Yep, the city of Chico is worried about the Taxpayer Protection Act. They know it will overturn the unconstitutional sales tax increase they passed with only 52.79% voter approval. So concerned that they held a “special” off-schedule Finance Committee meeting. City Manager Mark Sorensen needed a recommendation for next Tuesday’s council meeting.
The recommendation he was looking for was to spend $100,000 writing a new measure for the 2024 ballot. That’s in addition to money they’ve spent polling the public. Armed with their polls, they plan to make some changes – Sorensen said they will consider adding a 10 year sunset clause. When I asked for confirmation of that statement he emphasized “consider“, as though we are spoiled children asking for another helping of pudding.
I like Sean Morgan – he can be charming and personable. But when he said “$100,000 is NOTHING to secure $24 million…” I realized he is not qualified for the position. Morgan is too given to hysteria, he’s too led by staff (he now calls Sorensen “Skipper”), and he changes his mind and flakes under pressure.
Years ago, in the same room, when Sorensen was still on council, and Orme was manager, both Sorensen and Morgan said they wouldn’t support a simple measure, they wanted a 2/3’s measure, Morgan saying he wanted the voters to make the decision. They didn’t want to take the heat! Now he’s willing to throw down another (at least) $100,000 to save Measure H? Think Sean – we wouldn’t be having this conversation if you’d come up with a better measure and called for 2/3’s approval.
Mayor Andrew Coolidge, always the idiot, declared gleefully that the TPA “is dead on arrival if it does make the ballot…” Sorensen confirmed that a judge had agreed to hear the governor’s lawsuit to keep the TPA off the ballot, but agreed with Morgan – “we can’t take that chance...”
They want to spend $100,000 on a do-over. I say NO. First of all, measure H received less than 53% approval. Second, sales tax receipts are still going down. Despite their Pollyanna projections, people have not recovered from their imposed COVID restrictions, inflation is a real thing, and taxes on everything just add gas to the fire. Newsom’s ridiculous projections – like the city of Chico claiming they will get $24 million off a one cent sales tax – resulted in a $68 BILLION deficit.
Chico is in trouble because of poor decisions. Look how they’re spending the Camp Fire and COVID emergency money. And this decision – $100,000 is literally NOTHING to these people. New hires at over $100,000/year, increasing the police and fire budgets around every corner, skating rink operates at a loss every year, another remodel for Downtown – they don’t have the sense they were born with, as far as I’m concerned.
They’re desperate for this measure because the city is drowning in bad decisions. A new sales tax measure is a bad decision, and we’ll pay for it. Let your council rep know, you support the TPA, and why. Tell them you won’t support another sales tax measure, and why. Write a letter to the paper, I plan to.
Dead on arrival? What kind of way is that to talk about a measure drafted by the people?
Chico Taxpayers Association 
Another informational article, Juanita. The $100,000 is not Sean Morgan’s money so why should he care? The council is being cavalier with taxpayer dollars. You correctly point out that the council always gives a blank check to the police department, no questions asked. Meanwhile, other services, such as public works, go neglected. I do not understand why the taxpayers of Chico ignore these actions.
Thanks Scott, I just got through responding to our Behavioral Health Director, who thinks he needs more money to do his job. It’s good to hear from somebody who knows what’s really going on instead of these public worker fleas who try to kiss their way onto my blog telling me I don’t know what I’m talking about.
It’s been a year and a half since we moved out of Chico, a place we loved until the Campfire changed the face of the city. It’s so unfortunate that the same crap continues. I feel for everyone who just wants a decent life, but has to fight for every inch of sensibility. Newsom has doomed the State of CA. It may be a cop out, but I couldn’t spend my golden years fighting for freedom in a state where there is no such thing.
Thank you for the fight. Good luck in seeking a common sense government.
I wish I could get more people to attend these meetings. That’s what it’s going to take, and that means sacrificing personal time. I understand your feelings, I’ve wanted to sell out but frankly we have a weird property and the time wasn’t right, so here I am, bitching about everything. We also owned a burn-down in Paradise, a rental our son was occupying with his girlfriend. The county and town seemed to through hurtles under our every move as we tried to rebuild, demanding stuff like a $5,000 survey of the property lines, even though they were clearly marked and fences were still standing. Our developer was also the mayor, and he made it pretty clear the town wanted to get rid of poor people, like our neighbor, forced to live in a trailer on his lot. It’s been an ugly time, and yeah I’m bitter, but I’m glad we didn’t sell our Chico home because I can still bitch about what’s going on.
