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Bill Smith: Before I start paying three times my current sewer bill, I would like to take a look at current city employees’ salaries… Thanks for asking, Bill!

26 Mar

I was laying the Sunday ER (3/15) under my cat dishes when I noticed a letter from Bill Smith, asking about the sewer bill and the pensions. Short and to the point!

Before I start paying three times my current sewer bill, I would like to take a look at the current city employees’ salaries, what their anticipated retirement will be, and what already retired city employees are drawing in retirement. Where can I see this? — Bill Smith, Chico 

Thanks Bill, good questions. I’ll answer here. It took Wolcott 10 days to print my last letter, sent on the 14th, even though I saw letters that had obviously been written AFTER mine, and printed within a day or two. Neither Wolcott or his usual pile of dipshits bothered to answer Bill Smith. The paper is in trouble, but I’m going to continue to send letters, please do same.

Bill Smith (3/15) asked about city salaries, anticipated pensions, and what retirees are already drawing in retirement. He asked where he could get this information.

There are two sites that provide this information. The secretary of state has “public pay,” at https://gcc.sco.ca.gov/Reports/Cities/Cities.aspx Transparent California is provided by the Nevada Policy Research Institute, in a joint venture with the California Policy Center, available at https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/2024/chico/

Both sites depend on public agencies, like the city of Chico, to provide this information. Because of delays in compliance, the figures are two years out of date, but accurate. You will find records dating back years, with annual salary increases, as well as benefits packages and total compensation.

Transparent California also figures the employee’s personal pension deficit, using pay and years of service. Employees pay between 5 and 11% toward their own pensions (70 – 90% of their highest year’s pay), the rest rides on the market and ends up on the backs of the taxpayers.

Please come to chicotaxpayers.com to join the conversation.

Juanita Sumner, Chico CA

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City of Chico talking out of both sides of it’s mouth again – telling us they will make housing “more affordable”, they continue to raise the cost of utilities with taxes and fees

15 Mar

I was looking into the proposed sewer rate increase for Chico and I found a discussion on Redditt that indicated people are pretty pissed off. I had read about a proposed 65% increase, but at last week’s meeting, they were saying like a 400% increase. We’re looking at the average customer paying almost $100 a month for sewer service. I knew that sewer “rate mechanism change” would be bad. This is what the real cost of living is about – you can’t just build more housing, you have to consider all the other costs.

I have believed for a long time that city leaders just want working class people out of town. One council and staff after another have tried to turn Chico – starting with Downtown – into a Destination! High-end restaurants, outdoor dining, now alcohol allowed outside – that’s not a family atmosphere, and the only working people they want Downtown are table waiters, bartenders, and cashiers.

Shop owners are leaving in droves, citing the parking kiosks, but I think that was just the last nail in the coffin. For years downtown businesses have been paying higher rent for less services, even while paying into a protection racket known as the Downtown Business Association. Remember when “Community Development Director” Leo DePaola was sticking Downtown businesses with rapacious fines for vandalism caused by transients?

Wait until they gut the streets for the sewer job. And if you have a minute, read the reports – there really are “secret tunnels” under Downtown, only not for opium dens, but for utilities, and for those old delivery elevators that used to open up down into the basements of various businesses. I’ve actually seen those used. These “tunnels” don’t all connect, and some of them are flooded. Last I heard the city isn’t even sure where they all are.

City of Chico officials and employees think of the rest of us as cash cows. They want us to pay for a mess they’ve been massaging for years, demanding more money from the taxpayers, just to feather their own nests, while they kick the poop can down the road.

So I wrote a letter about it!

After I sent my last letter, I received an agenda for the March 5 Finance Committee meeting. I was unable to attend, but heard later they are discussing a much higher sewer rate increase than I had read in a previous report.

City leaders like to talk about making housing more affordable, whether it’s rentals or private homes, but they fail to discuss the reality – just because a person can get a house, doesn’t mean they will be able to afford all of the associated costs. We’ve all watched PG&E and Cal Water rates rise steadily over the past 20 years, and now the city is sticking their thumb in the pie with their sewer rate increases.

