How come, Chief Honea?

Ballots are on their way, I’ve already received my voter pamphlets. This is when the campaigns will ramp up.

So tonight Sheriff Kory Honea will be giving his pitch for the county’s one-cent sales tax Measure H at a local community center. Here’s what I would expect to hear – threats that services will be cut if we do not approve Measure H.

Here’s a good question for Honea – if the county is so broke, how come your salary has gone up over $30,000 between 2021 and 2023?

https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/search/?q=Kory%20Honea

Since 2018 Honea’s salary has gone from $181,555.00 to $223,423.00, all the while county officials have been crying that they can’t provide essential services. It always starts with the library, now they’re saying they can’t provide adequate police or fire without a one-cent sales tax.

“Vote Yes on H to maintain our public safety services, fire stations, libraries and way of life in Butte County.”

They’re threatening us, even our “way of life” – what does that mean?

“In recent years we have been hit hard by the Camp and North Complex fires, floods and droughts.” What, no COVID?

What nerve they have to whine about this stuff – they forget to mention the hundreds of millions of dollars they’ve received in fire recovery funding, American Rescue Act funding, and disaster relief for the Oroville dam scare. Where’d that go? Well, for one, the board voted to use millions in Camp Fire funding to pay down their pension deficit, even though Bill Connelly told me they instituted an illegal Pension Obligation Bond in 2008. The pension deficit is still the county’s largest standing debt, and growing exponentially with every pay increase.

Think that was on Honea’s mind when they forced that last $20,000 raise down his throat? Think he tried to turn them down?

These people have plenty of money to work with, they just can’t seem to make very good budget decisions. Including the annual decision they make to raise their own salaries. These people do not give a rat’s ass about the rest of us.

Here’s a common claim they make – Honea will repeat this tonight – “Measure H Requires Strict Accountability“. Excuse me, that is total BULLSHIT. The measure states that the funds will go into the General Fund, which has no accountability and no restrictions on spending.

Yes, this is a “general” measure, meaning it only needs 50%+1 (that’s literally one person more than 50% of registered voters). The reasons they did not ask for a 2/3’s measure are, first, they already lost a simple measure, they know they can’t get 2/3’s. But more important, the funds from a 2/3’s measure would be restricted to a specific use like police or fire, but not just “public safety”. They don’t want restrictions on spending, because they want to use it to pay down their biggest debt – the pension deficit. They know the voters wouldn’t agree to that – the proof there is that they instituted a Pension Obligation Bond without putting it on the ballot. That’s illegal but it would take a lawsuit to overturn it. They knew that.

I think they know they’re in trouble, people have been asking pointy questions about Honea’s visit tonight. Some people are questioning the use of county employees to push a tax measure, others are questioning the county’s spending habits. So, Honea and others are spreading out in the community to bully and threaten the voters to “get on board”.

I’m not a tax-hater – I pay my taxes, thankyouverymuch. I do demand the right to question how they are spent, and there’s too many questions to slide this one through.

Again, NO on Butte County Measure H