KRCR News reports, “The Consumer Price Index shows food prices have gone up over 10 percent in the past year… products like dairy, fish, meat and cereal are at an even higher rate.”
No, it wasn’t just our imagination. One viewer comments, “Seniors and the disabled on very fixed incomes are also struggling. Our rent is going up almost $100 next month… gas goes up and up, PG&E goes up, food prices go up…”
Everyone feels the squeeze of higher utility rates, food, household goods, and gas prices, but the lower your income, the more disproportionate share of your budget goes to bare necessities. It is troubling, in this economic atmosphere, that the City of Chico would propose a regressive tax increase.
You have to ask yourself what you’re going to get in return. Other social media comments reflect distrust in council spending decisions – “I do not trust that the money will be spent wisely… it will be up to the city council (not us) to decide (again, in a closed meeting) where they want it to be spent…” True, this regressive tax increase is forever, it’s not dedicated to any specific use, and any future council could spend the revenues any way they please.
Do you ever wonder if your voice matters? Well, here’s an opportunity to be heard – contact council now and tell them this measure is doomed, and they should not spend any more taxpayer money putting it on the ballot or selling it to the voters.
Yesterday I noticed the price of the pack of chicken I always buy at Winco has gone up. It was about $1.89/pound the last time I bought it, now it’s $2.28. Let’s do the math. First I’ll try to do it in my head, because that’s good for your brain.
Okay, subtract 1.89 from 2.28 = 39 cents. I’m going to check that on my calculator before I get mad. Hmmm. We divide .39 by 1.89 and we get a 20% increase. Wow, now I’m kinda pissed.
It’s a daily shock treatment. We go grocery shopping, get the bill for our vehicle registration, open a utility bill, go to the gas station – it’s like that great old Stephen King movie, Cat’s Eye.
I’ll tell you what – I might pay an extra sales tax to see Gavin Newsom and members of the Democratic legislature in this box.
Our own mayor and city council have put us in that box. They tax our utilities, put franchise taxes on our services, raise the cost of housing with their new developer fees, and squeeze local businesses for stuff like “improvement districts”.
And the double-whammy is that we get nothing for it. Crime is at an all time high even though the cops get over half the budget. We just got snookered into instituting a “homeless” shelter camp that, as Rob Berry twitters, is already inadequate because the city will not require that both beds in each box are occupied. As soon as the 177 pallets are “full”, the city will have to allow the transients to camp in our parks and open spaces again – and predate on our neighborhoods when we’re asleep and at work. And of course that will lead to more demands for money for the cops.
It’s dumb decisions on the part of council that not only raise our cost of living, but lower our quality of living. Look at an agenda, you’ll see what I’m talking about.
I saw an item in this week’s agenda that caught my eye – Deepika Tandon has requested a conversation about the Downtown trash receptacles. I still remember when the city underwent a “remodel” of Downtown, bulbing sidewalks – essentially inviting pedestrians to become human traffic calming devices. They also spent a bunch of money on those big, ugly concrete trash receptacles. The transients, who essentially own Downtown Chico after 10pm, had vandalized the old metal buckets, and the consultant who sold the city the concrete cans convinced them that concrete could stand up to the abuse of the bums.
No, they didn’t. They were vandalized, literally to pieces, until the city removed them. In fact, as my husband and I toured our out-of-town relatives through Thursday night market, shortly after the cans had been purchased, my husband’s cousin and I watched a filthy little perv completely destroy one of those cans with a bike chain.
So, let’s watch this conversation, and I hope some of you will chime in on Chico Engaged to let them know what you think of their ridiculous spending decisions. New garbage cans for Downtown – have you looked at the street in front of your house lately?
Sometimes I wonder if we should even have a city council. Every new council seems to repeat the mistakes of the past, like Tandon, they don’t do their homework. I think we might be better off voting on staff hires, but then I realize – that would be, the same idiot voters who elect these councils we’ve had, who have made these idiot decisions. I always wonder, how much homework does the average Chicoan do at election time?
This election is different. The idiots are demanding a one-cent sales tax increase to carry on their idiocy. This is a permanent increase in our cost of living, and again, you have to ask yourself, FOR WHAT? When was the last time you remember a council who didn’t make stupid spending decisions?
NO, and tell them that now, while they can still change course on this stupid tax measure.
