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Somebody needs to run for Tom Lando’s CARD seat in November

7 Jun

When I was a little kid, a teacher told my classmates and I that if we could convince every person in America to give us a penny, we’d never have to work again.  Even a fraction of the population, he said, could make us very rich.  All we had to do was talk them into giving it to us – simple enough?

Well, I could also form an assessment district. Like Butte County Mosquito and Vector Control, or Chico Area Recreation District. Did you know – Paradise and Oroville have cemetery districts.

When you live in an assessment district, that means these agencies can stick a fee on your property taxes. These fees require a vote, but usually, just property owners, and – get a load of this – votes are “weighted” depending on how much property is owned by the individual/company/group. That’s fair, really, since the larger property owners will pay more. 

Ballots are sent by mail, looking like junk mail, and there’s no requirement that these agencies advertise or notify anybody ahead of time.   So watch your mail box – CARD is thinking about putting a property assessment in your mail box.

I wonder how many are returned and how many end up in the trash. I wonder a lot of stuff. I wonder how many homeowners have their property taxes paid by their mortgage lender, and therefore never bother to look at the itemized bill. I wonder how many people just send the check without looking.  I wonder how many people just grit their teeth and pay it, afraid to ask any questions,  cause every question just makes their heart beat harder, their blood pressure push higher, their hair fall out faster.

I’ll tell you two things that are on a ballot in November – two seats up for grabs at CARD.  One of them is currently being smothered under the elitist ass of one Tom Lando.  Mr. Lando had an agenda when he took his CARD seat – appointed, because nobody else bothered to run.  Lando’s agenda was to raise taxes, using CARD’s assessment powers to bring in more revenues to pay CalPERS every increasing demands.

See, Lando is a retired public employee – former manager of the City of Chico, in  fact.  As such, he yanks in one of the biggest pensions that ever inflicted  liability on our fair city – over $135,000/year, almost $12,000/month, in pension.  

If CalPERS goes bust, Lando is out, you heard me – almost $12,000/month. So, it’s absolutely reasonable to assume that this guy would do just about anything to keep the money pouring into CalPERS. 

You’ve heard the old Yiddish proverb:  When the fish stinks, it’s the head of the fish that stinks.  Tom Lando is your stinking fish head, you need to wrap him in newspaper and put him in the bin next November.  In order to do so, we will need a viable candidate. 

 

 

CARD still talking about a parcel tax or property assessment to build aquatic center – now they say they might fix Shapiro instead, but they’re going to get a tax one way or the other

5 Jun

While I’ve been chasing the elusive new non-profit group formed to discuss building a “megacility” in Chico, Chico Area Recreation District has put their “Aquatic Facility Advisory Committee” to bed.  But, even after having had to reduce staff to make ends meet, the  board is still talking about floating a parcel tax or property assessment to build an aquatic center.   According to the Enterprise Record and CARD board member Tom Lando, the board is finally talking out loud about an  alternative –  “rebuilding and expanding Shapiro Pool.”  That discussion has fallen along the wayside for too long – in 2009 a consultant told them that pool was in bad need of attention.

I don’t believe Lando, or Sneed or Mulowney are sincere about fixing Shapiro. They have been pursuing the aquatic center, along with ex-CARD staffer and board member Jerry Hughes.  In the article below, Lando admits, “ I think the community needs a facility including a decent pool,” Lando said.

wow, “a facility including a decent pool…”   Is he talking about a “megacility“?

I’ve been in touch with CARD director Ann Willmann about the “event” sponsored by everybodyhealthybody.org at Lakeside Pavilion. EBHB is a “non-profit” made up of a couple of out-of-town consultants and a board of local folks who’ve been involved with Chico Swim Association/Aqua Jets.  I asked Willmann how much they paid to use the Pavilion. It took her a week to respond,

“Hi Juanita, the group paid $500 for their 5 hour rental. Thank you, Ann”

I replied, asking her where I could find the rental information for the Pavilion – the CARD website only posts a picture of it and says it’s available, there’s no rate schedule or description of exactly what you get. She never got back to me on that inquiry, so I e-mailed CARD “facilities manager” Ed Johnson.

Hi Mr. Johnson,

 I would like the rates for rental of Lakeside Pavilion, weekdays, per hour, deposit, etc.

 At your convenience, thank you for your anticipated response, Juanita Sumner

He also took forever to get back to me, I had to e-mail him again before I got this response.

Lakeside Prices are as fallows. [sic]

 It is a $500 deposit that is refundable to you. For a Saturday it is $3400 separate from the deposit and for a Friday or a Sunday it is $2800 separate from the deposit. We can do an hourly rate which is the same deposit and has a minimum of 8 hours and that is $225 per hour. Sorry for the delay in getting the too you have a great Friday.

