All the sudden I’m seeing searches along the lines of “why is the Chico post office annex closed”. I made several posts about that last week – the Barber Unit on Vallombrosa Ave. was burned almost two weeks ago. The cause was arson, that’s all we know. It was Ch 7 news out of Redding who ran a picture that showed the fire started in a garbage can inside the annex.
So far, the Enterprise Record has run nothing about it. I contacted “editor” Mike Wolcott last week but he was on vacation. When he got back to me he was surprised to hear about it, saying, “it does look like something we should look into...” But as of today, still nothing about it.
This building is located right in the middle of town, a busy section of Vallombrosa, right next to Safeway on Mangrove, and across the street and within sight of council woman Ann Schwab’s apartment house.
Last week I watched workmen take insulation out of the ceiling. Looked like the office next door, which was recently rented to a home healthcare business, was also damaged. It’s not just the fire, but smoke gets everywhere. And then there’s the water. So it looks like the entire building had to be gutted.
When we asked about our mail, the postal employee at the desk said yes, the mail that was in the boxes when the fire happened is still in there, they haven’t “been authorized” to remove it yet.
They won’t even talk about when the work will be done.
I also sent a note to both the police chief and the fire chief asking about the cause of the fire – no response. They think they are too important to be accountable to the public.
For the upcoming election we must find candidates to replace Ory, Stone and Schwab. Then we need to pressure council to terminate contracts with the city manager and his assistant and hire younger people who will take more reasonable salary and benefits packages. The police chief is retiring, what a fat-ass – let’s try to get a better chief and a better contract this time. One reader suggested we look out of town – I think that’s a good idea. In fact I think we should look out of state, for a person who isn’t on the teat of California entitlement.
Wake up Lobsterville, the pot’s just about to come to a boil!
As you may know, the city of Chico has cancelled the March 17 meeting because of coronavirus. The agenda was full of contention, and they expected a big turnout, so heeding the governor’s recommendation against gatherings of over 250 people, they postponed the meeting until the first week of April.
They were scheduled to discuss overturning both “sit-and-lie” and the “crimes against property” ordinance, but the item that caught my eye was the extra $3,050,000 they found in the budget and what $taff wants to do with it.
Here’s the agenda they posted for March 17 before they cancelled.
To make a long story short, after pointing a dirty finger at the Camp Fire refugees, blaming them for “overwhelming” the streets and sewers, and using them pretty blatantly as an excuse for a sales tax increase, the city of Chico actually PROFITED FROM THE CAMP FIRE. To the tune of an extra $3 million+.
I believe this money should go into the streets fund, since city mangler Orme and public works director Erik Gustafson have claimed the refugees caused massive damage to our streets. They’ve already decided to raise sewer fees. $3 million would be a nice chunk for the road fund. And, $taff has admitted deferring maintenance while taking money from the road fund to transfer into the Pension Stabilization Trust, so I believe it would be a good use of one-time money to pay that back. Instead $taff has come up with their own wish list:
Grant Match for AIP Grant (Runway) $1,405,000 Community Choice Aggregation Loan $350,000 BMX Relocation Project $100,000 Redistricting Demographer $ 30,000 Fire Station #1 Remodel $250,000 Pension Stabilization Trust $400,000 Homeless Solutions Project $515,000
Every item on this list concerns me.
First, I think it’s foolish to spend one-time money on the airport, the airport should provide it’s own steady stream of revenue. That hasn’t happened for years, and using one-time money to prop up airline service is a mistake. Sure, they need to fix the runway, that is what lost them the contract for serving the fire planes. That money should have come out of the airport budget years ago, instead they constantly raided it to pay salaries, benefits, and the pension liability. If you don’t believe me, pull Mark Sorensen over at a stoplight and ask him.
Same for Community Choice Aggregation – Mark Orme’s Music Man pitch for the city to buy electricity and re-sell it to residents, using PG&E infrastructure. This scheme will never pencil out for the ratepayers, but will be a new and steady revenue stream for the city. Using one time money to jump start a scam like this is just the beginning.
As for the BMX relocation – they should have to pay for that out of the annual $4 million they receive for “consolidating” transient services on the site formerly leased to the group that built the BMX track.
I haven’t read the report on the fire station “remodel” but that money should come out of the public safety fund, which eats about half the city budget.
The last two items I find completely insulting.
$515,000, taken from people burned out of their homes and still on the lamb, for something as vague and amorphous as “Homeless Solutions Project”? Those people, including my son, had to find their own solutions, but now they are expected to pay for the warming tents and other “solutions” to keep the junkies happy? GFY City of Chico.
But most outrageous is that $taff must get their thumb in the pie – $400,000 for the Pension Stabilization Trust. Scott Dowell, Mark Orme and Chris Constantin like to brag about their “aggressive payments” toward THEIR pension deficit with OUR money. Meanwhile, they pay very little out of their own pocket toward their own benefits, and this has created the “unfunded pension liability” in the first place.
Last year I asked Scott Dowell about the “shares”. Employees are divided into groups that pay different shares. Two main groups – “safety” (cops and fire) and “miscellaneous” (everybody else) are divided into sub groups “classic” and “PEPRA”. “Classic” means, hired before 2013, when the Public Employee Pension Reform Act went on the books. This law requires employees hired after 2013 to pay 50 percent of employer cost for their pensions.
I didn’t get that, I thought the law meant employees would pay 50% of total cost. Silly me! It means they pay 50% of what the agency they work for has agreed to pay CalPERS. That varies with agency – for example, CARD only pays 14% total. The city pays more, but still not enough.