The other day I was washing dishes and I heard something on the morning news that made me put down my dish brush and reach for the remote – average electric cost across the country have gone up 12% over the last few years. In fact, I’ve seen the rate increase notices in my PG&E bills, at least one a year, sometimes several “rate cases” in one notice. Lately it’s been because of the fines they’ve been levied over various fires they’ve started and towns they’ve burned down due to neglect of their infrastructure.
When I dove into this issue further, I found this Cal Matters article from last year –
“California’s electricity prices are among the highest in the country, new research says, and those costs are falling disproportionately on a customer base that’s already struggling to pay their bills.
“PG&E customers pay about 80% more per kilowatt-hour than the national average, according to a study by the energy institute at UC Berkeley’s Haas Business School…”
Cal Water has been nudging their rates up too. The result – dead lawns and dying trees all over Chico. Big trees, that will cost homeowners 10’s of thousands of dollars to remove. I know, because my family paid over $10,000 to have an 80 year old cedar taken out of our front yard after Cal Water’s onerous water rates and threats of fees for watering your yard forced us to stop watering our yard. It’s that, or have an enormous torch standing over your house, waiting for the power lines to fail or the transformer next to your house to blow up. We’ve had three transformers within reach of our house blow up over the last 5 years, with no explanation whatsoever from PG&E.
In fact, they’ve got my neighbor’s line stapled to her huge, dying sequoia tree – in fact, they recently stapled up a new line! I can’t believe they still use trees as power poles, right in town, but it’s actually a subject of debate.
The utility companies are just like the city of Chico – service actually goes down as the rates go up, up, up. And they get no protest from the City of Chico because the city tacks a 5% Utility User’s Tax (UUT, or “local tax”) to your water and PG&E bills. Just because they can, and because it is one of their top revenue mechanisms, bringing in millions every year.
The city also adds “franchise fees” to your trash service. My trash service has gone up 39% since the city instituted the trash tax deal. No, they haven’t done one dollar’s worth of work on the streets in my neighborhood, although, every now and then they come through and pave and paint the bike trail that runs along the freeway. They also regularly tear up the streets for sewer hookups that are badly patched and just contribute to the mess.
This is willful inflation, caused by the city you live in. You get no extra service for this taking, and it adds to the cost of everything. And now they want to ladle on a sales tax increase.
Yes, it falls disproportionately on working class ratepayers, as well as the taxpayer-funded agencies that deal with the low-income and desperately poor. Did you know, the city of Chico pays Utility Tax to itself – just think how much those pallet shelters are going to generate when the temps hit three digits. The Torres Shelter pays UUT, the Jesus Center pays UUT, welfare families pay UUT.
Cal Matters contributor Laurence Du Sault explains “because lower-income residents use only moderately less electricity than higher income households, they end up with a disproportionate share of the burden, according to the study.” A person needs light, warmth, and in a “first world” country like the US, a decent refrigerator to protect their food, and a stove to cook it on. Kids have to have computers to participate in school these days. Of course, PG&E offers low-income programs like CARE and FERA, but these programs are tacked onto everybody’s bill, including low-income customers, before they get their discount.
Yes, the city offers a rebate to those qualifying by their income, but they make it very onerous to collect. You have to provide all your bills, physically, so you either have to pay to mail them in with your application or you have to appear at the Finance Department window between 9 and ? (when staff decides to close the window), Monday through Thursday. Look at the budget reports, less than 1,000 people – and no public or private agencies – apply for this rebate.
The city already adds millions a year to the cost of living, taking your money to feather their pension nest. Year after year our quality of life goes down while expenses go up. Time for council to get a reality check – let them know now, it’s not too late to stop them from putting this dud on the ballot. Write to council, write those letters to the editor, tell your friends, make it loud and clear – Chicoans have had it up to here, and we’re not going to take anymore.
One election over, time to get ready for the next one. I hope those of you who are opposed to the city’s sales tax measure will help me get the conversation going. Write those letters to the Enterprise Record, even the News and Review. The city is spending 10’s of thousands in taxpayer money to pump this measure, making promises they can’t keep. It’s up to us to fight their misinformation campaign. Here’s my first letter, and I intend to keep them coming.
On June 7 Chico City Council forwarded their sales tax increase measure to the county clerk for the November ballot. They approved a general one-cent measure, requiring only 50 percent of voters plus one additional voter to raise our sales tax.
Why? Because a general measure is not restricted, going into the General Fund, to be spent at the whim of whomever is on council. They can’t make promises of any kind, can’t promise to fix roads, or hire more safety personnel, because that takes a 2/3’s measure. They know they wouldn’t be able to spend the money as they want with a 2/3’s measure, so they voted unanimously for a general measure.
