Staff’s comment to my inquiry about the rental tax bothers me – “The recommendations will likely come back to Council in January.” So I wrote a letter to the editor about it. I think it’s important to remind people – the city is running a tax blitz, and it’s all about the pensions.
I was glad to hear Chico Internal Affairs Committee directed Staff to stop pursuing the rental tax on the Dec 6 agenda. But a staffer told me, “The recommendations will likely come back to Council in January.”
Staff has repeatedly recommended a “gross receipts” tax on both businesses and all rentals within the city limits, as well as an annual registry fee. According to the staff report, “The City could consider removing the unit exemption entirely requiring even renters of single family homes to pay the tax. Furthermore, the definition could be changed to residential and non-residential property, picking up any property rental within the City.”
Staff’s only concern is to “raise additional local funds”. They are desperate for revenues to cover their pension deficit, created by unrealistic employee contributions. Council has already approved a general sales tax increase for the 2022 ballot. A general tax measure has no restrictions on spending. The mayor has suggested sales tax revenues would be used to secure bonds. The city has already attempted to secure a Pension Obligation Bond without the approval of the voters.
They’re determined to ignore the obvious solution – instead of raising the price of everything all over town, Staff needs to pay more realistic shares toward their generous pensions, or accept smaller pensions. Council instead grants salaries over $100,000/year and 70-90% pensions, with employee shares only 9 – 15%, the taxpayers on the hook for increasing payments. Let’s change the structure of our payroll from Defined Benefits to Defined Contributions.
Unfortunately, I didn’t make that meeting yesterday. Sometimes the magic works, and sometimes it doesn’t. But I was able to get the report for the May 2021 meeting at which the decision was made not to further discuss this item.
Wow, what a gobstopper of a report. I’ll be looking this over today, and I’m looking forward to talking about it here later.
I’m also looking forward to hearing from Staffer Stina Cooley, who will hopefully tell me what the Internal Affairs Committee decided to do with this item.
Today the Internal Affairs Committee is going to discuss the rental tax that was shelved earlier this year. This tax includes a “rental registry” (and a fee) and a tax on proceeds. One provision that ruffled my tenants – they want to inspect the rentals. I don’t think that’s appropriate – are they going to start inspecting owner-occupied housing? Read your constitution – they’re not allowed to treat citizens differently based on their housing situation.
Here’s another thing – the agenda does not include a report. There’s a reference to the May 2021 meeting at which it was first discussed, but I had to email staff to ask them where I could find that meeting agenda or minutes. I’ll get back with that.
Some years back, when the state proposed a sales tax increase, local manufacturer Ken Grossman said he would simply add that tax to every bottle of beer he sold. And then some. I’ll say, landlords will do same. So, it’s not really a “rent tax,” it’s a “renter tax”.
This tax, part of a bigger “business tax”, is just part of the tax blitz being brought forward by Staffers desperate to fund their outrageous pensions. According to the constitution, any tax should be on the ballot for the voters to decide, but Staff is making all the preparations to institute these taxes without voter approval. Let them know what you think – write letters to the editor, to your district rep, and to the council at large.
That meeting takes place today at 4pm, with members (newly appointed) Chief O’Brien, Dist 7 Deepika Tandon, and my rep Kasey Reynolds in the Chair. I will try to make it, because getting information out of these people is like pulling teeth.
When I don’t hear from or about an old friend for a while, I check the obits. Or I check Arts Devo, in the Chico News and Review.
I picked up a copy of the News and Review at the grocery store, in fact, I picked up several copies, cause they are good for all kinds of things. I read them as I spread them out under the sink, under the dog’s dish, as I wrap packages or trash, or as I crumple them into our charcoal chimenea to start our BBQ. The other day as I was getting ready to start a pile of charcoal, I found this announcement in Arts Devo.
Kelly Meagher(11/25/21), environmental activist, philanthropist, Chico icon, beloved local human of the highest order
Also in that issue, a reprint of a pretty good 2011 profile by Tom Gascoyne, another guy I regularly check the obits for. Both of these men have affected my life in ways they probably don’t even realize.