Was I not clear? I thought I asked him for week day rates.   A friend of mine who I’d cc’d had to ask again.

Mr. Johnson,  I don’t see rates for weekdays or weeknights at Lakeside Pavilion.  Do you have a published rate card anywhere?

To which he replied,

“Lakeside is $225 Per hour weekdays and weeknights. There is no discounted rate for this building.

My friend didn’t know what to make of what seemed like evasiveness – or what, incompetence? – on the part of the facilities manager. I think we both asked pretty clear questions – did he read our e-mails before responding?  But I had my answer – the regular rate is $225, and there’s an 8 hour, or $1800 minimum, but EBHB was allowed to use it for $100/hour for five hours.

What gives? If I wanted to rent that place you know they’d stick it to me. Look at those rates.  Whose friend do you have to be to get it for $100/hour, no minimum? Sounds like a good question for Ann Willmann.

Hi Ms. Willman, 

I contacted Ed Johnson, who told me that rental for the Pavilion during the week is $225/hour.  He also mentioned a minimum of eight hours, but I’m not sure if that applies to week nights or just weekends.
I’d like to know, who authorized the rental of the Pavilion for $100/hour for Everybody Healthy Body?  Did the board approve this, and if so, where can I find the minutes to that meeting? 
When and where can I view communications between Everybody, Healthy Body, and CARD?

Thank you again for your anticipated cooperation, Juanita Sumner

We’ll see if she gets back to me.

Aquatic center still a question for CARD

Staff Reports

CHICO >> Even with the budget’s positives and negatives, the Chico Area Recreation and Park District board still faces its biggest decision: Whether to pursue an aquatics center.

Long in its master plan and recommended by an ad hoc committee, an aquatics center is still a question mark for the board.

Director Tom Lando said last week he was still wrestling with building a proposed aquatic center or rebuilding and expanding Shapiro Pool, which the board ha s closed down last year because of age and repair problems. Earlier this year, a consultant and an ad hoc committee offered recommendations on an aquatics center. The consultant’s recommendation included a 30- meter by 25- yard pool, while many on the committee wanted a 50- meter pool.

Any of the several prop o sa l de si g n s wou ld mean additional costs to CARD. None of the proposals or designs offered by the consultant would bring in enough revenue to cover operational and maintenance costs.

As far as paying for the construction of an aquatics center, a consultant suggested choosing between a set per- parcel tax or a ‘ benefits assessment” tax on property owners based on property valuation. Those affected would either vote on the measures in a general election or by a mailed ballot, respectively.

Preparing for either option would cost CARD about $ 65,000 for consultant services, General Manager Ann Willmann said.

“ I think the community needs a facility including a decent pool,” Lando said. And, if CARD wasn’t going to pursue a new aquatic center, he wanted to see more money helping with the renovation of Shapiro Pool or to the Humboldt Neighborhood skateboard park renovation.

Lando said he also thought the board should pursue the update of the master plan with all the big projects it has been discussing, not all of which are included in the current plan.

Aquatic center proponents form non-profit, hire consultant, plan “Megacility”

11 May

Has CARD dropped plans to put a bond on the November ballot to pay for a new aquatic center?

Monday I was forwarded an invitation to a presentation at CARD’s new headquarters, Lakeside Pavilion.

You’ve been invited to participate in an event on May 10th which could be a milestone for Chico, involving large scale recreational facilities as a major community amenity and economic driver.   

 

It’s far from a new topic.  The adequacy of Chico’s facilities, the strain and economic drain travelling someplace else for events and tournaments, limited programing, limited funding, limited facilities and limited opportunities for people of all ages, etc.  All far below what could be accomplished if local talent, leadership and resources were tapped and channeled to accomplish what has been accomplished in other communities, many of which lack the talent, leadership and resources which already exist in Chico.

 

What is new is that out of this long running and seemingly endless conversation, a  catalyst non-profit has been formed to move the ball downfield.   Doing that requires community involvement and support.  Partnership and collaboration is essential!!!

 
DATE: Tuesday, May 10th
TIME: 6:30 PM

LOCATION: Lakeside Pavilion.  2565 California Park Dr, Chico, CA 95928

 

It’ll be an informative and enjoyable event on the Lake in Cal Park.  