We have to look at what they’ve been spending money on, and expect more of same. They’ve already allocated part of the General Fund toward the pallet shelter site. Acting city manager Paul Hahn says he expects these costs to increase annually. He also admits that they are far from controlling illegal camping.
However, Hahn says, “the largest financial challenge is increasing contributions to CalPERS retirement benefits.” While streets have gone unmaintained and Bidwell Park and other public areas have sunk into a state of disgrace, staff has made increasing “catch-up” payments to CalPERS – last year $11.7 million, this year over $12 million. Ironically, the deficit just keeps going up – 45% since 2015.
So don’t be fooled by promises, look at the record. Please join Chico Taxpayers Association in opposing another one of council’s poor decisions.
About a month ago I realized the city would have to move forward with their sales tax measure, that the deadline was approaching for them to turn it over to the county clerk for the November ballot. My husband reminded me that school would be out soon, with Memorial Day on the horizon, so we decided to take our last swipe at a vacation before the roads became clogged and gas prices went any higher, and before I got distracted with various election issues.
We went up to Portland to see relatives. Oregon is strange country. You drive over the border into the State of Jefferson, and the signs change immediately. Within a mile, “FUCK BIDEN” speaks prominently, in bold, capital letters, from barns, sheds, dead tree stumps – big, professionally made signs, you bet. The Oregonians are willing to spend money declaring their dissatisfaction with the federal government.
Then you get to Portland, where they seem to love the government. They use public transportation, they embrace high-density living, and they pay car registration fees based on the fuel efficiency of their car. To me, that’s like showing a stranger your panties.
I’ll tell you where the Oregonians have the right idea, they are one of only five US states that have NO SALES TAX. (the others being Alaska, Delaware, Montana, and New Hampshire).
I’ll be honest, I have never understood sales tax. To me, it’s a blatant, “in your face because I can... ” TAKING. It’s a shake-down, a racket. We already pay fuel and car taxes for the roads, which are embezzled away to pay for bike trails and trains to nowhere. We already pay developer fees on our homes, and then property taxes, which are directed not only into the pensions but into the pallet shelters, the cooling tents turned shooting galleries, and the constant state of emergency that is created in a town where certain people are not held responsible for their behavior. Pay a sales tax to a government that does nothing to secure your safety or even the safety of the supply chain? That’s a racket, wake the hell up. Why don’t you just go Downtown and give your purse/wallet to the first creep that holds his hand out?
Of course BC opined recently that “If you want perfect streets, perfect parks, top notch City services with free candy for the kids and a well functioning municipal government, you have to have lots of money. That is a tax increase.”
Well, I saw all those things in Portland. I might have to post a blog about the parks I’ve seen there, city parks, gorgeous. Incredibly maintained natural areas, restored forests and marshes. The streets, even in my son’s older, high density neighborhood, are in perfectly good condition – no potholes that void the warranty on your tires. You can walk the length and breadth of the city on safe sidewalks. Portland also has a state-of-the-art sewer system, integrating their old sewer system with new technology.
Free candy for the kids? Well, I don’t know why I’d want that, but what they do there is “food truck courts”. They have solved that problem with restaurants and food trucks, by designating a city-owned parking lot, located away from “brick and mortar” restaurants, for food trucks several nights a week. They’ve furnished tables and a little plaza, family-friendly setting where you can get a cheap meal, hang out with friends, from a different truck every night.
Did you know, Chico City Plaza was set up for food trucks, with electrical outlets and specially-built curbs to pull in the trucks. But it has never been used for that. In fact, the last time I looked, the fee schedule for Downtown Plaza was really onerous. That’s why Chico Farmer’s Market would not locate there, insisting instead on making a pretty behind-closed-doors deal with Chico City staffers to use the city parking lot instead.
BC is arguing an old line – give us the money or it will get worse. The city of Chico has admittedly deferred services and infrastructure maintenance for years, while paying increasing payments to CalPERS. In 2018, the California League of Cities, of which Chico is a long time member, released a report saying, in part, “City pension costs will dramatically increase to unsustainable levels, (2) Rising pension costs will require cities to nearly double the percentage of their general fund dollars they pay to CalPERS, and (3) Cities have few options to address growing pension liabilities.“
The report first suggested creation of a pension stabilization trust – a fund dedicated to pensions. The next suggestion was a revenue measure. Followed by this dark advice: “Change service delivery methods and levels of certain public services: Many cities have already consolidated and cut local services during the Great Recession and have not been able to restore those service levels. Often, revenue growth from the improved economy has been absorbed by pension costs. The next round of service cuts will be even harder.” In other words, starve the taxpayers for services and they’ll pass your revenue measure.