Notice management (Orme, Constantin, and Dowell) pay the second lowest contribution, even though they brag about picking up 3% of the employer contribution.
Group Employer Cost Employee Cost*
Miscellaneous Classic 10.235% 11% Total: 21.235% (leaving roughly 79% for the taxpayers)
PEPRA 10.235% 9.75% Total: 19.985% (leaving roughly 80% for the taxpayers)
Safety Classic 18.843% 12% Total: 30.843% (leaving roughly 70% for the taxpayers)
PEPRA 18.843% 15%** Total: 33.843% (leaving roughly 66% for the taxpayers)
*Includes 3% cost sharing of employer cost. Note CPSA employees pay 6% of employer cost.
**CPOA PEPRA pay 15%; IAFF PEPRA have ratified an agreement to pay 12%.
City of Chico employees are paying, or are nearly paying, HALF of the CalPERS pension costs.
So, the city pays different shares and totals than CARD, and even by group. And while they pay more than CARD, the highest total is only 33.843% of cost. That leaves the rest for the taxpayers. I know, they claim they will make it up on the stock market – but they keep lowering their anticipated returns, and demanding more and more from the various agencies (taxpayers).
I was unsure about how it works in $$$$, so I asked Scott Dowell for the figures on an employee making about $220,000/year (obviously a “classic” or management employee). Here’s what his staffer sent me:
A Miscellaneous Classic Employee earning a base salary of $220,000 has a PERS contribution of:
Employer: $22,517 (10.235%)
Employee: $24,200 (11.000%)
Total: $46,717 (21.235%)
An employee retiring with a salary of $220,000/year would get a base pension of $154,000. With cost of living increase, it will go up every year, adding to the liability. For example, ex city manger Tom Lando got a base pension of about $135,000 when he retired almost 15 years ago. Today,with COLA, he is taking almost $155,000/year. Just in pension, he also gets healthcare and other perks that we pay for.
Here’s a stumper – sit down and hold onto your seat – Lando never paid anything toward his pension. At that time, the city paid the “employer paid member contribution,” meaning, we paid Lando’s entire share. That scam went on until the taxpayers figured it out, and only now are employees beginning to pay anything. Any reform would have been something, but it’s not enough. It’s not true reform.
True reform would be dissolving CalPERS and hiring new employees who will pay their own pension costs. An agency contribution should be warranted by years of service and dedication, not a given. And, since CalPERS is 64% funded at this point, retirees will get over 50% of their anticipated pensions, which are based on some pretty generous, even outrageous salaries in the first place.
Don’t be afraid to speak up, don’t be intimidated by union members telling us we’re ripping them off – BULLSHIT! Time to press for TRUE PENSION REFORM!
Today I am 60 years old. I remember very well being a young child and wondering if I could make it that long, and whaddya know, here I am. Coronavirus be damned!
I woke up to the wind, howling and shrieking around the corners of our tiny house, the eaves rumbling a little, the patio chairs scooting across the back porch. As soon as I sat down here with my coffee I heard the scattered, then heavy drops on the old tin roof. Good! Wash away all that glowing green pollen that’s been playing hell with our sinuses!
The media fixates on coronavirus – meanwhile, this has been one of the most pollinated years I remember. So far we’ve suffered the nut trees, now the oaks. Watch out, the worst ones – pine and privet – are still ahead. They say a mask won’t protect you from coronavirus but I’ll tell you – it will keep microscopic granules of living plant material from attaching themselves to your soft, moist internal tissues, digging in with tiny anchors, and causing you all kinds of respiratory distress. Yet another good reason to wash your hands, as well as your face and hair, before you go to bed.
But the talk of every town these days is coronavirus. My son called from Portland the other night to report hours long lines at the Winco, and NO TOILET PAPER. Shelves empty. Wow, as a neighbor of mine observed, we’ve hit bottom when you can’t find a roll of toilet paper on the shelves. What the hell is wrong with people?
The flu killed over 80,000 Americans in 2018. Did your kid’s school close? Did the airports shut down? Did the stores run out of vital supplies? Here’s an interesting story from MSNBC
“While the new coronavirus ravages much of China and world leaders rush to close their borders to protect citizens from the outbreak, the flu has quietly killed 10,000 in the U.S. so far this influenza season.”
The latest report I could find this morning says coronavirus has killed about 4,000, world wide. While I’m sorry for those victims and their families, I am also sorry for the 250,000 Americans reported to have died from medical errors last year.
Here’s what we need to learn from coronavirus:
wash your hands regularly, and wash them well. Use warm water and gentle soap, and scrub between your fingers. Keep your fingernails short and scrub them good. It’s not just coronavirus, you know better. When a surgeon neglected to wash his hands well before he operated on my friend’s knee, my friend got an e-coli infection. That was explained very clearly in the letter he got from the hospital.
keep your house neat and clean and well supplied. Keep the basic necessities, like pain/fever relievers, antiseptics like alcohol, and simple groceries on hand. Always have nonperishable food in your pantry. I recommend that miso soup powder that comes in packets. When my entire family had the flu years back, we were so weak it was about the only thing we were strong enough to prepare. We also try to keep at least a case of bottled water in the pantry. And, my family always laughed at me for hoarding toilet paper – well, nobody’s laughing now!
find a good health care provider – I know, that’s not as easy as it sounds. But don’t wait until you get sick to figure out where you might go for help. Waiting until you are falling down sick and trying to go to Immediate Care, or worse, the ER, is not a good route.
