Our first quiz, based on this article:
https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article229871849.html
Read the questions below carefully, refer back to the article, and go ahead and use google if you want, I always do. You can also comment below, and yeah, you can be anonymous. You can even use a fake e-mail, I wouldn’t know the difference.
If we get enough people to participate, I may award prizes. Next time I’ll do it in a poll, so there’s no cheating. This is just a fun run.
Sacramento City Measure U passed with what percentage?
- 2/3’s voter approval
- 100 percent
- 57 percent
- it failed
What did Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg promise Sacramento voters if they passed Measure U?
- the new revenue would not go to employee pensions
- that he would “invest new city resources in economic development, disadvantaged neighborhoods, the creative economy and real pathways for young people.”
- told voters the majority of the revenue generated by U would go toward a series of projects to uplift the city’s disadvantaged neighborhoods and to increase the city tax base
- all of the above
What did Sacramento City Council vote unanimously to do after the measure was passed?
- directed budget officials to place new Measure U revenue into the general fund, which pays for most basic city services, salaries and pensions
- asked the city treasurer to come back in the coming weeks with a plan to securitize $25 million of new Measure U revenue per year to create a capital equity fund. That fund could raise about $400 million upfront through the sale of bonds that would be repaid by Measure U receipts
- proposed the second pot of roughly $25 million in new Measure U revenue per year be set aside for achieving economic equity.
- all of the above
What issue splits the council?
- getting out of CalPERS
- securitization of Measure U funds
- firing their city manager
- paying the pension deficit
What does “securitization” mean?
- making sure to lock the doors at city hall every night
- describes the process by which groups of such illiquid assets (usually debts) are packaged, bought, securitized and sold to investors.
- placing revenues in secured funds and limiting them to specified uses determined by the voters
- all of the above
What does “illiquid mean”?
- solid
- nothing it’s a typo
- Illiquid refers to the state of a stock, bond, or other assets that cannot easily be sold or exchanged for cash without a substantial loss in value {a company may be illiquid if it is unable to obtain the cash necessary to meet debt obligations)
- incontinent
ANSWERS: (backwards) 3, 2, 2, 1, 4, 3
Scoring:
6 of 6 – write a letter to Chico City Council
5 of 6 – write a letter to Chico City Council
4 of 6 – write a letter to Chico City Council
3 of 6 – hang in there, and keep reading
2 of 6 – hang in there, and keep reading
1 of 6 – really? You’re not trying. I made this thing easy enough for a high school kid to figure out, read the articles again!
Chico Taxpayers Association 
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg repeatedly promised voters last year if they approved the Measure U sales tax increase in November, the new revenue would not go to employee pensions. But the mayor said Tuesday the city’s proposed budget outlook suggests it will.
That’s a ridiculous promise and Steinbum clearly lied to get the tax increase passed. The measure was a general tax increase, so he had to know the money would into the general fund and from their be used for pensions and raises. He’s the mayor and a career politician. How could he NOT know?
He lied to the voters just like our city council and the Chico bureaucrats will lie to the voters here.
“If we keep the second half cent (of new Measure U revenue) in the general fund, every penny will go to pension and salaries,” Steinberg said. “All of the money will be gone
Ya think? So now Steiny tells the truth!
If Steinberg would have told voters that the Measure U sales tax increase would go toward pensions, salaries and basic services, they would not have approved it, Steinberg said. It passed with about 57 percent of the vote.
BINGO! And if you think Huber, Schwab, Reynolds or the rest of those bums on the city council will tell you the truth then you are a fool. They will lie to your face and laugh just like old Steiny.
“This is now a matter of trust with the voters,” Steinberg said.
Any voter who would trust these lying politicians deserves to get taxed into the stone age.
And read that letter from those special interests protesting that the money is going to wind up at CalPERs.
They used flowery and grandiose terms (just like Steinberg did in the election to get the tax increase passed), but the truth is there is a huge food fight between crony capitalists, government bureaucrats and quasi-government bureaucrats, government unions and politicians over who is going to get all that loot. And none of them give a rat’s @ss about poor people.
I just about barfed when I saw the part about using sales tax revenues to pay off the bonds.
How did you score on the quiz?
Great article Juanita Politicians are promising better roads, improved, education, more efficient government, better fire and police safety, etc., but the new revenues are siphoned off into pension accounts becasue Calpers has grossly underestimated the return they will make from stock market investments. For example, Treasury Bill, T-Bills, guaranteed by the federal government, pay a rate of about 2%. The rate of return of T-Bills is a red-flag that the 7% rate promised by city politicians is illusory. Regarding police; Chico PD and BCSD are not promising quality
Thanks for explaining this Scott, I am trying to wrap my head around these Financial issues. I don’t think the average Chicoan really comprehends what is going on.