Since 2018, we’ve seen the institution of two dedicated pension funds, meaning, they can only be used to pay the pension deficit. Those funds are siphoned from every department, ahead of any infrastructural or service needs, just TAKEN. They are used to make the annual “catch-up” payments to CalPERS, which are growing every year, millions of dollars taken from infrastructure, public safety, and every day services like development support
Ever wonder, why is housing getting so expensive when they’re building like crazy? Well, that’s because every few years they raise developer fees, which are essentially a tax, and which drive up the cost of housing, no matter how much you build.
The city of Chico has a lot of taxes you might not know about. The garbage “franchise fee” (trash tax), the cable “franchise fee” (tv tax), PG&E franchise fee (PG&E tax, which does nothing to secure our safety from wild fires). There’s some you might have forgot – look at your utility bills, how much are they shagging you in “local” or “Utility User Tax”? The city raises no protest when Cal Water or PG&E raise rates, because it means MORE UTILITY TAX. There are some I’ve probably forgot here, suffice to say, the city of Chico already has their hand in your wallet/purse, and there you are, being asked for an increase in Sales Tax?
There it was, in last Tuesday’s agenda. Here’s the report:
The word for the day is “stagflation”. There will be a quiz later.
City of Chico passed a new budget the other night. When my family does a budget, we write down all the stuff we usually spend money on and see where we might be able to tighten our belts, you know, quit eating out, quit buying new clothes, don’t use the car too much, etc. When the city of Chico makes their budget, they look at how much money is or might be available, and then go about finding ways to spend it.
And in my family, when we come into a windfall, we think of ways to spend it that will have long term benefits, like fix the roof or update the plumbing. You know, spend money to save money. But look at some of the drunken sailor on Saturday night kind of spending the city of Chico has done with two years of unprecedented budget surplus. Did they fix the street in front of your house? Did they give more people free sewer hook-ups to solve the nitrates problem? How about cleaning up the park and cutting some of those dead and dying trees away from the power lines before the town burns down?
Feeling pretty confident in light of record windfalls, council increased the city budget by roughly one third, $68 million, to about $211 million a year. Unfortunately this is all “windfall money” – “federal pandemic funding, such as the American Rescue Plan, and other project grants, such as from the Department of Transportation.” Most was allocated to the police department, increasing their budget to almost what the entire city budget was when I started this blog. Then $12.2 million to the Unfunded Actuarial Liability, or Pension Deficit – up from $11.7 million last year. As for roads, I did not see any specific figures or projects mentioned in that report. No mention of the sewer or nitrate. No specific park projects. Just increases for the cops and the pensions.
“Road improvements and affordable housing remain top issues to address in the coming fiscal year, according to the report, along with allocating a portion of this budget to operating its new homeless pallet shelter site. Overall, however, its largest financial challenge is its increasing contributions to CalPERS retirement benefits to city employees, both past and present. “
Talking to a reporter from Ch 7 news, Chico interim city manager Paul Hahn confirmed my belief that the pensions come before “ public safety issues that we could like to address in greater detail. The whole issue of fentanyl and drugs in our community... “
That’s it folks, if we want to see any of our real problems addressed, we have to pass their sales tax measure. “There’s a lot of projects we’d love to fund but just don’t have the resources for,”says Hahn. “That’s part of the reason why there’s a discussion of an additional sales tax measure that could be on the ballot this November.”
Yes, just “part” of the reason. The other part is the bond Bob has been mentioning. Coolidge has said he wants to use sales tax proceeds to secure a bond or bonds. For what he didn’t say, but remember, the city tried to get a Pension Obligation Bond, that’s their real intention, is pay off the pensions without any additional contributions from the employees.
Hahn also said most of the funding for the pensions comes from CalPERS investments, that’s simply not true. The taxpayers pay the biggest share, paying both the payroll “employer” contribution AND the ENTIRE annual “catch up” payment – you see they’ve budgeted $12.2 million this year, up a half million from last year. That came out of our operating budget, at the expense of our streets, our sewer system, our parks and our general quality of life and feeling of well-being. Meanwhile the employees pay as little as 9% of their own retirement costs.