Something I already knew before coronavirus is our healthcare system is in trouble. When my family finally signed up for California Covered, our insurance agent told us there were very few doctors in Chico who would accept our Silver 94 policy, and most of them are booked up with patients.
Another thing I already knew is there’s no real journalism in America anymore, just propaganda. What I see now is a united attempt by a huge segment of the media to create hysteria in the public and lay the whole blame on Trump. For what? Wake up people, you are being led by the nose. This article in the ER illustrates how ridiculous it’s gotten – the city of Chico leads the hysterical charge by cancelling public meetings. Chico Velo wades in by cancelling the Wildflower.
I saw a blurb this morning in the Enterprise Record about a budget workshop hosted by city of Chico staff. That’s March 12, 10 am to 11:30 at the old Municipal Building on Main, right across the street from City Hall.
The article said something about “transparency”. Yes, the city has been pursuing “transparency”, but that only works if the public asks questions. I don’t really know who they expect to attend a weekday meeting at 10am, but I’ll try to attend. Frankly, I’m predicting, by March 12, I will be looking forward to getting my work done early and sitting in the air conditioning listening to these blowfaces try to foist their argument for a sales tax increase, cause that’s undoubtedly what is going on here.
I have asked the city clerk if the meeting will be video taped, but I expect her to say no. I don’t think the old muni building was set up for video taping. If that is the case I will lobby for this meeting to be held in the recently remodeled city council chambers – the city spent almost $400,000 of our Comcast fees on that remodel, with the excuse that they needed to upgrade the technology by which they televised the meetings. So there’s no excuse for any more un-recorded meetings, that bullshit has to end. ALL the meetings need to be videotaped, that’s something we need to push for.
Here’s a NO on A letter that merits further discussion – this is a conversation that needs to be had.
Before we hand CARD $3 million a year with Measure A, here’s why we’re smarter not to. First, we have a massive pension debt and no solution yet. I’m willing to vote higher city taxes this fall to help with that, but not to launch CARD on a spending spree for new toys – the main one being an aquatic center we didn’t all want. But about $3 million a year in new money should get that done in a few years, so why a permanent parcel tax? And why is CARD putting the money into a $36 million bond? Bonds mean one hell of a spending spree ahead, and losing a third or more of the money on interest payments. It’s kind of like how we’re funding pensions, except CalPERS and the unions never mentioned how much we’re about to lose by the state and them not paying it up front like we were told. Tricky thing dissembling.
There’s one more problem. The reason we don’t already have an aquatic center is that the city council wouldn’t buy CARD one. Council members have to think when it comes to what city agencies want and what our taxes can cover. If Measure A fails that will keep happening. I like that. We don’t even know what all the toys are CARD will start throwing money at once nobody can get in its way anymore. CARD will be a pretty hefty sow by the time it shows up at city council overextended again.
— David P. Smith, Chico
A line that I find very disturbing is, “I’m willing to vote higher city taxes this fall…”
Why the hell would you do that, Dave?
And then he says, “It’s kind of like how we’re funding pensions, except CalPERS and the unions never mentioned how much we’re about to lose by the state and them not paying it up front like we were told.” He assumes we all know how the pensions are funded, and what he means by “how much we’re about to lose by the state…” I don’t think very many people really understand how we fund the pensions. Nor do I believe the average voter/taxpayers is aware how much CalPERS has lost in the stock market through bad investments. But the part that really interests me is “them not paying it up front like we were told.”
Thanks Dave, cause this is the conversation that needs to be had.
First of all, the pensions are funded through payments made by the public agency and supplemented with stock market investments. Unfortunately, CalPERS made big, stupid promises, saying they could fund more than 50% of the pensions through investments. They amassed a lot of assets – a high rise building in NYC? – and began building a portfolio, promising a 7% return.
But, CalPERS investments have never held up to their promises because they continue to make bad investments. They have been lucky to get 3%. So, their investments end up costing money. Some of these investments have been made inappropriately. In fact, in 2015, “a federal grand jury indicted two former top officials on fraud, conspiracy and obstruction charges.”
A CalPERS executive and a board member were found to have been taking bribes to buy poorly performing stocks.
“Villalobos, collected tens of millions of dollars from Wall Street firms for steering CalPERS business their way.”
“At the center of the investigation was the role of placement agents, the middlemen or intermediaries hired by private equity firms and other financial institutions to win CalPERS business. The investigation came during a rough financial stretch for CalPERS. Its investment portfolio value had plummeted nearly $100 billion, to $169 billion, during the recession.”
Guilty as hell, Villalobos committed suicide before he could be sentenced. His partner was convicted and went to prison. Since then, CalPERS claims to have cleaned up their act, but their portfolio continues to do badly. So they hired an “assassin” – a guy who comes in and cleans up the mess.
In his first week, Mr. Meng surprised staffers by introducing himself to employees from the most junior to senior level. Over the next few months, he was taken aback by how little some staffers knew about the fund’s investments, a person familiar with the matter said. Mr. Meng concluded some lacked information he thought needed to be routinely monitored.
So there’s corruption and incompetence here, not surprising. What would surprise me is to hear that some management was fired, possibly even investigated. What would surprise me even more would be CalPERS actually making money instead of pouring it down the toilet.
Unfortunately, CalPERS corruption and incompetence only add up to half the conversation.
