With over 30 years of senior municipal financial management experience, which included serving as the Director of Finance & Information Technology/City Treasurer for the City of San Luis Obispo for 22 years and as the finance officer for the City of Simi Valley for 10 years before that, Bill Statler has entered the “third act” of his career by providing financial management advice and training to local government agencies.
Under his leadership, the City of San Luis Obispo received national recognition for its financial planning and reporting systems, including:
๏ Award for Distinguished Budget Presentation from the Government
Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA),
with special recognition as an outstanding policy document, financial
plan and communications device. San Luis Obispo is one of only a
handful of cities in the nation to receive this special recognition.
๏ Awards for excellence in budgeting from the California Society of
Municipal Finance Officers (CSMFO) in all four of its award budget
categories: innovation, public communications, operating budgeting and
capital budgeting. Again, San Luis Obispo is among a handful of cities in
the State to earn recognition in all four of these categories.
๏ Awards for excellence in financial reporting from both the GFOA and
CSMFO for the City’s comprehensive annual financial reports.
๏ Recognition of the City’s financial management policies as “best practices”
by the National Advisory Council on State and Local Budgeting.
The financial strategies, policies and programs he developed and implemented resulted in strengthened community services and an aggressive program of infrastructure and facility improvements, while at the same time preserving the City’s long-term fiscal health. This included taking a lead role in developing and presenting the community outreach and education program in preparation for a general purpose, ½-cent City sales tax measure, which was overwhelmingly adopted with 65% voter approval in November 2006; and renewed in November 2014 for another eight years with 70% voter approval.