The rich will play while the taxpayers pay – the skating rink lost $113,835?

As I was looking over the budget report from this past week’s Finance Committee meeting, a few things caught my eye – figures that just seem to appear out of nowhere. It’s called the Hokey Allocation Pokey – they just take money from one fund to another, like peas under walnut shells. The hand is quicker than the eye!

https://chico.ca.us/sites/main/files/file-attachments/5.24.23_fc_agenda_packet.pdf?1684428185

Yes, as they promised, they have a special fund for Measure H revenues, but here’s the thing that caught my eye – there’s already $4 million in there, and it’s in parentheses. That means, deficit. They haven’t collected $4 million in revenues, cause they only started collecting the tax April 1. So they just took the money – allocated it – from somewhere else. It’s in parentheses because they will have to pay it back, I would hope. I’m going to guess I missed the meeting where they said where that money came from, and it’s not in the report. It just materialized.

That is exactly the figure that Mark Sorensen pledged to “fix” our streets, with slobbers patches and slurry. That was a mini-drama – at first the city announced they would be applying new slurry (a coating made from old asphalt and oil) on streets in newer neighborhoods, some of them less than 10 years old. That riled people in older neighborhoods who hadn’t seen service in 20 or more years – how about the Guynn Avenue bridge, closed years ago because it’s falling off it’s mounts, restricting the residents’ egress and ingress from their homes. Tijuana quality service in a town with a budget over $200 million a year. Our City Manager’s salary of $211,000.year (+benefits) is more than they spent on the streets last year, you figure it out.

So our idiot mayor, Andrew Coolidge, quickly called the press to declare that was a mistake, and they changed the schedule to include neighborhoods with streets so badly damaged and neglected that the slurry won’t last 6 months. Mark my words, Folks, mark ’em down. I been right so far.

Hey Becca, I’m going to guess, you’re still waiting for sewer service down your street – remember, Becca was telling us the city has run sewer lines within a block of her house but she’s still sitting on a dysfunctional septic tank waiting for that last section of trunk line.

Where the hell does the money go? Well, drive Downtown, you see everybody who wanted them got their parklets – that was paid for out of the American Rescue Plan money that was intended to help businesses get over the effects of the pandemic, a shutdown ordered by the city. But was it really intended to help businesses expand onto public property to make more profits than ever before? I don’t believe it was, I think our council members are just listening to the squeaky wheels.

Right now, Downtown is tanking, so the Downtown merchants are squeaking like an old wagon. They were the principal proponents of the skating rink, claiming their receipts went up during the season – really? But who paid for it? The city budget, on page 115, shows that the city manager recommended budget projections of $115,000 in sponsorships and $250,000 in admissions? But I see they allocated $300,000 from the General Fund anyway. Does that money get paid back or what? We never know.

Of course, those figures are all speculated, “adopted” by council at the city manager’s recommendation. At this past week’s Finance Committee meeting (5/24), the report showed the “actuals”. For one thing, staff reported for April, “Description: Salaries & Employee Benefits Analysis: This category is tracking behind due to additional staff working on ice rink. Action Plan: Finance is taking a supplemental to Council to adjust budget to align with actual costs.” Followed by a second note – “Description: Non-Recurring Operating Analysis: Additional costs for operating the Chico Ice Rink. Action Plan: Finance is taking a supplemental to Council to adjust budget to align with actual costs.“

That was the report for April. As of May, two more supplemental allocation requests: “Item #3 Description: Non-Recurring Operating Analysis: Additional costs for operating the Chico Ice Rink. Action Plan: Finance is taking a supplemental to Council to adjust budget to align with actual costs.”

“Item #6 Location: City Recreation Expenditure Category: 876-610-4000 Description: Salaries & Employee Benefits Analysis: This category is tracking behind due to additional staff working on ice rink. Action Plan: Finance is taking a supplemental to Council to adjust budget to align with actual costs.“

Yes, they went over budget, they’re asking more money be appropriated for the skating rink costs. Obviously, staff time for the rink cost more than they predicted. Staff out of public works – those employees that are supposed to fix our streets, all Downtown working overtime on the skating rink.

On page 111 of the report for April, the word “Over” is written in red ink eight times, including “professional services” (contractor for the rink), “non-recurring/operating” and “advertising” – the rink. This sounds trite but it’s true – only the government is allowed to go “over” budget without an intervention.

And then there’s a page that I can’t get an image of, and it didn’t turn up under my F-Search, I don’t know how they load this stuff, but you’ll have to look for it yourself. On page “2 of 316” of the March report, staff lists the “actuals”. Under Fund 876, “City Recreation”, they’ve got a negative fund balance of ($113,835) for 22/23. As of March 31 2023, only $6500 in sponsorships has come in against Sorensen’s projected $115,000.

Let’s just admit it – the skating rink is a wash. When staff gave the Finance Committee that news at the April meeting, Mayor Idiot slumped in his chair like a second grader being called out for bad behavior, mumbling into his own chest, “well…it’s good will…”

Good will for whom? Delivered at whose expense? As usual, the taxpayers pick up the bill for the excesses of the elite.