Here’s the conversation that still needs to be had. Who should pay the deficit?
Right now, the taxpayers are picking up not only the monthly payroll amounts, but the semi-annual deficit payments as well. Here’s how that pencils out – I’ll use CARD as an example.
The agency pays 14% of the cost of it’s management pensions. The employees pay 5.5 to 8% of the 14%. It works like this: for a $100,000/year salary, the agency pays (100,000 x .14) $14,000/year, total. This is a management salary, management pays 8%, so that employee would pay (14,000 x .08) $1,120/year. For a pension of 70%, or $70,000/year. That base figure goes up with cost of living increases, based on the Consumer Price Index.
The agency only pays 14%, the other 86% is the deficit. As their stock market returns continue to disappoint, CalPERS demands more money. That money has been taken from CARD’s General Fund, by way of a “Pension Stabilization Trust”. Money that would have been better spent maintaining district facilities.
Meanwhile, CARD employees continue to receive above market salaries and pay pennies on the dollar for very generous pension packages.
CARD General Manager Ann Willmann told us at her “informational meetings” that she has personally met with CalPERS officials and “begged” them to change the employee shares. Really? She should be talking to the board, because that’s who negotiates the salaries and the shares. City of Chico pays different shares than CARD, so these contracts are obviously negotiated in house.
What can we do? The problem we need to solve is, the public is left out of the negotiations. We have no real representation – not in Chico, where too many pensioneers are on our council and various boards. For example, of the five members of the CARD board, two are public pensioneers – Tom Lando, former city of Chico manager, and Tom Nickell, former CHP officer.
I believe these people have a conflict of interest between their own benefit and the public benefit. I think it behooves them to keep approving the salary increases, because that means the agency pays more into the pension fund. It is obviously in their best interest to keep making the deficit or “side fund” payments, or CalPERS would have gone bankrupt by now and they would be out their nice pensions. In fact, Lando is one of the top five pensioneers in Butte County, having retired at about $134,000/year, with COLA, he’s now getting over $155,000 in annual pension payments. I’m not sure about Nickell, but I sincerely believe Lando is pressing this tax measure not for CARD, but for CalPERS. He has put $6,000 of his own money into Measure A – you have to spend money to make money, folks.
I also think Lando has been on the CARD board long enough, and needs to step down when his term is up in November. That’s not likely.
Here’s my solution. I am hoping some competent and honest candidates come forward for CARD board in November. I think a good candidate would be a local business person who has experience with CARD. Somebody who doesn’t have financial gain to be made. Somebody who understands finance on a basic level. Somebody who has a long stake in the community, whether business or family. And, somebody who has the support of their family, because there are some minor inconveniences involved, like monthly meetings, “special” meetings, and excursions to various district facilities.
I don’t think that’s a complete list, and I didn’t mean to leave anybody out. I would say, if you are interested in filling a position like this, the first thing you’d want to do is attend meetings. Familiarize yourself with the website, and be sure to contact staff with any questions. Read agendas and reports. Read the minutes of past meetings. Read the budgets, not just the most recent, but past budgets to compare. That’s all on the website. I can also give you information I’ve got from staff that’s not on the website, feel free to ask.
CARD board is doable. It’s not an expensive election, the meetings are short. And, if you are interested in getting involved, CARD is a good start. THINK ABOUT IT!
I got my ballot with county voting guide a few days ago, and mailed my completed ballot yesterday. I’ve been ready for this election for years now, believe me. I’ve been watching attempts to disable Prop 13 coming through the legislature and I’ve been watching Chico Area Recreation District fumble along with their tax measure. Dan Walters and other political observers have been telling us about the ginormous pension deficits around the state, so who would be surprised at all the tax measures that are making their way, again, like some rough beast, toward the ballot.
It was a no-brainer, as far as I’m concerned – No on 13, No on A.
And now it’s off to November!
Whether or not we are successful in beating Measure A, we have to start watching CARD more closely. Board members Tom Lando and Michael Worley are both up for re-election in November, and I think Lando needs to go. He is the driving force behind the tax measures coming forward this year, he’s been working toward a tax measure since 2012. He even paid for a survey out of his own pocket – but that survey came back negative. So he put his name in the hat for CARD board, and since nobody ran against him, he was appointed. Yes, it’s that easy.
As board member he has pushed forward this parcel tax, offering one rainbow promise after another, without once admitting that CARD’s real financial problem is the employees don’t pay enough toward their own ridiculous pensions.
Why would Lando admit that – he is one of the top five living pensioneers in Butte County. Of course it is in his best interest, as well as that of CPOA president Jim Parrott, who co-signed the Argument For Measure A, to make sure CalPERS is funded.
Lando put $6,000 into this measure, that we know of. CPOA tossed in $1,000. But wow – $50,000 from the Service Employees International Union – which represents full-time employees of CARD? That’s not obvious? Hey, pull your underwear off your face!
Jim Parrott is also Board President of Chico Swim Association. That’s no co-inky-dink, Folks. These people take these positions so they can work together to control our community. I don’t care if that sounds like a conspiracy theory, it’s true. CARD is an agency that can raise taxes, that is where Lando’s interest lies – making sure his $150,000/year plus COLA pension is funded by the taxpayers. And Chico Swim Association is nothing more than a satellite of CARD, run by the president of a public employees’ union? If you don’t get that, I don’t know how to explain it.