Not to mention, a 5% tax on Cal Water and PG&E bills, as well as franchise taxes on PG&E and Comcast. They also have a franchise deal with the garbage companies.

These costs directly affect the cost of housing.

Where will the money go? Think you’ll see any work in your neighborhood? The Pension Stabilization Trust takes a percentage from every city fund to make the CalPERS deficit payment – will the sewer fund be exempt from the “catch-up” payments?

Election time is the best time to ask questions.

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Letter to the Editor – according to city finance staff, salaries and the pension deficit are the “chief budget concerns at this time…” So council approves another round of salary increases! Horses pulling a burning wagon…

3 Mar

Gotta go to Oroville this week. Property taxes are due next month, and no, I don’t trust USPS anymore. And, my husband needs to fix his voter registration – when he renewed his driver’s license recently, carefully checking the box indicating he did not wish to fill out the voter registration section, the DMV changed his voter registration address to our neighbor’s house. Thankyouverymuch!

Similar thing happened two years ago when I renewed my license. And we both got the same response from the county clerk, asking us to verify the information. I went to the clerk’s office to make sure it was fixed and my husband wants to do same. No, we don’t trust these people, and if you do, you should sleep on your stomach.

I like a trip to Oroville, really good coffee/pastry shop, good thrift shops and – Holy Crap Bat Mom – FREE PARKING! But this time we’re going to spend some time over at Surplus City, my husband will probably have to drag me out of there, they have so much cool stuff. And no worries about feeding the meter.

Ray Schimmel reminded me how stupid is the concept of paying for parking, on public streets, to shop at businesses that already pay taxes on that property. Meanwhile, you park free in every other retail district in Chico, oftentimes in private parking lots on which the owner pays substantial property tax.

Kick that around in the old noggin a minute – you should have seen the look on a Raley’s manager’s face when I asked him if that was true, that slow realization, like an egg spreading across his forehead. Yes, the big “box” stores, as well as the malls, pay property taxes on those “free” parking lots, and they make them available for you, AT NO CHARGE, so you can shop in their stores. Collective head slap folks – DUH!

So, why in the hell should we have to pay to park Downtown, and furthermore, put up with the inconvenience and several pointy questions regarding the kiosks? More jedi mind tricks from Chico City Council. So I wrote a letter about it!

Thanks Ray Schimmel, for your letter (2/22/26). The kiosks are a mistake that has caused unfortunate consequences for an entire business sector, with ramifications for the whole town.

It should not be surprising that citywide sales tax revenues are falling below projections. It’s pretty obvious that all of Chico is leaking retail. Whatever the reason, that’s a real problem – fifty-two percent of city funding comes from sales tax.

Staff also reports that salaries and the pension deficit are the chief budget concerns at this time. Nevertheless, city council just approved another round of salary increases, without asking more rational contributions from employees. They’re driving up the pension deficit, like horses pulling a burning wagon.

Meanwhile, Council ponders total replacement of Downtown sewer lines. – how do they plan to pay for that? With a 65% increase in EVERYBODY’S sewer rates, effective this year. They already spent the millions received in Camp Fire relief and American Rescue Funding, on who knows what.

Councilmembers Van Overbeek, Reynolds and Winslow are up for reelection. Van Overbeek has asked how the pension deficit keeps cycling up, but defends raising salaries. All three have signed the contracts without questioning the employee contributions. None of them seem to understand our fiscal situation. The pension deficit needs to be brought into the conversation in this election. Ask your candidate about it, and wait for their answer.  It would take guts to stand up to the employee unions, since they make the biggest contributions in every city election. 

Juanita Sumner, Chico ca

UPDATE: From the agenda report for tomorrow’s Finance Committee meeting – sewer rate increase!

Click to access 03-05-26%20FC%20Agenda%20Packet%20-%20Special.pdf

The City’s Sewer Enterprise faces significant financial challenges. Two primary financing approaches have been presented to the Finance Committee to support long-term Sewer Enterprise sustainability. Both approaches relied on cash-funded rate adjustments.
Option 1: Large Year 1 Increase – Collects more revenue early, reducing total five-year impact
Option 2: Incremental Increases – Smooths customer impact but results in higher rates by Year 5

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As the City Tanks: Council giving out more raises tomorrow night, when will they ever learn?

