Financial Outlook Rosy, Officials Say

The city’s comprehensive annual financial report, released earlier this week, showed that revenue exceeded projections by more than $2 million in the last fiscal year, due in large part to the strength of the economy. Much of the growth was due to a jump in total tax revenues of nearly 18% and a 9.5% increase in assessed property values within the city.

Irwin Bornstein, the city’s director of administrative services, said city officials had predicted a strong economy when they were preparing the budget for the year, but the final numbers showed even greater growth than expected.

Bornstein added that the city had expected sales tax revenue from the newly redeveloped Shops at Mission Viejo to be about triple what they were in the previous year and so far they were on track to meet those projections. Bornstein said the city will have to wait to see how the mall performs over the holidays before they know if their estimates were correct.