Speaking of making housing more affordable – according to Realtor.com, property taxes and insurance coverage are out-pacing mortgage costs for new homeowners. “These ballooning expenses are rewriting the math of homeownership. In September, 32% of the average single-family mortgage payment went to property taxes and home insurance, the highest rate ever for data going back to 2014, according to Intercontinental Exchange”
Here’s a joke on us – Butte County and City of Chico get our property taxes, but they’ve deferred services over so many years to screw us into raising our own taxes, they’ve caused conditions that force up our insurance rates.
It’s not just home owners – if you rent, your landlord passes these costs into you.
Utility costs are another factor that needs to come up in discussions about affordable housing. PG&E, Cal Water, and Waste Management all raised their rates this past year. What does the city of Chico do about it? They could mount a legal objection before the CPUC, and this would have more weight in the discussion than our complaints. Instead, city of Chico adds an extra 5% “Utility Users Tax” to our power and water bills, and a franchise tax to power and trash bills.
It’s called “talking out of both sides of your mouth” – the city of Chico talks volumes about providing “affordable” housing, then seems to do everything completely the opposite. What city management really wants is more expensive housing, new housing, with builder fees and bigger property tax bills.
In other news, there’s one whopper of a pot hole developing on Vallombrosa just off Manzanita. I mean, it will void the warranty on your tires. The city took a swipe at it with some slobbers a few weeks ago but there it was again within a few days.
Vallombrosa is not only a heavily used corridor, it’s a historic road right next to the park. Some pretty pricey houses too, with big tax bills. It has never received proper treatment, even as new subdivisions have been allowed in people’s back yards all through that neighborhood, the traffic all siphoned toward Vallombrosa. The road floods in a heavy downpour because there is no drainage. Pedestrians and cyclists, you are taking your lives in your own hands. Meanwhile, the city admittedly used Measure H funds to resurface a county section of Stilson Canyon Road.
Last city council meeting they discussed implementing red light cameras. They say it’s for safety – oh Bullshit – some idiot consultant told them it would bring in a lot more revenues. Like the parking meters Downtown, red light cameras are instant, everything is done automatically, and most people probably just pay without question.
We’ve all heard stories about people beating red light camera tickets with their dashcams – yeah, they make mistakes that cost the driver not only a fine but higher insurance. But did you know red light cameras are also believed to cause more rear-end accidents? People are afraid to take a chance, so they jam on the breaks. This is something that can be documented and compared with past statistics. The same reports claim that the cameras also reduce “t-bone” accidents – I don’t know how they would know that – read drivers’ minds? “Wow, I’d normally pull out in front of a speeding car but I’m afraid I’ll get a ticket so I won’t…“
And here’s my final thought here – why does Chico always get on the ass-end of a fad? Years ago, bigger cities started putting in ice rinks for Christmas – so Chico finally gets in on that, and it’s lost an increasing amount of money every year. CARD took over and was able to show a profit? Well, remember that when they try to put another parcel tax on your house.
Paradise Rec District decided to fold their rink, after losing money every year since it opened.
A staff report by the Paradise Recreation and Park District shows the event lost at least $340,000 since it opened in 2013, excluding the 2018-2019 and the 2020-2021 seasons.
Let’s face it – they got Camp Fire funding in 2019, and they got COVID funding in 2020-21. When that dried up they were left with donations and sponsorships, and what they could get in dwindling admissions and skate rentals. The city of Chico used General Fund money to float their rink, and now CARD is using their General Fund money to run it, shifting the burden of this folly onto the taxpayers.
Same with red-light cameras. While Sacramento is ending their red light program because they are losing money on it, Chico jumps on the dogpile – how much will they spend, just “looking into it”?
https://www.kcra.com/article/sacramento-ends-red-light-camera-system-drivers-react/60206739
These dipshits continue to do everything they can to raise the cost of living. When they say they want to build more affordable housing, you can bet they mean just the opposite.
Chico Taxpayers Association 
Over the Christmas holiday, I found myself in an extended, fact driven conversation with a developer. He is a friend, and honest guy, who with his brother builds small subdivisions. Just a good honest guy, building houses, and it all he’s ever done, because his dad was in that business as well.
So I ask him why he doesn’t build affordable housing, because (1) I’d really like to know and (2) he is a subject matter expert and I might learn something.
He tells me that he would like to do it, has tried to do it, but that it is just too hard and too expensive. And this coming from a guy who builds houses.
“From the time we buy a piece of dirt until the first shovel goes into the ground is 3+ years. Reviews, environmental, permits, utilities, zoning, traffic, fees, NIMBY, inspections. Now we are at $250,000 per house, and so far all we have is an empty field.”
“The building standards and requirements for design of low income housing are more stringent than what we put into a million dollar new home” Wider doorways, ADA compliant, higher standards for plumbing and insulation, and energy efficiency that is off the charts. Material requirements, and a more rigorous inspection process to be “certified ” low income”
Instead of building a 4Br/3Ba 3000 sq/ft custom home that sells for $800k to $1MM ( and making a profit), I can build a 2Br/2Ba 1500 sq/ft that costs $650k just to build (no profit).
The shortage of low income housing is not a builder problem in the sense that they know how to do it. It’s municipalities that dont want to assist in managing the process. I think that was your point.
Thanks BC. I could have quoted my husband, who was in the construction trade for more than 30 years, but I have you, and your friend! My husband uses an equation – I can’t remember the numbers, but it boils down to this – for every single dollar that goes into the actual construction, there’s the dollars plural for “the suits”. Yep, that was my point – TOO MUCH FAT!
Here I’d like to make a point – your friend is not a “developer” – he’s a contractor. Bill Brouhard is a “developer” – he makes his money, while adding to the cost of your house, simply by swinging deals with land owners and city officials. He’s the “advance man” – frankly, I don’t know if he could read a set of plans.
I realize contractors – and plumbers and electricians and carpet layers and painters and carpenters and cement masons and heavy equipment operators – need to make money, just like landlady. It’s the local government who has stepped out of line here – they don’t want to help provide less expensive housing, they just want the money for the permits and the property taxes. People like Brouhard are another layer of FAT.
Sacramento is ending their red light program because they are losing money on it.
Charles WithuhnDo unto others as you would have them do unto you.
I wish you’d write a letter about to the paper about these expenditures (red light cameras proven ineffective, ice rink that loses money, constant new equipment for the cops, new superfluous staff positions, etc) You have more name recognition than I do and Wolcott will print your letters.