 

Looking forward to seeing you there,

Brad Geise
EVERYBODY, Healthy Body
Collaboration and Partnerships for Athletics Facilities and Programming

530-715-0035 

Of course this invitation was not intended for me, but addressed to a local elected official who forwarded it along to me, knowing I’ve been trying to follow the aquatic center conversation.  This invitation confirms what I’ve suspected – as the public, and even the local daily newspaper, has failed to support CARD’s bids for public funding for this venture, the tiny but well-heeled group of aquatic center supporters has turned to a consultant, and formed a “non-profit” group. Ostensibly they are looking for private funding, but a quick look at their website shows a pattern of private ventures that quickly turn to the public for major funding. 

Under “FAQ’s” you will find this link:

http://sportsplanningguide.com/rise-of-the-megacilities

Here’s the bait …

Spooky Nook Sports was funded privately by its owner, Sam Beiler, for approximately $11.25 million. After traveling for his daughter’s various sports tournaments across the country, the family decided to create an indoor facility that offers quality customer service, ideal playing and spectator conditions and additional activities during downtime.

the usual sales pitch about how these facilities are a benefit to the entire community  … 

There’s no denying the impressive impact of sports tourism these days; destinations are taking their sports inventories to the next level. These herculean sports venues, or what we like to call megacilities, have generated an estimated combined economic impact of more than $200 million to date. They open their doors to competitions of all calibers where players, coaches and spectators alike will have to pick up their jaws from the state-of-the-art floors and fields.

 and here’s the switch – from the 2015 Pennsylvania Urban Land Institute report …

Although by all accounts the Nook has been deemed a success, that success has not been quantified in terms of fiscal or economic impact. 

The report goes on to detail the major traffic problems brought about during tournaments at this facility in Pennsylvania, finally recommending “The Nook” apply for public road funds to fix their inadequate private parking lot. The report describes the development of the site as “haphazard,” and recommends that the governing authorities take a harder look at the actual benefits of this development and ways to curb the problems it is causing.

Read on about a facility in Georgia – 

LakePoint Sporting Community was privately funded until it received a $32-million bond to support the next development phase: the indoor facility.

According to the Rome News-Tribune, “Bartow County Commissioner Steve Taylor said the Bartow County Development Authority issued $37 million in bonds to finance construction of the pavilion.”

According to wikipedia, Bartow County is, well, kind of poor.   The median income is only about $44,000 a year – much like Butte County. How in the hell will they pay those bonds? 

Read on about one facility after another in one state after another – entirely funded with taxpayer money.  Revenue bonds, city self-financing and hotel occupancy taxes, just to name a few sources of revenue that have been tapped to pay for facilities that have so far failed to prove any sustainable economic benefit for the surrounding area. They all create traffic problems that are addressed with more public money.

I expect the aquatic center group to follow the same tack.  They will try to impress us with their ability to attract “stakeholders,” but in the end they will try to get into our purses with this thing.

Meanwhile, CARD must also find some way to fund itself. Now they’ve privatized the backside of the CARD center and will charge money for weddings and other events. This is a conflict of their mission.  CARD was formed to facilitate recreational opportunities for taxpayers, not to compete with private enterprise to pay their own salaries, pensions and benefits. But, I will be keeping my ear to the railroad tracks, waiting for CARD to roll out another tax campaign of some sort. 

So, the aquatic center is not off the table, it’s turned into a “Megacility”.  A consultant and a group of local proponents has formed a covert group aimed at using private money to attract public money, just like a lot of other scams. It’s up to us to remain vigilant against this kind of misappropriation of public money.

The system is only as good as the taxpayers who support it.

Editor playing coy on swimming pool tax

27 Mar

I sent my swimming pool letter to the Enterprise Record, and I got a note back from the editor.

“Reading your letter today (sorry, there’s a long queue), I think we need to change “will” to “may” in the first sentence. The board has not voted on any revenue measure.. They’re still weighing a set per-parcel tax or a ‘benefits assessment” tax on property owners based on property valuation. They were leaning more toward the assessment because they didn’t think they could get their act together for the November ballot for a question on the parcel tax. The benefit assessment would allow them to send out a mailed ballot to property owners on their own time schedule. Regardless, though, that decision hasn’t been made.

Unless you know something we don’t …”

 

Being as I have no confidence with vernacular in these tax deals, I submitted to the editor’s opinion and allowed him to make the change, and then I changed the ending to, “Please contact your CARD board now and tell them you do not want to be assessed for poor management.”

But I had to ask the editor, since he seems to know so much, had he attended a meeting?

 
“thanks, I was unsure what word to use. “may” is good.

 

I think they had plenty of time to make the November ballot – at the meeting I attended, Lando expressed concern about the city putting a sales tax initiative on the ballot, as well as the school district, and he thought the voters would be overwhelmed with all those taxes.  