Suffice to say, we need to pay more attention to these public agencies and who is running them off the cliff. Lando and Worley are up in November. Lando originally got his seat because nobody ran against him. That can’t happen again, we need to find some competent candidates to take these people on. It’s only a two year term, with one or two meetings a month.
Meanwhile, Chico council members Randall Stone, Karl Ory, Sean Morgan and Ann Schwab are also up for re-election in November. Thank Goodness Karl Ory has announced he will not seek re-election – I don’t remember a nastier, more divisive person on council, unless it’s Randall Stone. I wish Stone would throw in the towel, he’s had his shot. So have Morgan and Schwab, for that matter. This is why I voted YES on Measure S in 2018 – some people need to be shown the door by way of term limits. Unfortunately, the measure allows for sitting council members to “start over” – Schwab gets two more terms, despite her many clueless years on council.
I don’t mind saying, this is a daunting commitment. For one thing, city council seats have gotten expensive, 10’s of thousands to run for a public office that only pays less than $20,000/year. But there is a very nice health insurance package – I’ll have to ask about that, I’m sure those have gone up since I last checked. Of course, there are two, very onerous meetings a month, and you’re on the hook for 4 years. Look at it like community service that insures your entire family for four years, maybe that sounds better.
At any rate, this is the conversation I want to have over the next few months – get your flashlight, and start looking for 10 honest people.
As we watch “the homeless” overwhelm our parks and public areas, and Chico PD arrests more and more transients for burglary and assault, the Chico city council is actually thinking about rescinding the “sit-and-lie” ordinance soon. I watched a video of county supervisor candidate Sue Hilderbrand claiming that transients should be allowed to do anything in public places that the rest of us do in our homes. The state is considering forcing the mentally ill into treatment. Gavin Newsom wants to penalize cities that are not, in his opinion, doing enough to house the homeless.
“billions of dollars meant to reduce repeat criminal activity by improving local jails and probation services were siphoned off for other purposes.”
You know what other purposes – “the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) was pressuring local governments to contribute more money to offset the system’s investment losses during the Great Recession, and to pay for pension benefit increases.”
Walters reports that CalMatters published a similar article about the 1967 Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, which was meant “to depopulate the state’s mental hospitals, curb involuntary commitments and divert the mentally ill into local treatment programs.
“However, the promises of the 1967 Lanterman-Petris-Short act to create a network of easily accessible local mental health services were never kept. The money that had been saved from closing mental hospitals was swallowed up in state budgets approved by then-Gov. Ronald Reagan and his successors from both parties.”
And those promises continue to be ignored, you can look at the Butte County Behavioral Department website for yourself:
For one department – one department in a county of less than 300,000 people – with nearly a $100 million budget, I’m not impressed. I don’t see any directory of mental health professionals. I do see a number you can call if you’re experiencing a crisis, but I don’t see any programs – like AA – that can help a person avoid crisis. And while they’ve promised a “street crisis team,” I have yet to see county workers walking the parks or other public areas in Chico to counsel anybody toward getting off the street.
Look here – you can see where the Behavioral Health Budget goes.
You see the highest paid employee in Butte County, with a salary of almost $290,000/year and a benefits package of almost $50,000, is the Behavioral Health Director. Two BCBH employees make over $200,000/year, just in salary. If you search “Behavioral Health”, you find 66 pages of salaries – including the lower paid interns and “extra help” who actually work with the patients.
The funding they “saved” by not providing hospitalization for people in mental crisis has gone to management salaries, benefits, and, the county pension deficit.
Like Walters says, “We should keep the 1967 mental health law, the Local Control Funding Formula and realignment in mind the next time the state’s politicians tell us they are enacting a transformative solution to a pressing problem.” And, the next time our city or county leaders tell us they need more revenue to solve a problem, we should say NO! and vote them all out of office.
If you watch the government steadily over time like I have the last 50 or so years, you see the contradictions and the outright lies. My favorite of late was Obama’s promise that we would not lose our health care providers under Obamacare.
So when Chico City management started repeating their Big Lie about the Camp Fire evacuees all landing on Chico like a plague of locusts, I knew it was really all about pushing for the sales tax increase. In fact, at a Finance Committee presentation of the proposed measure, Ass City Mangler Chris Constantin actually said we should put it on the March ballot so we could “take advantage of the population influx.” He not only acknowledged then that the evacuees would be temporary, he also predicted that the economy would tank soon. That’s another blog.
But CARD got their parcel tax (Measure A) on the March ballot before the city could decide what to do with theirs, and knowing they would be stupid to have two tax measures on one ballot, the city decided to wait until November. That gives them more time to campaign anyway, since they can’t campaign for the measure once it has been submitted and accepted for the ballot by the county clerk.
Brian Nakamura made the mistake of using taxpayer money to produce and distribute flyers promoting the city of Rancho Cordova’s tax measure, and that got him the can, so his former cronies will not make the same mistake.
So staff has to be creative, they need to create financial problems and then convince the taxpayers that they need to pay more money to solve them. They don’t want us to find out the real truth about city finances – whole funds are in arrears because they’ve been siphoning off money to pay down the pension liability. Look at the budget here,
and push “Control F” on your keyboard. Then type in the words, “pension” or “pension liability”, look at it for yourself if you don’t want to take my word for it. Then type in “gas tax” and be further outraged.
I think you will see stuff that inspires you to write your own letter to the editor, here’s mine.
NOTE: Here’s a further irony I was not able to address in 250 words – they add a franchise fee that increases your rates, and then they use that total to figure the 5% Utility Tax. Sock it to me BABEE!
