Thanks for writing Dave, and I hope more people will chime in.
Of 471 cities, the state auditor ranked Chico 50th worst for financial risk. Chico is at high risk in four pension and OPEB categories. The most recently available CAFR indicates Chico has over $200 million in liabilities, most of that for CalPERs which assumes an unrealistic 7% discount rate. Chico has runaway employee costs that must be reformed.Instead, council member Scott Huber criticizes council member Sean Morgan for not supporting a tax increase. Yet Morgan like the rest of the city council voted to move the sales tax increase forward. Tax increases will not solve runaway unfunded liabilities. The city council knows this which is why they will use the revenue from the sales tax to take on hundreds of millions in new debt resulting in future tax increase demands. Of course the PR firm the city is paying our hard-earned tax dollars to didn’t mention any of this to the registered voters they contacted for their survey used to word the ballot measure.
Instead of reforming runaway city employee costs, Huber, Morgan and the rest of the city council put us on a path of ruinous debt and future tax increases. This in a county with a 21% poverty rate where bureaucrats and other city employees can retire in their fifties with multi-million dollar pensions.
This is what happens when a clueless citizenry doesn’t hold an incompetent and corrupt city council accountable and is yet another example of how democracy is failing in our country.
Dave Howell, Chico
Chico Taxpayers Association 
Must read article. The growth in pensions is simply insane.
https://www.culvercityobserver.com/story/2019/11/14/opinion/transparent-california-releases-data-calpers-pensions-and-public-pay/8609.html
Transparent California, California’s largest public pay, and pension database said recently nearly 900 percent increase in CalPERS benefits dwarfs economic growth, taxpayers’ ability to pay. The total pension benefits promised by the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) Increased 886 percent from 1987. 2016 – a rate 21 times greater than the cumulative increase in the states’ population, according to a just-released analysis from Transparent California.
California Economic Metrics Growth from 1987-2016
Promised CalPERS pension benefits 886%
Total Personal Income 331%
Total State Tax Collections 311 %
Median Household Income 121%
Inflation 119%
Population 41%
“Elected officials’ willingness to take on such massive debt, not the fact that the stock market sometimes goes down, is the root cause of California’s pension crisis.
“Elected officials’ willingness to take on such massive debt, not the fact that the stock market sometimes goes down, is the root cause of California’s pension crisis.”
And the voters are equally responsible for failing to hold council and staff accountable. If we approve the tax measures coming to the ballot in March 2020, we’re saying we are willing to pay these pensions into perpetuity. By rejecting these tax increases loud and clear we are telling city council members that we will throw them out next November.
Must view video. Every voter in Chico should see this before voting for any tax increase.
https://www.prageru.com/video/public-pensions-an-economic-time-bomb/
Thanks Bob! I’ll post this separately.