 

so, did you actually attend a meeting?”

 

His answer surprised me, but not really.  “No, we had a reporter there. I was not.” 

 

This is a guy who has refused to print letters in which I’ve used direct quotes, telling me he did not believe the person actually said that, even though he was nowhere near the meeting, and there was no recording. He refused to take my word for stuff, but I am expected to take his second hand crap.

 

And then he wrote the following, really misinformed – actually uninformed editorial.  I’ve added my commentary in blue, cause it’s Easter and all.

Difficult to say how much pool will be missed

Thinking ahead to Chico’s sweltering summer days, it’s hard to imagine this community having one less swimming pool for cooling off.

It’s hard to imagine that the newspaper editor would be surprised the local pool is crapped out after years of neglect. 

But that will be the reality, with the Chico Area Recreation and Park District’s decision last week to shut down Shapiro Pool.

An antique that was built in 1956, the pool next to Chico Junior High School has had plenty of problems dragging it down.

The filtering system has been limping along for several years, with problems from overuse to age. Old equipment has been babied, patched, repaired and patched again. Steps to bring the pool in line with Americans With Disabilities Act laws have lagged, and there have been other safety issues.

“babied, patched, repaired and patched again…” – that’s exactly what’s happened, but no mention of that $400,000 pension payment. “Steps to bring the pool in line with ADA...” Oh come on, Mr. News Reporter – there haven’t been any steps to bring the pool up to ADA.

Knowing the pool’s role in the community, CARD directors even asked if Shapiro could be dragged through 2016. The answer was no because of public safety concerns.

“public safety concerns” that the board has been well aware of, since at least 2009. Still they let the public use a pool that was below sanitary standards and had other “concerns,” like tripping hazards. Tripping hazards at a swimming pool? 

While the pool will not be open, CARD will still hold on to the lease that has no cost to the district other than non- operation maintenance costs.

What would Little define as a “non-operation maintenance cost”? Is this guy an  idiot? Everything you do to maintain a pool is an “operation cost.” A pool should not be operated if filtering and safety are not maintained, but CARD ran Shapiro at sub-standard levels for at least six years. Oh, but now the pool has to be closed!  

We guess there still is hope that CARD might find a way to resurrect the pool at some future time, but that has not been officially said.

As a matter of fact, an aquatic center consultant recommended against trying to rebuild Shapiro, saying it would cost about $2.5 million.

But no mention of that 2009 report. 

Strange to us is that the pool owner, Chico Unified School District, has not made any effort to help CARD with the pool. The school district has made it clear that it’s not interested in operating swimming pools, even though some of its schools have P.E. swim programs or competitive swim teams.

Strange to you, and the mouse in your pocket, because you don’t know anything?  Mr. Little, the school made the same deal with CARD that the city made over Humboldt Skate Park. CARD agreed to take on maintenance and supervision of these facilities, but did not. It’s interesting to note, that CARD wanted to close the skate park altogether, but is allowing a private group to raise money and make plans for a remodel. Meanwhile they plan to raise taxes to build a center for Aqua Jets. Read further.

It’s hard to know how much Shapiro will be missed. We know there will be an impact. Already CARD has rescheduled Shapiro’s programs to its other pool, Pleasant Valley, next to Bidwell Junior High, including part of the Aqua Jets youth swim program, CARD swim lessons, and recreational swimming.

The only public use listed in the paragraph above is rec swimming, the rest are programs run for profit by CARD and Aqua Jets. And, the public still has to pay to get into rec swim, there’s no “low-income” scale or waiver. 

That means a busier swim season for Pleasant Valley.

Which CARD has also reported is in trouble and they are looking at closing it within the next few years. That conversation has not been mentioned by either Urseny or Little. They know how pissed off the public would be if CARD announced they were closing both pools. 

In the past, Shapiro has been busy with activity from residents trying to cool off, have fun and get exercise.

I’m pretty sure the editor is not speaking first hand – he has a backyard pool. Shapiro has been in terrible decline, has been badly vandalized by the public that is supposed to love it, and according to reports on CARD’s website, attendance and revenues have been down for a couple of years.

Swimmers may shift to PV, or find relief in local creeks, including Sycamore Pool in Bidwell Park. They may seek out the community’s privately owned pools, like those at sports clubs, or could head up to Redding, which has a water park.

CARD would love to have another choice for swimmers, and has been talking about a community aquatic center, but no funding has been identified. Maybe one reason for hanging on to the lease is to see what a year will bring.