16 Feb

Tonight Chico City Council will most likely approve more salary increases for Chico PD and Fire. Trying to follow up on suggestions of outsourcing other positions to pay for these raises, I just happened to find a November article in the Chico News and Review. The author paraphrased a blog I posted regarding the effect these raises are having on the deficit, of which CouncilmemberTom Van Overbeek only recently seems to have become aware of.

From Chico CN&R, 11/20/25, https://chico.newsreview.com/2025/11/20/underfunded-chico-city-worker-pensions-addressed/

“The Chico Taxpayer Association maintains that contracts with city workers should have obligated them to pay for more of their own retirement costs, and that Van Overbeek’s motion is irresponsible from a conservative point of view. On its website it asks the councilmember: “You have signed onto contracts offering guaranteed raises and abysmally low shares of benefits costs without wondering where the money would come from to pay for these raises, or what effect the raises and underpayments would do to our CalPERS obligation. Why didn’t you ask these questions during the Measure H campaign?”

Wow, he included a response from VOB, but it’s not exactly an answer.

Van Overbeek answered that 2022’s Measure H sales tax increase primarily funded a police force “that was literally melting down,” and not intended for the UAL. “We said we were going to spend the money on cops and roads,” he said.

In this response, he does not engage the question about making employees pay more, he doesn’t even touch it. He refuses to engage the question about more employees and more raises without requiring higher shares is increasing the deficit. He also insinuates that the measure promised Measure A revenues would be used to fund “cops and roads” – it’s not legal to list specific uses for a “simple” 50+1 ballot measure. He also insists that Measure A funds are not being used to pay down the deficit – how can he promise that? Simple measures go into the General Fund.

Sacramento CN&R Author Ken Magri misstates the deficit payments at $7 million a year. That is way off, I’m pretty sure he got that figure from Artificial Intelligence. The city paid $18 million in 2023, I haven’t checked lately, but I know they go up every year. By millions. I get my figures from staffer Barbara Martin’s reports, available in the minutes from the Finance Committee Meetings.

Yes Mr. VOB, the cops are still melting down. The over-generous salaries are not getting “better” people, as evidenced in the recent revelations about police department inappropriate behavior. These salaries are tanking our town. When will they learn? When they get their ass handed to them at election time, that’s when.

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A day in the life of another, more friendly and vibrant town

10 Jan

You know I like to make my own bread, it’s way better than store bread and lots cheaper. My husband enjoys it too, so he bought us a new bread knife. Caution, sharp! I’ve cut myself with it about three times, most recently a nasty gash right across the edge of my index finger. It was a gusher, I had to use two bandages. And it keeps getting in the way – how to get around without using my hands, I haven’t figured that out yet. So it just kept getting ripped open again, getting all over the place. Like a lot of injuries, if you could just keep from using that part of the body, it would heel up in a day.

I needed a distraction. So we hit the road for Orland, a great day trip, neat little town,. We wanted to see if we could get any mandarins – too late! It’s been a tough winter for citrus farmers in Glenn County. Between that crazy fog, so wet, and then the dumping rain – mandarins are over. I was glad we’d run out to Bouldin Farms and got a few bags before the end.

But Orland still has a nice downtown, lots of restaurants and bakeries, and tons of those little “antique” stores. Yep, Orland has a penny sales tax – but like I always say, when you are paying reasonable prices, sales tax doesn’t make a blip on the radar.

Free parking! Fuck you Chico! Polite drivers – ever stepped out across Hwy 32 in Chico? You better be damn sure before you stick that foot out. In Orland they not only stop for pedestrians, they wave hello at you and you say “Thank you!”

Here’s the routine – we leash ourselves up and we hit the bakery for some dulces. We could get fat and diabetic in that town, walking out of a bakery with a full bag for less than $4. We got a huge jelly roll and a Danish, to eat while we walked around town. We already had lunch in mind for later.