Couldn’t help but notice you used a different email this time, “Clark”. Thanks for coming back, your first comment was rude and in my face, and I felt you had not read the post very thoroughly before you went off on me. It never ceases to amaze me how rude people can get at the keyboard, but I’m glad you came back to make amends.
This City Council wastes countless sums on attorney’s fees trying to prevent the public from finding out about city abuses. In 2022, after trying for many months to get the City to follow the law, I was forced to sue the City for records that were clearly public related to a string of police killings in Chico (mostly on Mike O’Brien’s deadly watch as police chief). Once sued, the City almost immediately started forking over records (slowly) and agreed to pay my attorney’s fees, which were about $43,600. Recently, I submitted a Public Records Act request to determine how much the City wasted on its OWN attorneys in defending against my lawsuit. They’ve slow-walked giving me those records, and I still don’t have them all. But from what they have sent me to date, I know the “conservative” City Council crapped away at least $45,575 in fees to their L.A.-based legal conglomerate. That means they wasted a total of about $90,000 to try unsuccessfully to cover up how the Police Department killed on several occasions. As I said, that figure could go higher once they finally relinquish all the records I’ve requested. Why not just follow THE LAW on public records and save the poor taxpayers $90,000 (probably more). Yep, they definitely need tax increases if they’re going to keep this up (and they are!)
Response to the Comment by Dave Waddell
Let’s get this straight Chicoans…is your City Council going to spend about $100,000, probably more, of YOUR MONEY because the council is NOT COMPLYING WITH STATE LAWS! Is the Chico City Council majority spending YOUR MONEY because their feelings are hurt? One crucial responsibility of the city’s LA-based law firm is to PROTECT SCARCE CITY RESOURCES… YOUR MONEY TAXPAYERS!, and give accurate legal advice to keep the council members from committing ILLEGAL actions!
The records legally requested by Mr. Waddell mostly concern your CHICO PD, the largest expense in your city budget, for various officers’ unreasonable use of force on civilians. Has your city council been transparent as they ignore the law?… OF COURSE NOT! REMEMBER Chicoans, the city council is spending YOUR MONEY, NOT THIERS, when they DO NOT comply with state laws! Does your city council majority need to raise taxes to cover legal fees directly related to opposing state laws? Tch, Tch! What a way to run a railroad!
Scott Rushing Ventura
Well, thanks Dave, yeah, the city of Chico is corrupt, the cops are horrible. You should have read about the fight I got into with our city clerk over missing CPOA campaign documents – I ended up calling her a “cunt” in my blog and she tried to get council to censure me for that. We be bitches.
Right now I’m trying to get an honest conversation out of the county Behavioral Health director. Good luck to both of us.
Juanita Did you and the taxpayers see any form of publi disclosure from the City Manager or Council totaling the bonuses paid for new recruits? Aldridge is asking for more $ and more officers but also notified the council that the department is fully staffed now.
I liked your recent article about staff raises that are not enjoyed by rank and file. Raises should be earned, not given for popularity. Scott Rushing
I haven’t seen any sort of public disclosure about the cost of the contracts – you have to go to the website and search them out. I tried to get in a meeting once but they kicked me out. I’d like to see the public be invited into the contract talks, as well as employee evaluations, but I’ve been told that is forbidden under the collective bargaining laws.
Thanks Scott, I was just thinking about you!
Thanks, Juanita. I wanted to provide an update about my post on City spending to thwart releasing public records the PD and the City Council find embarrassing. In 2020, I sought public records on an epidemic of Chico police killings. After the Police Department withheld, destroyed and unlawfully blacked out some records, I finally and reluctantly sued in 2022. The City quickly caved and paid my attorney’s fees of $43,637 and provided the requested records (most of them anyway). Now, I’ve been able to fully document through heavily redacted records how much the City squandered on its own attorneys trying to keep those records secret: $52,090. That’s a grand total of more than $95,700 in tax revenue down the drain. What angers me most is that amount of tax money is apparently like loose change to them. I’ll keep you updated on future obstruction because, as you know, these folks ain’t a changin’ when it comes to expensive and unlawful cover-ups.
Thank you, Dave Waddell and ChicoSol, for exposing the cover-up of the Chico City’s Council’s misuse of taxpayer money, the unlawful destruction of public records, and the withholding of public records from lawful release. The Council is not using their money to pay substantial attorney fees in defense of their misdeeds…they are using” YOUR MONEY CHICOANS!
Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis is attributed to the metaphorical quote: ” Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants.”