Little plays coy here – I think he knows otherwise. Although, he just admitted to me the other day, he hasn’t attended any of the meetings, he gets his information second hand. I’m guessing he has regular conversations with Tom Lando, but that’s just my speculation.  

There hasn’t been a huge outcry to keep the pool open. It was built at a time when not so many residents had backyard pools, but that has changed.

Speaking for himself, again.

This time next year, CARD may be ready to give up the lease or will have a better understanding of what the next step should be.

Maybe one reason for hanging on to the lease is to see what a year will bring.

What a journalist. 

CARD too chickenshit to go to the general ballot – they’re sneaking their assessment into your mailbox

23 Mar

I sent the following letter to Chico Enterprise Record this morning, we’ll see if it gets ink.

Chico Area Recreation District will seek to assess residents in a mailed ballot election, saying they need the money to build an aquatic center and make other improvements in district facilities.

What they are not discussing before the voters is their unfunded pension liability – $1.7 million as of 2014.  Management employees pay nothing toward their own retirement.

CARD says Shapiro Pool is beyond  repair. That was not the story in 2009, when a consultant reported Shapiro was adequate to handle local demand as well as swim meets, and could be brought up to code for about a half million dollars. At that time, he reported, there were safety code and Americans with Disabilities Act violations – including substandard filtration and sanitation, and trip hazards due to incomplete removal of a diving board.

CARD’s board of directors chose to do nothing. Annual budgets on CARD’s  website show very little money has been spent maintaining either public pool over the years.

The ADA was passed in 1990, but CARD only last year commissioned a study, $60,000, to find out just how non-compliant their facilities are, including California Park Lakeside Pavilion. Lakeside Pavilion also  has extensive rot damage.

With all these problems, they chose in 2012 to make a $400,000 “side fund payoff” to CalPERS for their pension fund rather than make badly needed repairs to facilities like the Humboldt Skate Park.

Please watch your mail for a ballot and vote NO.

Something else you might do is write to or call CARD, and ask longest standing board member Jan Sneed why she let the swimming pools go without maintenance for so long. 

 

 

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CARD to go for assessment – how about they pay their own pensions?

24 Feb

CARD has announced plans to assess property owners, not just for  their proposed aquatic center, but for all their mismanagement problems.  Like I predicted, they will throw out a “wish list” of everything from the aquatic center to new ballfields to a regular cornucopia of activities at DeGarmo Park.

Thanks Jim, for doing the research on assessments, I knew they were bad.

From a San Luis Obispo County document, this definition of “assessment.”

An assessment becomes a lien on parcels of real property to pay for “special benefits” the parcels receive from a project. The lien may be paid off by property owners in a lump sum or may be paid annually with property taxes.

This particular document pertains to a proposition to tax the citizens of San Luis Obispo County for a waste water treatment plant. Here’s a more general document regarding California Assembly Bill 218, passed by a very stupid population back in 1996.

http://www.californiataxdata.com/pdf/proposition218.pdf

This law seems to set up reasonable boundaries for setting up new taxes, but the voters should have read it more closely. Since then, just recently really, the legislature has lowered the threshold by which voters can pass these assessments to only 58 percent.

To me, that’s rule of mob. More people than that ought to have to agree on something before it is instituted in law.  This new rule sets up a giant separation of our voters. In other words – This Means WAR. Driven by the Have’s, who got theirs by ripping off the Working Class.

Read it – the more property you have, the more your vote is “weighted” in these elections. Because they pay more, you might argue, based on the value of their property – not true, that’s not usually the way this tax works.  

Remember the “Mosquito Tax”?  Here’s the break-down on that, from the Butte County Mosquito and Vectors District assessment passed in 2014:

“Homes of one acre or less pay $9.69 plus eight cents for each additional acre. Owners of vacant land will pay $2.42 per parcel. Apartment complexes are assessed $3.85 per apartment up to 20, and 97 cents after that. Farmers will pay 8 cents per acre and undeveloped rangeland is assessed 2 cents an acre.”

The rich will not pay the lion’s share of the mosquito tax – the working class will shoulder this burden. While the big property owners will say, “we pay more!” they must bow to the fact that there are more working class and poor in this town than “One Percenters.”  If you buy a home you pay the developer’s assessments, if you rent you pay the landlords’ assessments. We working class taxpayers will pay more than the developers and the landlords, even more than the rice farmers who breed mosquitoes.

The CARD assessment will likewise fall hardest on homeowners and renters.

Ever wonder what the mosquito tax pays for? Well, for starters, we get district manager Matt Ball, at over $125,000 in salary, paying just 3% of his own pension – 70 percent of his highest year’s salary, available at age 55. To do what? Sit around that Taj Majal (we also paid for) out on Otterson Drive, yakking with his $70,000/year secretary, who pays less than 3% of her package as well?

