Thanks to great reporting and fact-finding by reporter Sara Cardine, the Daily Pilot has confirmed that (now former) Costa Mesa Finance Director Carol Molina parted ways with the city on Friday.

Perhaps the newsiest bit of that piece, which does not confirm whether Ms. Molina resigned or was fired, is that “one person close to City Hall, who asked not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the subject matter, told the Daily Pilot Molina had been having conversations with city leadership about significant overspending in the budget prior to her leaving.”

“Significant overspending?” Rut roh. Sounds like a rough budget season may be almost upon us.

Unfortunately the rest of the story is pretty light on detail. While the circumstances of Molina’s departure are of gossipy interest, I think the rumors about the budget being in a bad place are far more interesting. I’ve discussed numerous places where local programs are sitting with their hands out thanks to budget squeezes elsewhere, from the Bridge Shelter to the senior free rides program to the various immigrant defense and assistance funds. Now, the music may be stopping for far more than just one or two small programs.

There is more going on in the city — the City Council will peek at the first draft of the facilities master plan in a study session this evening, and the Newport-Mesa Unified School District is likely to take significant action against e-bikes — but this seems like the big story at the moment. More, I’m sure, to come.