I met Kelly through my old friends Liz Merry and Aaron Standish,
but I knew him because of his “political activism”. Kelly taught me a lot about perseverance, persistence, or, how to get what you want simply by refusing to go away.
My husband and young children used to attend Chico City Council meetings with me, in the old days, there was a lot more public participation in those meetings. Kelly was a regular attendee and speaker. One night I won’t forget – he got into it with Dan Herbert, who could be a real ass on occasion. Herbert tried to argue with Meagher, who was at the podium, and Kelly just kicked his ass. Kelly just held his ground, he wouldn’t let Dan shut him down. I think Herbert finally conceded in about these words: “Kelly, you’ve interrupted me so many times, I can’t remember what I was going to say… you win.” He was laughing as he said it, and very sincere.
I didn’t always agree with Kelly, and he knew that. He was one of the only liberals who never tried to talk me out of a position. In fact, believe or not, he’d often admit that he agreed with me on an issue, despite the stance of the local Democrats. He was the only one of my liberal friends who never got mad and stopped talking to me. We never really talked politics, we just yakked. He just liked me, and I liked him, and politics should never get in the way of a good friendship.
So, I’ll say something sappy here – Thanks Kelly, for your respect and friendship. I feel lucky to have known you, and I’m grateful for the way you treated my kids and the respect you gave my husband. I’m sorry I didn’t try harder to find you over the last few years, but I figured you were enjoying your own time, with your old friends. And, I believe, we carry our friends in our heart. I’ve put one of those special lift chairs in there for you Old Buddy, come on in, take your shoes off, set a spell. I’ll tell you what, I don’t even care if you want to light a cigarette.
For years now I’ve been talking about the illegal camping, the defecating, the urinating, the trash, the crime – the smell of Chico. I’ll have to admit, it’s driven me out of Bidwell Park and other “public” areas of town, I avoid non-food shopping, and local restaurants, I don’t attend public meetings anymore – I’ve lost my appetite for Chico. I don’t even like to bike or drive around town anymore.
But when we heard about the problems with the Chico ice rink – lack of “access”, vandalism – my husband got so curious we made a side-trip through Downtown on our way out to run errands the other day. I was shocked. It’s true what that woman said in her letter to the editor – they’ve blocked off all the parking spaces at the plaza with the kind of ugly chain-link fencing you see at construction sites and toxic waste dumps. They’ve installed a fence around the actual rink, and I’m not sure where “observers” are allowed to stand, but if you want to get into that rink, it’s 12 bucks.
But, apparently, it’s free to camp alongside the fence, in the street, we saw the little makeshift tents propped right up against the chain link. It’s free to camp in Bidwell Park, Commanche Creek, the Devil’s Triangle, and any patch of city-owned property around town. We’d been hearing all kinds of news about Commanche Creek – including news of one notorious transient kicked out, by other residents of CC, for sexual assault. So we wound our way over to see what’s become of that mess – wow, just when you think something’s bad, it gets worse. I happen to know some “street people,” and the news isn’t reporting everything that goes on at Commanche Creek, most notably, the rapes. Anybody who takes the time to listen to an “unhoused” person knows that rape is a problem in camps all over town.
I don’t understand the reasoning behind various council decisions, including the redeclaration of the Shelter Crisis Designation. I do know city manager Mark Orme is motivated by money to pay the outrageous pension deficit he and other employees have racked up through unrealistic pension contributions. Council members, some of them also pensioners, are motivated by the money they get from the unions at election time. The unions know the transients not only generate a lot of money in state and federal funding, but they keep the rest of us scared, ready to shell out any amount of money to keep them from pitching their tents in our front yards. Mark Orme reminds me of the Nazi soldier who demands that Sophie make her choice.
Then we have people like Patrick Newman, and people he has misled into believing that the city of Chico has any responsibility for housing anybody. A recent letter Newman penned, blaming anybody who isn’t destitute for the problem, really pissed me off. Newman reminds me of the lady from Dr. Zhivago – “all this house, for just ONE family?!”