I called the district (that’s 533 – 6038) to ask a couple of questions.   At 9:05 am, the $70,000 secretary who answered the phone told me “we’re in a meeting right now,” and asked for my phone number so  could return my call. I don’t play that shit – I asked her, when can I call back and talk to Matt Ball?

“Why don’t you try back about 1:00?” she suggested, without a hint of cheer.

I said I would, thank you! I don’t know whether to believe her or not though – is management really in a meeting, or just come in when they get around to it?  So I e-mailed Mr. Ball, asking him about the pensions. I asked him which entity administered their pensions (CalPERS is not the only one) and what’s their pension liability. We’ll see if he gets back to me. Ball previously told me that district employees only pay three percent of some very generous pension and benefits programs.

Over at CARD, director Ann Willman makes about the same salary as Ball, but pays NOTHING toward her benefits. Wow. CARD’s unfunded liability, for just a handful of management types, as of June 2014, is about $1.7 million. That’s after a $400,000 “side fund payoff” made in 2012.

Ever wonder, who is responsible for these decisions? Well, your county board of supervisors and your city council are among the entities that name the members of the board that governs the mosquito district. The CARD board is elected by the voters, long term member Jan Sneed receiving over 9,000 votes in 2014. These commissions rubber stamp the compensation packages, I often wonder, do they even read them? 

Here’s the thing – it’s not their money.

But, again People – yeah, you the People over there – you are responsible for this mess. These districts have open meetings, they are ruled by the same public information laws as everybody else, all you have to do is start paying attention.  Haven’t you ever wanted to buy a bag of popcorn and attend a meeting? Make a phone call to ask snoopy questions? You know you do! Come on!

All it takes is a little push to knock down a house of cards.

 

 

CARD will discuss aquatic center funding options tonight

18 Feb

Chico Area Rec District will meet tonight, 7pm, at California Park Lakeside Pavillion.  From the Enterprise Record:

More about the proposed aquatic center that the Chico Area Recreation and Park District is considering will come up at the next board meeting, 7 p.m. Thursday at Lakeside Pavilion, 2565 California Park Drive.

Aquatic Design Group will make a formal presentation of its feasibility study for a new aquatics center. CARD is paying the Carlsbad company $50,000 for the study, which is supposed to outline what the community wants. It has been gathering community input since last year.

In addition, SCI Consulting Group will discuss possible facilities funding during the meeting.

In 2013, SCI was working with the recreation district when CARD nixed moving ahead with an assessment or parcel tax to pay for new facilities.

With the aquatic center on a front burner for CARD, the board wants to hear about funding options.

Yes, the survey run in 2013 came back “negative,” respondents indicating they would not be willing to fund this center through taxes. It was not so much a survey as a push poll, in my opinion – questions leading toward the conclusion that our kids will all be on drugs if we don’t pay for an aquatic center. 

Aquatic Design Group was unable to find out what “the public” wants because their workshops were only attended by 25 – 30 people, most of whom are members of Aqua Jets. 

The Aquatic Center is “on the front burner”? Wow, that is so funny given the denials I’ve received from staff over the last year or so. 

Why isn’t the skate park “on the front burner”? The skate park already exists, in a state of total disgrace. The group of respectable users that came forward with ideas to change the skate park from a public nuisance to a usable public facility  was told to raise their own money, for a facility that is owned by CARD. But here the board is studying “funding options” for a center that Aquatic Design Group admitted would be used by about 15 percent of our population.

Calling all Chico Taxpayers…

9 Feb

Lately I feel public and quasi-public workers are launching an attack on the working public to make us pay their ridiculous salaries and benefits whether they are sustainable or not. Not only are city of Chico, Chico Unified, and Chico Area Rec District asking for tax increases in November, but we’ve got a water rate increase and a garbage tax coming around the bend.  The county is also talking about getting rid of the septage ponds at the dump and making a deal to tote our poop all the way out to the city sewer facility west of Chico – if you have a septic tank, you are about to be forced  onto sewer rates.

The common denominator? Unfunded pension liabilities. I got a figure for CARD’s liability – about $1.7 million, and only for a staff of 33 employees.  I don’t have the most recent figure for city of Chico, but Brian Nakamura once quoted about $64 million. And good luck getting anything out of the school district – they’re not there to educate anybody. But I’ll guess their liability would rival the city’s. 