After a year of Chico staffers complaining that the Camp Fire evacuees were “straining” our services, we find a $20,000,000 “boost” in city coffers. Where did that come from?
Staff reports sales and bed tax were up, way up, during those months after the fire. Staff didn’t mention Utility Tax or the franchise fees that are tacked onto our utility bills. The city adds a 5% Utility Tax to your PG&E, Cal Water/sewer, and landline bills, taking $7,051,581 last year. With rate increases and new development, that goes up about $50,000/year. Think what a temporary population influx meant.
A letter writer mentioned the trash tax or “franchise fee”. The city also collects franchise fees from PG&E and Comcast. Last year the city added $1,102,674 to our trash bills and expects to collect about $1,600,000 in 2019-20. They tacked another $757,192 onto our PG&E bills and $899,942 to our cable tv bills.
Shouldn’t these funds be used for street maintenance? Last year staff used almost $400,000 in Comcast fees to remodel council chambers. These hidden taxes go into the General Fund, where they are available for any whim of council.
Council created the ordinances by which these taxes are added to our utility rates, and council can lower or eliminate them. Ironically, they also created a “no price gouging” ordinance, but proceeded to make profit from the tragedy. Let them know how you feel about that by claiming your annual Utility Tax Rebate, available from May 1 to June 30. Email the clerk at debbie.presson@chicoca.gov for details.
Time for New Year’s Resolutions! I recommend this because last year I realized all my pants were too tight, including a pair I’d only bought a couple of months earlier. I resolved to lose 10 lbs instead of buying new pants. I quit eating a big breakfast, opting instead for a fruit/yogurt smoothie, and I started an exercise routine. It’s been pretty up and down since then, but I’ve lost 8 of the 10, and I haven’t gained it back. I’ll say WOW! I’ve gone back to the factory made holes on my belt!
So this year I’m telling all my friends to resolve to stop being ripped off by the city of Chico and turn in a Utility Tax Rebate form.
Never heard of Utility Tax? Take a look at your PG&E, Cal Water and “telecom” (landline) bills. HINT: you won’t find “utility tax”, it will say something like “local user’s tax”. Your PG&E bill splits it up – look at all the pages, it will be listed at least twice on your electric bill and again on your gas bill.
Fortunately, the city is required by law to rebate the tax to those households that fall under a certain income level – I think it’s about $43,000/year. But, neither the city nor the utility companies are required to tell anybody about this rebate, so I try to tell people. The rebate is available from May 1 through June 30. By May 1, there will be a rebate form available on the city website, or you can ask the clerk for it – that’s debbie.presson@chicoca.gov I like to jangle her chain about the last week of May, cause you know, the squeaky wheel gets the grease.
You will have to fill in each month’s total take for each utility bill and then add them twice. Then attach all your bills – I recommend making copies – and send or deliver them to the city. If you send them, it’s going to cost you more than a stamp, and you can only deliver them during business hours, M – F. But it’s probably worth it. Since I’ve been doing this my return has gone from around $35 to almost $100 a year. About a year ago they started adding it to my water bill, and of course all the rates have gone up drastically over the last few years. So, judging from your usage, it might be well worth the trouble.
Listen, even if it’s less than $50, let me tell you why I do it anyway – I resent that they take it, at all. Here’s a couple of reasons why you should resent it too.
they also tax the utility companies by way of a “franchise fee”, which, added to your bill, means they double tax you
the city just announced a budget surplus
I try to read the city budget at least a couple of times a year.
It’s funny – when I’m looking for one thing I see other, interesting things. Here’s a note from the most recently adopted 2019-20 budget that should really piss all of us off: “(5) Assumes 100% of waste hauler franchise fees will be retained by the General Fund beginning in 2022-23.” I know, dammit, they said they were going to use that franchise fee – excuse me, TRASH TAX – to fix the streets. Ha ha – joke’s on us! They transfer it to the General Fund – they can transfer monies as they please – and then they can use it for whatever they want.
Oh yeah, franchise fees –
they also tax the utility companies by way of a “franchise fee”, which, added to your bill, means they double tax you
The city collects franchise fees from Waste Management, Recology, PG&E, and Comcast. Here’s the spread from the 2019-20 budget. The first 5 digit number is the Fund Number, the other figures are dollar amounts. The first two dollar amounts are actual, from 2016 – 2018. The other numbers are projected, based on trends, because they don’t have the actual figures yet. For those years they have two figures – the first is the figure the council has approved and the second slot will show “modifications” made as the year progresses. This budget is from last June so they hadn’t done the modifications – you have to attend the monthly Finance Committee meetings to get that “dynamic” information. So, I added the years and some dollar signs, and I’ve bold-faced the “actuals”.
Ha ha – I always read this stuff a million times, but just now while I was bold-facing those first two years, I saw the Waste Hauler Franchise Fee went from $236,112 in 2016-17 to $1,102,674 in 2018-19. WHAAAAATTTT! That’s our money folks! Feeling a little hollow in your right butt cheek? I mean, that’s where the average American keeps their wallet, so I’m just wondering. I keep my wallet on a strap over my shoulder, cause I might want to use that thing to smack somebody upside the head! I mean, don’t even be sticking your fingers in my purse honey, you gonna come up with a stump.
Yeah, I get mad. What the hell is wrong with you people? We paid those franchise fees, on top of the Utility Tax the city of Chico has added to our monthly bills. Don’t be a Meathead.