I always have a list of household needs when I hit the shops. My husband and I live in a tiny space, and we always need things that help with organization. I always look for battery lights, as well as shelf racks and hangers. And I have a weakness for sweaters and other outerwear, cause it’s expensive new.

Everything at the various Downtown shops was marked down from Christmas – I found a ginchee hanging lamp for my battery candles at the first shop, marked down to $1. They had clothes, dishes, racks and cabinets, as well as other furniture, all used but in good condition, and reasonably priced. I’m not just filling my own wishes and needs – when you’re shopping at an “antique” store, you’re diverting perfectly good stuff from the landfill. One shop had an entire cart full of nice fleece blankets for $5 or less. I have to stop myself from buying things I don’t need, it’s good to have a list of what you’re looking for.

My husband always looks for tools, he’s found quite a few bargains. He has a good eye for tiny things, he found me a trivet for the oven in the woodstove, so we can heat leftovers and whatever in the woodstove. Which was also a thrift store score, one of our best.

And it was lunch time before we knew it. I don’t like Chico restaurants, but I get a craving for the Farwood Grill on occasion. They have a pickup window, super convenient. For $20 we got a huge hamburger to split between us, with a full order of really good fries. Dogs aren’t allowed in restaurants, so once we got the food in the car, we had to hold back until we made it to the city park – Orland’s version of The Plaza. No bums, no tents, no garbage, nicely maintained landscaping and big, clean tables with plenty of garbage cans, thank you!

Just as we were leaving, we saw the museum was open, and FREE!, but we had to get home. The sign says it’s open the first Friday of each month, but it was open when we were there, so I will check the website next time and I’ll keep you posted.

Call me a broken record, but I’ll say it again – Chico is in trouble, and here’s why – they have none of the above.

Unfunded pension liability up by $60 million – van Overbeek wants to “outsource” Hey, Tom, grow a pair – let’s ask the employees to pay a rational share of their own benefits!

17 Oct

I have been asleep at the wheel. It’s that time of year – leaf management, gutter cleaning, whack and blow, etc etc. And then I got the next council agenda, and I kind of woke up out of a stupor. It was the Finance Committee report from their meeting earlier this month.

https://chico-ca.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=2&event_id=1180&meta_id=99060

Following a presentation from finance manager Barbara Martin, “Councilmember van Overbeek stated he is concerned that the unfunded liability number keeps growing and inquired if all employees are part of CalPERS.” The finance director answered yes. “Councilmember van Overbeek stated the UAL increase from $117 million to $180 million is a startling increase.“

I have to ask, was Van Overbeek elected yesterday? He’s on the finance committee, he never heard about the pension deficit?

Then Van Overbeek suggested outsourcing – yeah, yeah – we’ve heard that conversation about a thousand times, with no results. Sorensen said that outsourcing would cost more money in the long run. Van Overbeek still wanted to pursue it, asking staff to come up with a “breakdown” of all the departments and where there are “opportunities for outsourcing..” Here’s this guy talking about employee costs who doesn’t seem to understand how expensive staff time is, he just expects to snap his fingers and get this stuff. At this point Sorensen did his job – he told van Overbeek that this information was available in the appendix to the city budget that Van Overbeek is supposed to be familiar with.

Tom, you’re a fucking idiot! Time vampire! You have been on council long enough to participate in a number of contract agreements with various employee groups. You have signed onto contracts offering guaranteed raises and abysmally low shares of benefits costs without wondering where the money would come from to pay for these raises, or what effect the raises and underpayments would do to our CalPERS obligation? Why didn’t you ask these questions during the Measure H campaign?

And here’s the question for council and city manager Mark Sorensen – why, when we’ve had this same conversation all the way back to when Brian Nakamura was city manager and Mark Sorensen was on council, we’ve been fully aware of the pension deficit, and none of you have once suggested that employees pay a more rational share of their overly generous benefits.

Instead you’ve tried to foist an illegal Pension Obligation Bond without putting it to a vote of the taxpayers. The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association had to put a cease and desist order on that. What’s your plan now?

