BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — Bakersfield city leaders touted declining crime rates, continued economic growth and future development projects while acknowledging ongoing financial and affordability challenges during the city's annual State of the City address.
City Manager Christian Clegg highlighted improvements in public safety, saying Bakersfield has seen an overall 30% reduction in violent crime in recent years.
“On top of three years of double-digit crime reductions, in the last year we've continued to see even more,” Clegg said.
Clegg said public safety remains the city's top priority, noting that 70% of the Public Safety Vital Services tax revenue and 60% of the city's general fund tax dollars are dedicated to public safety.
Despite those investments, Clegg said the city's revenue growth is not keeping pace with rising costs.
“Increases in our revenues are not keeping up with inflationary growth in our expenses,” Clegg said. “We're aware of that. We're concerned about it.”
To address those challenges, city officials said Bakersfield plans to continue building more housing to help keep costs down while attracting higher-paying jobs that generate greater local spending. They said maintaining affordability remains a priority as more people move to Bakersfield.
“The supply and demand equation does affect affordability, and if we can create a bigger supply of housing, it's going to help to continue to keep those costs down,” Clegg said. “We also think that while Bakersfield can have nice things, we don't look to be like Los Angeles or San Francisco.”
“As more people come to Bakersfield, we are all working together with our businesses to make sure that Bakersfield remains affordable,” Mayor Karen Goh said. “Naturally, when more people come in, there's more competition, and we want to continue working together with our businesses, with our developers to make sure that Bakersfield still can be a place where people can realize the American dream.”
Clegg acknowledged affordability will continue to be a challenge as population growth increases demand across the Central Valley.
“It is possible, but it will be a challenge ongoing,” Clegg said. “Affordability throughout California has been a challenge for the last couple of decades. The Central Valley, interestingly, hasn't seen that same level of escalation of costs, but as other areas are seeing more pressure, we're seeing more interest in the Central Valley, and it is starting to drive some of our cost of living up.”
Both Clegg and Goh said balancing infrastructure improvements, increasing city revenue and maintaining affordability will require careful planning, but they believe ongoing projects are positioning Bakersfield for continued growth.
“Bakersfield, you are getting shopping. You are getting restaurants. You are getting an upscale grocery store,” Goh said.
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