myself for what happened,” Montgomery said in the previous article.
Like current council members Wayne Powell and David Lesser, Montgomery’s career in local government began with a stint on the Planning Commission. While there, he said, he developed an understanding of the intricacies of the environmental review process, and learned how to use them to benefit the city.
He pointed to the decision made, after he joined council, to challenge the Environmental Impact Report for the El Segundo development that today includes Whole Foods and Best Buy. Doing so, he said, netted the city money that could later be used for essentials, like the money given to schools.
With the onset of the recession, municipal budgets were hit especially hard. Many California cities, including Los Angeles, responded by furloughing employees, while others were forced into layoffs. Still others, like Stockton and San Bernardino, declared bankruptcy. It was not an easy time to be in local government, Montgomery recalled.
“We had no layoffs, and we kept city hall open five days a week,” he said, alluding to the city’s decision, after he left, to adopt a 9-80 work schedule.
Manhattan Beach, with its higher property tax rolls, was in a better position than most, but still experienced challenges. Montgomery is quick to credit Finance Director Bruce Moe, Treasurer Tim Lilligren and then Councilmember Nick Tell with doing the bulk of the work, but said that the experience of having served “in a crisis” sets him apart from the crop of other candidates.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn, whose District 4 includes Manhattan Beach, had several opportunities to work with Montgomery in his time on the council. Hahn served as a Los Angeles City Councilmember and later as the town’s representative in Congress. She said that Montgomery has a knack for getting results in projects requiring cooperation among various levels of government. Though Manhattan’s affluence shields it from some of the challenges faced by other parts of the region, many of the town’s priorities, like the state of its beaches, are dependent on working with the county.
“He understands this idea of reaching across the aisle, and working with elected officials at all levels. And he will have a good relationship with me as county supervisor,” Hahn said.
If elected, Montgomery plans to prioritize his long view of prudent financial management. He would like to rein in hiring, with possible additions in public safety, or an additional planner if it would be shown to reduce the money the city spends on consultants. And he thinks the council should be more aggressive in pursuing capital projects, especially a new senior center, given the city’s cheap access to money and an expected increase in construction costs.
“Guys, construction rates are going up. We have a AAA credit rating. Costs are going to climb like crazy. They are going to increase every year no matter what we do,” he said