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Harvey Holland: “Undergirding the homeless movement is an entitlement mentality, one that avails itself to the benefits of a free society, yet does not obey the laws that safeguard those rights.”

28 May

I don’t subscribe to the Enterprise Record but every now and then I read the letters section online – I find that the most interesting section of the paper, which has gone to mostly ads and propaganda. Most times I am able to read it before the wall comes up, today all I got was the following, with a quick glimpse at the name of the author – Harvey Holland. I didn’t get to read the whole letter, but I liked the opening quote.

“Undergirding the homeless movement is an entitlement mentality, one that avails itself to the benefits of a free society, yet does not obey the laws that safeguard those rights.”

That really nails it for me – I can’t stand people who scream for their rights without accepting any responsibility for their actions. I’ve dealt with friends and family members who’ve adopted that philosophy – I call it, “The Me, Myself and Irene” syndrome. “Irene” representing methamphetamine, heroin, and/or waaaaay too much alcohol.

Yep, that’s the reality of Chico these days, entitled drug addicts and criminals. They know they won’t be held responsible for taking stuff out of your yard, taking your daughter’s bike or your 11 year old’s BMX from the garage. That used to be called “stealing”, but these days it’s just a fact of life – if you don’t lock your stuff up – even that curious looking doodad hanging from your porch eaves – they will take it and nobody’s going to do anything about it.

Even locking stuff up isn’t always the answer. Car thefts are just a fact of life, and if your car is older and worth less than $10,000 they’re not even going to attempt to find it, much less get it back. My friend Dave’s locked car was stolen from the parking lot at his apartment complex. When he finally got it back, there was over 1,000 new miles on it, it had been stripped of valuable parts like the catalytic converter, was full of garbage including chits from casinos and used syringes, and was in the possession of a woman with warrants on her. That’s the only reason he got it back – she had to abandon it when the cops arrested her, and the tow truck got it before the transients got ahold of it again. I don’t believe anyone was ever charged, they acted as though Dave should be lucky to get his car back at all, completely destroyed and nothing but trash.

The cops and Mike Ramsey saw Dave’s car as an old junker, but Dave knew it as a car he had copiously maintained for years and his only source of transportation. This is life in Chico – watch your ass.

Or, demand more from your local police force. The police department gets over half the budget to tell us they can’t do anything about crime – tell your city rep the cops need to pay more of their own pensions, that’s getting down to their bottom line. Demand more from your DA – write a letter to the editor asking who will run against Ramsey and offer your support. And demand more from your city representative – my rep, Kasey Reynolds, tells me they need to offer these crazy $100,000+ salaries to “attract good people”. Let your rep know, that’s now working for us, and tell them you’re ready to fund and vote for anybody wo runs against them. I supported Morgan Kennedy in the last race, and you know what – she made a pretty good showing, and if she ran again she’d probably do better. I know she had Kasey worried – Reynolds’ PAC, “Citizens for Safe Chico” set a new funding record for the city council race.

The real problem is, it’s not just the transients and criminals who have a stake here – our ruling class is really entitled, they don’t care about our experience, they’re looking out for the One Percent. Look at Mark Sorensen’s little stucco compound over on Manzanita – you think he’s really worried about what you’re experiencing? Stand up and say something, or YOU have become the problem.

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As the city of Chico moves forward with a sales tax increase and a sewer tax, the state Supreme Court throws a shadow on trash franchise deals

14 Jan

I don’t join many clubs, but I’m happy to be a member of Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association because they take their job more seriously than our elected leaders take theirs.

For a donation of as little as $15 you can help HJTA spread the word about taxpayer rights and use their legal muscle to hold public agencies accountable. When concerned Chicoans contacted them about Council and Staff’s illegal attempt at a Pension Obligation Bond, HJTA quickly filed a Cease and Desist order, threatening to sue the city of Chico if they moved forward without putting a bond measure on the ballot.

I just received their free newsletter, a story about trash franchise fees caught my eye. It looks like the franchise fee the city added to our trash bills is illegal. The California Supreme Court upheld that decision in “Zolly vs the City of Oakland. The franchise fees were found to be a tax, and needed to be put into a ballot measure.