Yes, the city of Chico made profit off the Camp Fire – I can just see Mark Orme, Chris Constantin and Scott Dowell standing together, twisting their mustaches over the small army of evacuees that landed on our town. While they complained about the “strain” these people were putting on our infrastructure, they probably laughed out loud behind closed doors (remember the Enron scandal) over the money that would be pouring into Chico. Including millions in “reimbursements” from the state.
They announced this budget surplus as if butter wouldn’t melt in their mouths. Oh gee, says Scott Dowell, I found this money in the cushions of my office sofa... No, they got it from increased sales tax receipts, bed tax receipts, and utility tax receipts, those dirty, rotten scoundrels. They took advantage of a tragedy. Instead of saying, shouldn’t we drop or at least lower these taxes – I mean, we just passed a ‘no gouging’ ordinance, Chris Constantin told a gathering at a Finance Committee meeting in late 2018 that we needed to raise sales tax immediately to take advantage of the influx in population.
He didn’t twist his mustache, but he said that.
On page FS-1 of the 2019-20 budget, you’ll see both the franchise fee figures I listed above and the Utility Tax takings. I don’t have time to edit the UT figures to make it easier to read, but you can figure it out. Like the franchise fee table, it starts with 2016-17, and those first two figures are actual numbers, so I boldfaced them.
For fiscal years 2016 – 2020
40460 UUT Refunds 16-17(5,035) 17-18(6,160) 0 0 0 0 40490 Utility User Tax – Gas 2016-17 $1,155,438; 2017-18 $1,108,081 1,200,000 1,200,000 1,200,000 1,200,000 40491 Utility User Tax – Electric 2016-17 $4,490,948; 2017-18 $4,569,241 4,600,000 4,600,000 4,600,000 4,600,000 40492 Utility User Tax – Telecom 2016-17 $355,319; 2017-18 $367,465 300,000 300,000 290,000 290,000 40493 Utility User Tax – Water 2016-17 $898,519; 2017-18 $1,012,954 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,050,000 1,050,000 Total Utility Users Tax 2016-17 $6,895,189; 2017-18 $7,051,581 7,100,000 7,100,000 7,140,000 7,140,000
I know why the water figure went up ALOT – they only added the UT to my water bill a little over a year ago. They realized that Cal Water had drastically raised rates during the dry spell of 2016 and instead of filing a formal protest to the CPUC, they rubbed their sweaty little mitts together in glee and stuck it to us good! But you see they are projecting lower amounts as people simply turn off their sprinklers and kill every living thing in their yards to save money. You can see gas and electric takings were down, but of course they predict higher totals for 2019-20 because of the evacuees. We’ll see what the actual numbers look like in a year or so.
But, looking at the totals you see – they go up by about $50,000 a year, year after year.
I sent a note to Scott Dowell asking if UT figures went up along with sales tax and bed tax totals, but he informed me that he is on vacation until January 2. Well, la-tee-dah Scott, how nice for you!
Meanwhile, we should all be wondering, why are we paying a tax on our utilities? The city council instituted the tax with an ordinance, years ago. They put a 5% maximum on that, but when rolled it out at 3%. A drug and alcohol addict named Scott Gruendl proposed an increase to the full five percent when he was on council here. But when he skipped town, in a hail of turds, nobody proposed lowering the tax. Well, I’d like to propose we revisit the Utility Tax. And maybe we should just get rid of it.
Remember claims made by City of Chico staff that Camp Fire evacuees were causing financial problems? Here’s a story from as late as May – 6 months after the fire – claiming that the evacuees were still overwhelming city services.
“Last week, the state Department of Finance released the figures, with Chico having grown by 20.7 percent as of Jan. 1, 2019. The population as of the new year was 112,111, according to the state, up by an estimated 19,250 people from a year earlier.”
As you should know by now, city of Chico is planning to put a sales tax increase on the November 2020 ballot. Like CARD, which has put a parcel tax titled “Measure A” on the March ballot, the city of Chico cannot openly campaign for their sales tax after it has been assigned a ballot title. So, like CARD, the city of Chico must do their campaigning now, with the help of the local fishwrap known as the Enterprise Record.
The ER went willingly along with city management, printing article after article about this imagined population boom. I said it then and I’ll say it now – where the hell are they? We just went through Christmas – why weren’t the roads around the mall shut down with all these displaced people? I drive in rush hour traffic almost every day – where are the commuters? Where the heck are all these new people?
Of course, the evacuees left their mark alright – “The city saw $2.5 million more in sales tax revenue than they had budgeted for, Dowell said, and approximately $700,000 more in transient occupancy tax fees.”
Not to mention, “ approximately $500,000 in fire and police department costs have been reimbursed — as well as $3 million from the state government in recovery funds”
But if seeing isn’t believing, here’s the data that tells us the lion’s share of the evacuees have gone. “‘Those two [ sales and occupancy tax] relate to what we can tell is a boost,’ [city finance director Scott] Dowell said, ‘but we’ve actually seen those — particularly the occupancy tax — dip.’”
Furthermore, read Steve Schoonover’s article posted below – Butte County Population Dips More Than 10,000 – quoting the same agency (Dept. of Finance) that “estimated” the population BOOM after the fire, Schoonover reports, “The latest report, from 2018 to 2019, Showed Butte’s population dipping from 227,353 to 216,965. That’s a loss of 10,388 people, or 4.57 percent of the population.”
