Turning around the finances of a city is no easy task, but that’s what Darren Adair and his team helped do for North Las Vegas. It was a successful effort that the judges for CFO of the Year found quite impressive, leading them to name Adair as the CFO of the Year.
Six years ago, North Las Vegas was struggling. On the verge of state takeover, the city was strapped with a $153 million long-term budget deficit, a $17 million short-term budget deficit, court orders requiring more than $30 million in judgments and a North Las Vegas bond rating of “junk” status.
Now in 2019, the city’s structural deficits have been erased, credit has returned to “investment grade” and the city is operating under a current and projected balanced budget.
“Today, the future is bright, and I believe the City of North Las Vegas will go from being the ‘stepchild’ of the Las Vegas Valley to the ‘prince,’” said Adair, who came on board with the city in 2013 as the senior executive finance officer.
Under Adair’s guidance, the city turned things around by considering its undeveloped real estate as a key asset, pushing tens of millions of dollars of infrastructure into what is now a thriving commercial and industrial area with a promising future.
North Las Vegas’ credit and financial creditability have rebounded to pre-recession levels, with historic increases in both its S&P Global Ratings report card and its Moody’s Investors Services credit rating.
With more than two decades of experience in local public accounting, corporate and real estate development finance, and SEC reporting, Adair holds dual bachelor’s degrees in accounting and business information systems (computers/IT) and a master’s degree in accounting from Southern Utah University.