When the city made that deal, Brian Nakamura said it was about “getting all these trucks off our streets” by eliminating consumer choice. Then he told us the franchise fees would go toward repairing the damage done by the trucks. Neither of those promises were kept – every year the franchise fees are dumped into the General Fund and used for whatever whim of council.

I don’t know about you, but I’d rather see a total resurfacing of my street – a major “feeder” to many neighborhoods, overdue foe 30 years – than a stupid ass skating rink for the use of the priveleged few.

But you know, it’s the privileged few who run our town and make the rules to their advantage.

According to HJTA legal council Laura Dougherty, we can challenge our city’s franchise fee. In fact, during that first conversation back in 2012, our new city manager Mark Sorensen, then a council member, said this: “Let’s call it what it is, a trash tax.” Looks like Sorensen knows it’s illegal, but now that he’s yanking a $211,000/yr salary out of the city coffers, he’s keeping his trap shut.

So I’ll do some research as to how we would submit a protest to the trash franchise. Laura Dougherty says, “Hopefully all a ratepayer needs to do now is send a copy of the Zolly decision to their city…” I’ll get back to you with whatever I find out.

Note to Council: $275,000 for another study, really? You got your tax increase – how about just fixing stuff for a change?

12 Nov

Yes, the election is over, we have a new one-cent sales tax measure – now’s the time to pay attention. You don’t have to be a CPA to see how the city of Chico mismanages money. Here’s a good example – I just sent the editor a letter about it.

A recent discussion about turning Downtown parking spaces into restaurant dining areas brought up some interesting problems.

Staff reported that the original allocation of $300,000 in American Rescue Plan funding would not be sufficient – seven parklets penciled out at over $978,000.

The city having already spent $25,000 on parklet designs, Internal Affairs Committee recommends the remaining $275,000 be used for a parking study. The goal – showing that Downtown has sufficient street parking to allow conversions to parklets, but is still in need of another parking structure – Pretzel Logic 101.

At that point in the conversation, Committee Chair Kasey Reynolds announced that Downtown streets will have to be torn up soon to replace sewer pipes dating from 1908. Remember the Downtown business whose toilet had been mistakenly hooked up to the storm drain, creating a septage pond in Little Chico Creek? I wonder how many other problems are lurking beneath Downtown streets, while council discusses another superficial remodel.

Reynolds also announced, “we have a lot of empty buildings Downtown right now…” Gee, could it be the failing sewers, dilapidated sidewalks, disappearing parking spaces? Remember when the sidewalk in front of Kona’s collapsed, and the city denied responsibility for months? Kona’s moved to Nord Avenue. Sports LTD moved to Safeway Plaza. How many other businesses have left Downtown because of lack of parking and services?

Note to Council: $275,000 for another study, really? You got your tax increase – how about just fixing stuff for a change?

Juanita Sumner, Chico CA

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Democracy needs you! Get your ballots turned in at one of these secure locations, and then check your ballot status with the Secretary of State’s website

6 Nov

Election in two days – I’ve heard people are holding on to their ballots, with less than 20% already returned in Butte County. I’ve seen some chatter on social media, people who are distrustful of the post office, planning to turn them in by hand. I think, at this point, if you haven’t mailed your ballot, you might want to go to a drop-off location. I mailed mine just a couple of days after I received it. A few weeks later, I checked the secretary of state’s website and saw it had been received and accepted.

Here’s that link – thanks Dave –

https://voterstatus.sos.ca.gov/

I’m glad I voted early, but if you didn’t, you should probably head for one of these convenient drop-off locations in Chico. These secure drop-off boxes are available 24 hours a day as of October 10, until election day. I had previously posted that “polls” close at 5pm – I think that means the county clerk’s office is closed, but the boxes should be available until 8pm.

Butte County Library – Chico, 1108 Sherman Avenue
Chapman Elementary School, 1071 16th Street
Chico City Hall, 411 Main Street
Chico State BMU, W. 2nd & Chestnut Street
Department of Employment & Social Services (DESS), 765 East Avenue

Please vote. I care what you think, and Democracy is depending on you.

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