Hahn seems like an idiot, I always respected him as county CAO, but he comes off very insensitive to the situation of the taxpayers. He says “Their [the employees] retirement comes from some contributions from the employees, contributions from the city and most of it comes from, basically, investments in CalPERS. Just like your 401(k)… “
What an ASS – this guy is the city manager, he’s managed the county, and he doesn’t mention THE TAXPAYERS? And then he ASSumes we all get 401(k)’s? What planet does this guy live on? Oh yeah, he lives on that little planet, out there somewhere, where everybody makes in excess of $100,000 a year, and their pensions are GUARANTEED BY THE TAXPAYERS.
Here’s the story they posted on KRCR news – please note, they call it “taxpayer dollars”… –
I got a really rude comment from a city employee named Jeremy Lazarus.
“You’re article is completely full of lies. As a City of Chico public works employee who struggles to feed my family, I take your words as an attack on myself and my children. You lie in every article you write concerning pension liability. You never have any receipts for your claims. FYI, I am also a conservative. You clearly have zero understanding of city operations and how they are funded. I’m open to a conversation but you owe me and my coworkers an apology for these attacks and pinning the public against us hard working fellow TAX PAYERS.“
Wow, there’s a mouthful. Receipts for my claims? All I could respond with was that I get my information from staff, from agenda reports, and from the budget, posted on the city website.
Thanks Bob, for your response to, “You lie in every article you write concerning pension liability.” Bob responds, “Every article? Well, the unfunded pension liability numbers from past discussions were taken straight out of the City’s CAFRs reports. Are you saying those numbers are lies?
“Taking all the name calling and emotions out of this, ask yourself one simple question. Can the taxpayers afford the pensions? Looking at the current unfunded liability and its current growth how can the answer be yes?“
Thanks for that rational take Bob, we need to keep our heads here. Mr. Lazarus is a new employee, and he’s not management, so it’s true, he doesn’t make the kind of salary the department heads are making, and he pays more of his pension costs (due to the “Pension Reform” act of 2013). But his argument that I’m a liar is irrational. I have to wonder if these people are being told by management to argue anybody who takes a dim view of the tax measure. No holds barred.
He says he’s “open to a conversation” – well, here’s a question for you Mr. Lazarus – how come there are people all over the incorporated city who have been waiting years to hook up to sewer? What’s the hold up? The city had an unprecedented surplus the last couple of years, due in part to Camp Fire relief and COVID emergency funding, not to mention sales tax revenues generated by both of those and other emergencies. How come the sewer lines are still not complete?
Becca reports, “We bought a house in North Chico 15 years ago. Through the whole process everyone made sure to point out that the house had been annexed into the city for services namely, sewer hook up. I probably don’t need to say anymore for you to know where I’m going with this. That’s correct. 15 years and I’m still sitting on a delapidated septic tank that I’ve invested in repairs what the hookup fees are. Here’s the fun part. City lines were put in all the way down a main street EXCEPT THE LAST 2 BLOCKS where it DEAD ENDS into another street that has lines in it as well. All plumbed except 2 blocks BETWEEN the two streets. When I called last year to get the what’s up, I was told I had to poll my neighbors, write up a request, submit it and wait. I was also informed it would take a while IF IT HAPPENED AT ALL as there were other “pressing” issues. So, there it is. Chico has not completed the leaching nitrates problem. The kicker for me as I understood the nitrate issue was take care of high nitrate areas first.“
That’s outrageous. I’ve heard other stories at meetings and from neighbors, including the shock and awe of the city’s hook-up fees. So, how come so many people around town, including Becca above, are still waiting for the trunk lines to be completed on their street?
The other point she brings up is leaching nitrates, a problem we have heard much about since the 1990s. Old septic tanks and sewer lines were blamed. The city got grant funding to hook up households to existing sewer lines, for FREE. That’s great, but really unfair to those households who didn’t have trunk lines on their street. Why didn’t the city also undertake a push to finish trunk lines? The more people hooked up the more monthly fees they collect from those new households. It shouldn’t cost more to service more people, it should bring in more revenues.
The sewer fund, like all the city funds, is tapped every year by a certain percentage to pay for the unfunded pension liability, pension deficit, Unfunded Actuarial Liability, whatever you want to call it. Look in the budget, available on the city website, and put those terms into the F-search. Search “pension stabilization trust”. You’ll see exactly how much money is taken from infrastructure and services to pay the pensions. I found out, they take 10% of the UAL from every department fund to put into the PST (Fund 904), and the Pension Liability Reserve Fund (903), which are used to make the annual “extra” payments to CalPERS.