Now think folks – you’ve heard about the upcoming US Census 2020. Remember US Census 2010? The federal government does it’s best to actually COUNT people. What a concept. I remember the census worker who hounded us about our neighbors. I read stories in various news sources about census workers hounding people literally to death. Now THINK – have you seen or heard from any Census Workers since 2010? No, they’re still looking for workers, the census doesn’t begin until 2020. So where does the Dept. of Finance get these numbers? Read this, from the actual Dept. of Finance news release:
“Changes to the housing stock are used in the preparation of the annual city population estimates. Estimated occupancy of housing units and the number of persons per household further determine population levels. Changes in city housing stock result from new construction, demolitions, housing unit conversions, and annexations. The sub-county population estimates are then adjusted to be consistent with independently produced county estimates.”
I didn’t have to count. I saw what happened to Chico in the weeks directly after the fire and I watched as people fled the area over the following months. I personally know people who never even went back to look at their burnt out lot, and I can’t say I blame them. They spent a month or two in Chico gathering their wits, and then they were scattered to the wind. As is reported in Schoonover’s article below.
Now the city of Chico admits they actually made profit off the fire. But you know they are still planning to put a sales tax increase on the November ballot. In fact, Scott Dowell mentions another one of his dog-and-pony budget presentations coming up in March. “Dowell said his staff will start to work on budget items for the 2020-2021 budget when they get back from the holidays in January. Additionally, the city will host a public meeting to learn the ins and outs of the new budget on March 12.”
Uh-huh. That ought to be interesting.
I cut and paste the articles into the blog because I know a lot of you don’t have a subscription to the Enterprise Record and may not be able to see this stuff. Which ought to be illegal, because the ER is very obviously running a propaganda blitz for the city, not to mention CARD.
CHICO — Financially, the Camp Fire hit the city of Chico hard in 2019, despite never physically crossing into the city’s territory. Despite that, the budget is actually doing OK, said Scott Dowell, Chico’s administrative services director.
The city of Chico did not make any substantial changes to the budget following the Camp Fire, and approximately $500,000 in fire and police department costs have been reimbursed — as well as $3 million from the state government in recovery funds, Dowell said.
Of course, “we’re still processing, we’re still living it,” Dowell said, of the aftereffects of the Camp Fire.
Because the city’s fiscal year runs from July to June, the most recent numbers available are from June 30, Dowell said. But those numbers show Chico with a significant surplus: More than $20 million.
That’s a big turnaround from 2013’s budget, when the city was facing bankruptcy.
Two of the biggest factors for that surplus are directly related to the Camp Fire: Sales tax and hotel tax, also known as the transient occupancy tax.
The city saw $2.5 million more in sales tax revenue than they had budgeted for, Dowell said, and approximately $700,000 more in transient occupancy tax fees.
“Those two relate to what we can tell is a boost,” Dowell said, “but we’ve actually seen those — particularly the occupancy tax — dip.”
A lot of that surplus hasn’t been designated to a use by council yet, but of the $3 million given by the state, half went toward new communications technology that will help the Chico police and fire departments better deal with emergencies in the long-term. The city has also considered putting in a new intelligent traffic system, which would replace the current technology that has been in use, in some cases, since the 1960s.
Dowell said his staff will start to work on budget items for the 2020-2021 budget when they get back from the holidays in January. Additionally, the city will host a public meeting to learn the ins and outs of the new budget on March 12.
“We’re doing far better than we were 6 years ago, but we have a ways to go,” he said.
Butte County lost more than 10,000 residents due to the Camp Fire, according to estimates released last week by the state.
That was according to an annual report by the Department of Finance that calculates county populations from July 1 of one year to July 1 of the next.
The latest report, from 2018 to 2019, Showed Butte’s population dipping from 227,353 to 216,965. That’s a loss of 10,388 people, or 4.57 percent of the population.
Part of the loss — 142 — came because that many more people died than were born in the county.
But the state estimates 10,411 residents left Butte County for elsewhere in the United States. It attributes the change to the Camp Fire on Nov. 8, 2018, that killed 85 people, and also destroyed 6.5 percent of the housing supply in the county.
The outward flow was partially offset by 165 people immigrating here from other countries.
The population loss by numbers and percentage was the highest of the 58 counties in the state.
Conversely, the counties surrounding Butte had inflated growth rates, all far above the state average of 0.35 percent.
Sutter was the fastest growing county in the state by percentage, adding 2,243 people, or 2.21 percent. Most of that — 1,364 people — consisted of people moving in from elsewhere in the United States, most of them likely from Butte County.
Glenn County was No. 3 by percentage, adding 442 people, or 1.54 percent. The state estimated 365 of those people were “domestic migrants,” a category that would include those displaced by the fire.
By comparison, between July 1, 2017 and July 1, 2018, Glenn grew 0.48 percent.
Tehama County grew by 1.12 percent, adding 725 people. Yuba County also grew 1.12 percent, adding 866 people. Colusa grew 1.00 percent, with 223 new residents.
Even Plumas County, which has been losing population since 2016, was in the plus column this past year. It added 156 people, a 0.83 percent growth rate.
As a state, California added 141,300 between July 1, 2019 and July 1, 2019, for a total of 39,959,095, one of the lowest growth rates since 1900, according to a Department of Finance press release.
More people left the state for elsewhere in the United States than migrated here, with 197,594 moving out. However births outpaced deaths by 180,786, and 158,118 people immigrated to the state from other nations.
Chico Taxpayers Association 