I never asked the county for their figure, but I know it’s bad because for years now they’ve been complaining that the dump can’t support itself. I know, these conversations are so dumb. One minute, they scream they aren’t getting enough trash, and the county has made a deal and the city is working on same deal that would force the trash haulers to bring all of our trash to Neal Road instead of taking it out of the area for cheaper “tipping fees.” Of course, cheaper tipping fees would be good for us ratepayers, but the county needs the fees to pay their salaries, and yeah, unfunded pension liability. 

But in a separate conversation they say the dump is so full they have to take out the septage ponds. Follow your tail, that’s right, just keep  following your tail…

My supervisor, who shall remain nameless right now cause I am too tempted to call her nasty names, tells me this is okay, “we’re not trying to force you on sewer.” But, I told her, if you make that deal with Chico to take our septage to the sewer facility, you are forcing us on sewer, and we’ll be at the mercy of city of Chico and their unfunded pension liability.

Ask Mark Sorensen, he wrote an extensive blog about how the city has pilfered the sewer fund into the red paying salaries and benefits for employees who have never even been on that side of town. Sorensen took that blog off the Norcal blog site after he became a council member, you can’t find it now, wonder why?  Because under Mayor Sorensen city staff has administered a system called “cost allocation” – if an employee attends a meeting in which the sewer is mentioned, their salary and benefits for that meeting are  taken out of the sewer fund. Yep, an administrative version of walnut shells and peas. Watch that pea, Suckers!

http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/dan-walters/article55313690.html

Sorensen has made it clear he will not fix the pension problem, instead, holding employee contribution at 9 – 12 percent and  instituting a “step system” for automatic pay raises and promotions.

https://chicotaxpayers.com/2016/01/03/public-managemen…ost-per-employee/

For that matter, the county has done nothing to turn their pension liability around. That’s why the weird conversation about the dump, they’re desperate to pay down that pension debt just like all the other public and  quasi-public agencies. They know we need trash service and septic tank owners all over the county are dependent on those septage ponds, and they’re twisting that knife.

Bernie Sanders talks about a revolution – well, you can’t have a revolution if nobody shows up. I’d like to mount a stronger campaign against these grabs, I need some help. 

Do you pay taxes? Of course you do. Do you live in the city of Chico or Chico “area of influence”? That would make you a “Chico Taxpayer.” Get involved. Bring your comments here, or take them to your various elected officials. Tell them you’re a Chico Taxpayer, and you’re fed up. 

I like to quote Arlo Guthrie here, even if he and I would probably never agree on much – but what he said in “Alice’s Restaurant” is absolutely true: “One guy is crazy. Two guys are (politically incorrect). But three guys are a MOVEMENT…”

It’s true, I’ve seen it – politicians don’t listen to one person, unless that person is a BIG donor. They don’t listen to two people. But something magical happens after that third, fourth, fifth person chimes in. Then it’s worth their attention, you might get them to actually DO SOMETHING. 

UPDATE:  I got a note from a fellow Chico Taxpayer regarding the city’s pension liability – as of December, over $99 million. This was apparently covered  in the finance report at the last council meeting, so the exact figure should be in the reports available on the city website. 

Thank you fellow citizen – it’s nice to know somebody is paying attention!

UPDATE UPDATE:  I got a note from another Chico Taxpayer asking about CARD’s staff, what kind of packages they get. I referred them to http://publicpay.ca.gov/

As I looked over the information, I see the employee packages are very inconsistent, spread out over more than 33 employees, but wow – how come some people get packages worth over $20,000 and others get packages worth less than $2,000? I don’t know how that money is divvied up, what they get for it, but I know there is no employee contribution. 

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Election 2016 will be The Battle For Chico

2 Feb

I like to look at the blog stats, see what people are thinking about, what searches bring them here. I have to wonder if somebody’s just having fun with me when they type in “reanette fillmer stupid bitch.”

What in the world did Ms. Fillmer do this time?

A month or so ago, the lines were bouncing with curiosity and outrage over the Feaster shooting – now it’s the Torres Shelter. Tonight shelter director Brad Montgomery will make some kind of plea before City Council, we’ll see what happens.

A friend of mine asked me what I thought of Chico Chamber chair Mark Francis’ suggestion that Chico is ready for a quarter cent sales tax increase. That reminded me – I need to make another order from Lucky Vitamin. I found Lucky Vitamin a few years ago when former city manager Tom Lando started talking about raising sales tax. I didn’t like online shopping at first, but wow, it’s gotten so much better.  Since Lando first broached the subject of a sales tax increase, I’ve found my way onto various shopping sites that offer good prices and free shipping. I find shipping to be getting a lot better, and when there’s a mistake, you don’t have to drive to the store and wait in an onerous line to make your return.

