I’m sorry, I’ve been busy with my own life, and have made a pointed attempt to ignore CARD. The public didn’t seem to be overly worried, so I figured – let them do their worst, maybe a new tax is the boot to the ass the voters need to WAKE UP!
But you know, I can’t turn my head when I read stuff like this – they cut part time workers again, complaining that program revenues were down, but had the absolute gall to raise manager Ann Willmann’s salary.
http://www.chicoer.com/general-news/20170615/card-mulls-over-proposed-2017-18-budget
Urseny wrote, “In a closed session movement, the board approved a review of Willmann’s performance, approving a raise that covers her CalPERS retirement payment, a little more than $2,000.
Are you getting that? $2,000 for 70 percent of her highest year’s salary, with COLA, at age 55. This for a woman who has badly mismanaged CARD, following the pattern her predecessor set in place – management salaries go up at the expense of the part time staff who actually run the programs. CARD’s mission needs a closer look – are they there to maintain our playing fields and neighborhood parks, or are they there to raise money to cover their own salaries and benefits?
They made a poor decision to take over the Chico Creek Nature Center, which was almost $200,000 in debt to the city of Chico for the loan taken to build the $800,000 “classroom” next to the old building that houses the exhibits and poor creatures in cages. CARD refused to be responsible for the debt – leaving it to be paid by ????? – while they made their plans to profit off the day camps. As badly run as CCNC was, their books in total disarray, at least they kept those camps going, for years. CARD brought in a new group to run the center, projecting all kinds of profits to pay down their $1.7 million pension deficit, and the new group has already walked away. Meanwhile, the district has closed down after school programs formerly run by CARD – another revenue stream gone.
“CARD is grappling with a slight reduction in the program-based revenue, primarily because private-based THRIVE education program won’t be using the Chico Creek Nature Center due to space constraints and because Chico Unified School District will not be offering an after-school program at Marsh Junior High.”
CARD is tanking, and the board gives their mis-manager a raise, her salary already over $120,000, plus her benefits package, for which she pays 2 percent. And the raise covers her 2 percent, how nice of us.
Board members Sneed, Mulowney and Ellis are up for re-election in 2018.
Chico Taxpayers Association 
The main reason for CARD’s existence is to benefit bureaucrats like Willmann.
You hit the nail on the head. These districts are formed out of thin blue air, gain control of public property, and use it to screw the money out of the taxpayers. Same with the Butte County Mosquito and Vectors District and Air Quality Management. Most, if not all, of these agencies have the authority to put a revenue measure on our homes. Here’s the list of “special districts” in California.
http://publicpay.ca.gov/Reports/SpecialDistricts/SpecialDistricts.aspx
Here’s Butte County.
http://publicpay.ca.gov/Reports/SpecialDistricts/SpecialDistrictCounty.aspx?fiscalyear=2015&county=Butte
Why do we have so many mosquito abatement districts? Why so many recreation districts? These agencies overlap, and their employees all have to be paid and get benefits. You can click on the agency and see how many employees, who gets paid what. Some only have governing boards that don’t get paid – these are usually appointed by the supervisors and each city in the county. Others are management heavy, $100,000+ salaries, very generous benefits packages – while the people who actually do the work make only seasonal wages and get NO BENEFITS. Like the guys who fly the planes that search out and spray mosquito ponds.
We’ll have to watch for that revenue measure at upcoming CARD board meetings, they’ve gone underground with that again.