The highest contribution any employee group makes toward the pensions is less than 30% – I got that in a spread sheet from Chico City Human Resources Dept. The taxpayers pay the rest, with CalPERS making one poor investments performance after another. And then we pay the entire “extra” payment, with interest. Somehow, despite increasing “extra payments,” City of Chico deficit just keeps going up, currently about $150 million. So we drive on sub-par streets and put up with nitrates in our ground water, we put up with violence in our streets and homes while our parks and public spaces are overrun with crime and garbage, but our deficit just keeps going up. The taxpayers have paid enough, it’s time to look at the employee contribution.
Not only would I propose that the employees pay more, I’d propose that they contribute the same percentage into the pension “extra” payment funds established by the city, the Pension Stabilization Trust and the CalPERS Unfunded Liability Reserve Fund.
But here’s something I’ve said for a long time, and I wish Mr. Lazarus would do his homework, cause I think he might agree with me here – we need to cut management, and make them pay more. We need fewer management and more workers.
Did you ever get so disgusted you just couldn’t move? Couldn’t act? Couldn’t even COMPLAIN? That’s how I’ve been feeling lately, I call it “blog stop”. It’s like being in front of a moving train in a stalled car. Should I get out and make a run for it? Or just keep cranking the key and mashing on the pedal? If that were really the situation, sure, I’d bail – I have good insurance. But I like my home in Chico, I like my friends, I have DNA at the cemetery, and we’ve invested a lot of money here.
I know, we’re all making tough decisions right now. Gotta keep a clear head, not a good idea to make important decisions in a panic.
For me, the focus is how the city spends money, and right now, most of the money is going into the pensions. Here’s what BC had to say about it:
As you know, it all comes back to employee pensions and benefits. Until those items come under control there will never be money for anything else.
Correct, as of now, the biggest debt the city has is the CalPERS liability. The city has established two funds that are dedicated toward this debt, the money can’t be spent on anything else. These funds are filled by allocating money from every other city fund, from the roads to the sewer. Isn’t that weird – the roads fund isn’t restricted, the sewer funds isn’t restricted, but the pension fund is restricted to one purpose? Paying the pensions. That should tell you exactly where the city’s priorities lay. Because “the city” isn’t made of citizens, it’s made of employees.
The outsourcing of city services such as sewer and water is just another symptom of the bigger problem. The service gets outsourced. You would think that the personnel who used to provide the service and their benefits and the costs would all be a net savings after the asset was sold. But the payroll never goes down, the expenses never go down and the taxpayers are left with an additional cost to pay in addition to their property taxes.
BC, you magnificent bastard – my apologies to your mother – but you have hit that nail, hit it hard! Right on the head! Like I’ve said before, they are double-ending us on these services. First they take our taxes on the ruse that they will do something for our benefit, and then they outsource those services to an agency we have to pay AGAIN! No, they don’t fire the employees when they sell the sewer, and we’re on the hook for their pension deficit anyway.
You can outsource legal services, you can outsource document services, you can outsource the fire and tDOWN,,, you can outsource almost every function that city government should provide and so the tax base coming in can be used for pensions and benefits while no services are provided.
Yep, there it is – they will sell the sewer, and take the money into their pension funds, and then we will have to pay Cal Water’s ever-increasing rates to flush our toilets.
We still have to pay the employees TO DO NOTHING. All they do Downtown is work toward funding their pensions, those embezzling bastards. It’s like having fleas.
I could have gone to the Finance Committee meeting yesterday morning, but I was in a really bad mood, I might have said some things I couldn’t take off the record.
You might have read about it in the paper this morning. Yes, the city wants to sell the PUBLICLY OWNED sewer to Cal Water, who will arrange another deal to hook up with Paradise. And sewer rates will follow water rates, heading straight for the sky. If you have a Cal Water account, you know they’ve been raising rates for years. I still have bills that say 58 cents a ccf, now it’s almost $2. And the tiers they instituted have killed trees throughout town. My family has lost three big, mature trees over the last 4 years, and a row of young oaks last summer, all due to Cal Water restrictions. Good bye Paradise, and Good bye to the Chico you thought you knew. It’s going to be too expensive to live here if you don’t have a public salary, and you sure as hell won’t be able to hold on to those big, shady trees.
Here’s the only good news I found in my research – they have to put the sale before the voters. How do you feel about it?
Chico Taxpayers Association 