It’s up to the seller to collect sales taxes, and they are not required to do so unless they have a “physical presence” in California. I know Amazon.com has made a deal with the Franchise Tax Board but only for items shipped from a California location. The customer is on the hook to report and pay uncollected sales tax, or  “use tax,” but there is no mechanism to sort this out by city, the state just keeps it.

http://blog.taxjar.com/sales-tax-for-california/

Whether or not the city gets the sale tax, local businesses will suffer. They need to know that before they decide whether or not to support a sales tax increase. For a while I got over Lando’s little threat, but I shop online more now than I did, and Francis has pissed me off again.

Sheesh, Nevada is a day trip, do they realize that?

It’s funny-weird, not funny-ha-ha,  that Francis’ wife Jolene has brought a proposal to rename City Hall after former City Mangler Fred Davis.  Davis, until his recent death, was one of the biggest pigs in our pension trough.

https://chicotaxpayers.com/2013/07/13/heres-whats-really-behind-the-park-closures-more-than-21-retirees-get-over-100000year-in-pension-ex-fire-chief-gets-over-200000/

How did that old guy worm his way up to over $149,000, in pension? He helped Tom Lando pull off that MOU that “attached salaries to revenue increases, but not decreases…”  That’s how!  Old bastard had a bag of tricks, and long after he’s rotted to dirt, Chico taxpayers will be paying for his hijinx.

Time to mount up, get ready for battle – they are coming after the roof over your head, the food on your table, your kids’ education.

It’s the Battle for Chico.

 

 

 

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CARD to put their parcel tax plans on the table at February 18 board meeting

24 Jan

I miss all the good stuff – I was out of town for CARD’s board meeting last week, and they FINALLY fessed up and announced they are after a parcel tax.

Remember, almost exactly a year ago, I had called then-director Jerry Haynes, just to ask, how would they go about seeking a tax?  I didn’t know what the procedure is, and I couldn’t find much information online, so I just decided to ask. Ask a simple question!

https://chicotaxpayers.com/2015/01/29/why-is-card-being-so-secretive-about-the-aquatics-center/

Haynes resigned about a month later, citing “differences with the board“?  I have to wonder, did Haynes try to tell them they couldn’t afford a new aquatic center? Did he drag his feet in facilitating the studies and public meetings? He sure as hell didn’t want to talk about any aquatic center to me, denying even that there were any plans to build an aquatic center. He was really pissed off too. If I’d been standing in the same room with him I would have been afraid for my personal safety, like I was when Jan Sneed went off on me after a board meeting a couple of years ago.

https://chicotaxpayers.com/2013/05/13/jan-sneed-attacked-me-at-todays-card-finance-meeting-this-woman-is-out-of-control-and-isnt-suitable-for-public-office/

When people act  that crazy, you can bet there’s a pot of money on the table. Or a pot of debt? 

CARD spends a lot of money for a district that does not offer much in recreational opportunities. If you look at their budget you see payroll eats all their money, with 33 employees sitting on top of a few million dollars.  Despite budget problems over the past few years, current CARD director Ann Willman makes about $12,000/year more than her predecessor Steve Visconti, the controller’s office reporting her salary at $124,000/year. She pays nothing toward her benefits/pension package. That’s right – CARD management pay nothing toward their packages. Same  deal as city of Chico and other entities – only new hires, who have never been “in the system.” Willman has been around the block a few times, working for CARD, then switching over to director of Feather River Rec in Oroville, spiking her way back to Chico in less than two years. She left FRRD after a scandal involving a camera planted in the girl’s toilet at one of their facilities, landing safely in the Chico director’s chair. 

At one meeting, they planned to cut all part time staffers to 28 hours or less so they would not have to pay Obamacare for those employees, despite reports from their own staff that programs were being cut and children turned away due to lack of staff. But their management employees’ salaries just go up, up, up. And they pay nothing toward their benefits. They are sitting on more than $2 million in pension liability, for 33 employees. 

And they’re trying to tell us, they need this parcel tax for an aquatic center? It doesn’t add up. 

The board will discuss placing a parcel tax measure on the November ballot at their February 18 board meeting. Here’s the board page from their website:

http://www.chicorec.com/About-Card/CARD-Resources/Board-of-Directors/index.html

Note the e-mail addresses of board members, if you’d like to contact them to voice your opposition to this grab. Tell them their employees need to stop being dead beats and pay their own pensions. I don’t mind chipping in, but this is ridiculous.

You’ll also notice, their minutes are six month behind, ask them what’s up with that too.

 

 

 

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