Well, you know what I love about my friend Joe Azzarito – he can’t just watch a pile of bullshit get up and walk down the street, he has to say, “Hey, that’s BULLSHIT!” So here’s what he has to say about Measure H. Thanks Joe and keep it coming.
Read this week’s articles and the supposed $24,000,000 in Chico’s budget proposals, as a result of Proposition H. How in hell can they continue to push this obvious lie? Can the Merlins in city hall staffing/and or council members explain their math? Maybe the espoused dyed in the wool Trump hater, Scott Paulo can help them. $24,000,000 in new receipts based on an added 1% comes from $2.4 billion (8 zeros) in taxable sales. That works out to $80,000 in taxable sales for every 4 person family or $20,000 from every man, women and child in Chico. With a total median family income at less than $80,000 and much of what they buy as non-taxable, how do they arrive at these ginormous tax receipts?
And don’t get me started on road repair – full repaving not just slurry and oil on nearly three-quarters of our streets are needed. I just incurred major tire replacements on our cars. Would Chico like to repay me for my automobile destruction due to their roadways being in third world condition?
Fraud, misinformation, disinformation is not limited to our federal government. It is rampant throughout our country. “Deep states” are real! They exist everywhere and are cancers that must be eradicated, if we are to survive as a country.
Joe Azzarito, Chico CA
According to Oxford, “Deep State is a body of people, typically influential members of government agencies or the military, believed to be involved in the secret manipulation or control of government policy.“
There has always been talk of a group of manipulators running the country – a real story was the Bank of Crooks and Criminals, with members like Jimmy Carter. “Also known as, ‘The Bank of Credit and Commerce’… Police and intelligence experts nicknamed BCCI the “Bank of Crooks and Criminals International” for its penchant for catering to customers who dealt in arms, drugs, and hot money.”
Were these people involved in Barack Obama’s “Fast and Furious” operation? Ask Sonny Bono. The government operates secretly, we find out years later from some reporter trying to make a name for themself, but there’s never any accountability. In Chico, the “Deep State” is made up of local businessmen and developers – Marc Francis, Bill Brouhard and others have manipulated every council as long as I can remember. Franklin Construction is one of the biggest donors at election time. Then there’s the employee unions – CPOA, IFFA and SEIU contributing thousands of dollars in every election.
Here’s a little anecdote for you – when Chico Area Rec Dist was discussing putting an aquatic center on Bill Brouhard’s friend’s south Chico property, former county supe Jane Dolan and her “activist” husband Bob Mulhullond appeared before the board to discuss environmental restrictions. Mulhullond was visibly upset about the project, and Dolan said it needed a full EIR. Bill Brouhard immediately invited Jane out into the hallway for a private discussion, and out she went. They sat in the hallway through the rest of the meeting, and since then, neither Dolan nor Mulhullond have mentioned that project again – now known as Valley’s Edge.
Yes, we have a “Deep State” – in Chico and throughout the country, it’s not just some “fringe” theory. Thanks for that letter Joe.
Chico Taxpayers Association 
There is always taxpayer money to expand the Chico PD, offer bonuses to lateral hires, (are they psychologically screened?) and purchase a long list of lethal weaponry to use on the civilians (citizens are not the enemy), with NO ACCOUNTABILITY.
Thanks Scott, I agree. Somebody wrote a great letter to the ER showing all the contradictory statements the chief made regarding those damn weapons. And today a letter writer confirmed the new parking kiosks are tracking an individual’s movement around town – more money spent for nefarious purposes. I think this is the worst council we ever had in terms of “sunshine” (ha ha – every time I say that word, I see Mark Sorensen doing a karaoke rendition of Lesley Gore)
What Joe fails to take into consideration is that Chico is a shopping hub for Northern California. Also, Chico State student’s spending, and tourist dollars. I would guess the $24,000,000 is probably pretty accurate. You just use some simple math applied to the sales tax receipts generated at the old rate of .o725.
Here’s something Joe didn’t mention – they took the $4 million, currently being slurried around town, from the General Fund and put it in the Measure H fund because they haven’t got any Measure H receipts yet but yeah, people all over town were screaming for street and other repairs. Got any idea why they wouldn’t just take that money out of the GF and put it in the streets fund? Cause it looks to me like they’re just trying to pull the wool over our eyes. The Finance Comm just talked about the fact that sales tax receipts are DOWN Tim, go to a meeting sometime. But they want people to believe that Measure H money will go to the streets, so they launder $4 million out of the General Fund by way of the Measure H fund? Trick-trick-trick TRICKY!
I don’t agree with you. For years now there’s been talk of retail “leakage” – no, Chico is not a shopping hub anymore, not like the old days. Walmart and other retailers have expanded into the out-lying towns. Chico also has very little to offer – have you see Oroville Home Depot? I bet for every 5 people who come to town to shop, 10 more leave Chico to shop.
Also, Chico State students and faculty live for the most part in Chico. And look at that – enrollment is down from over 15,000 to about 12,000. Tourist dollars? What is the attraction Tim? Graduation guests are looking to other towns for motels, and that means they’re taking most of their tax dollars with them.
And here’s something maybe you’re not considering. The Camp Fire and other nearby fires artificially inflated our economy, without providing sales tax revenues. Sure, while people temporarily stayed in town, there was a short-lived flush of sales tax and TOT, but that’s over. Chico did not benefit from the rebuild, and will see less business as a result of those rebuilds. Here’s the real whammy – Contractors and homeowners flooded Chico supply stores like Lowes, Home Depot, Payless Lumber, and other building supply businesses after the fire. Did you know, the sales tax went to Paradise? When we do improvements on our properties out of Chico, we list that address, and that’s where the sales tax goes.
Joe’s an accountant. Maybe you should show us your “simple” math.
What was the sales tax revenue for Chico in 2022? This info has to be out there somewhere. Then we can all stop speculating and Joe can do the math.
google “city of Chico budget” and be my guest. You don’t know anything about it, and you’re just throwing shit on Joe, aren’t you?
I love the way people demand this information of me, and then tell me I’m full of shit – do your own homework before you come back to the conversation, okay?
Thanks for your lovely reply. Although my algebra is rusty, I calculate that in 2022 Chico needed to receive $174,000,000 in sales tax revenue to justify the $24,000,000 in sales tax increases claimed in measure H. Please check my math. I think this is possible. You and Joe claim it’s a hoax. Prove it.
Chico needed to generate, not receive, $174,000,000 in sales tax revenue. My mistake.
Dear Juanita Chiquita,
I did the math for you. I responded to ‘your and Joe’s’ unsubstantiated claims. I’m not throwing shit on anyone. Your column is very informative, but at times you are just trying to stir up shit. You made the claim. Prove it.
Look Tim, we read the budget, read the reports, I went to the meetings – what have you done besides try to start shit with me, Weirdo Stalker? What’s your problem maple grower? Got a friend/family who works for city of Chico? Fuck you – until you can quote the budget to me, I don’t need to prove anything.
Dear Juanita Chiquita,
You are a lovely person, I especially enjoy your down-home vocabulary. Am I stalking you? Don’t flatter yourself. Just stopping writing fantasies’ that you can’t prove. Fraudulent claims are detrimental actions, no matter what side of the fence you are standing. They are a major source of our countries angst.
Wow, are you blind? Can’t read? Don’t know how to use the search engine? Don’t flatter yourself – you add nothing to the conversation Tim, so beat it.