She scolds Zhivago for living in a house that could house 13 families – yeah, in conditions no intelligent, hard working person would live in. You work your ass off, build your own place, and the leeches just start marching in. If you have ANYTHING, these people act as though you are the criminal. Having an entitled, soft-handed little perp like Newman tell me I have to give the fruits of my labor to support dead beats, that was just over the top. I wrote a pissed off letter and sent it to Wolcott.
Here’s a story from Aesop:
“One bright day in late autumn a family of Ants were bustling about in the warm sunshine, drying out the grain they had stored up during the summer, when a starving Grasshopper, his fiddle under his arm, came up and begged for a bite to eat.
‘What!’ cried the Ants in surprise, ‘haven’t you stored anything away for the winter? What in the world were you doing all last summer?’
‘I didn’t have time to store up any food,’ whined the Grasshopper; ‘I was so busy making music that before I knew it the summer was gone.’
The Ants shrugged their shoulders in disgust.
‘Making music, were you?’ they cried. ‘Very well; now dance!’ And they turned their backs on the Grasshopper and went on with their work.”
Fellow human Patrick Newman likes to take up his fiddle, damning those of us “housed” individuals for our “materialism”. Well, winter is coming Mr. Newman, it’s time to put down your tiny violin, and get to work.
I have to ask – who wouldn’t have known that Commanche Creek would flood as soon as it started to rain? With rain coming next week, and shanties propped in flood zones all over Chico, our city staff and council are caught with their Shelter Crisis Designation hanging around their ankles.
Old Yiddish Proverb: When the fish stinks, it’s the head of the fish. Our Chico fish has eight stinking heads – council and manager Mark Orme.
Thanksgiving snuck up on me this year. What a stupid holiday. I am a thankful person every day, I don’t need a holiday. I don’t need my significant others to get out on the freeway, or swarm to an airport, to show their gratitude. Every year, watching the news footage of idiots sitting on their luggage at the airport, now sporting face diapers, is embarrassing. On Monday they’ll tell us how many people died on the highways. And, the most important detail – how much did the average family spend? (they never mention the debt load created at this time of year)
Cause that’s all it’s about. In my husband’s culture, they call it “Potlatch”. Psychologists have come up with a diagnosis – “conspicuous consumption”. And that’s what I’d call a little old grandma juggling a gi-normous tv on a shopping cart screaming “I got it! I GOT IT!”
I won’t lie – I buy stuff, and I like to think of myself as a smart shopper. One rule I have is, don’t participate in mob behavior, because you never know when the mob will turn on you. I’ll never forget the Black Friday my family was in the Bay Area, so we went shopping at a huge mall. I had my hands on a pair of pants for my husband, standing shoulder to shoulder with women who didn’t even have the decency to acknowledge my presence as they nudged and squashed, when another woman reached out and literally stripped those pants out of my hands and took them.
What did I learn? Stay the fuck out of the Bay Area.
Even the grocery store is dicey after Tuesday. Hey, have you ever seen a flock of turkeys? Go to the grocery store on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. If you find yourself, as I did, staring into an empty fridge on Tuesday night, make your list and get out at the crack. By 11 am it’s every man, woman and child for themselves. Checkers get frazzled, it’s like working the front lines. So be early and be nice. And get the hell out.
I like to buy Christmas gifts – candy and Christmas ornaments (and underwear/socks for the family). This year I picked up some hand-made hum-dingers at a crafts fair, including this ginchee crocheted necklace for my friend, as well as some one-of-a-kind ornaments. And Monday I’ll probably hit Joy Lyn’s candies in Paradise – they have a very nice variety of candies that are safe to ship, and you don’t have to worry about parking or stepping in bum turds.
I’ll leave you with this trailer from one of my favorite movies – “What Would Jesus Buy?” Made by Morgan Spurlock, the guy who made “Super Size Me” – another movie about America’s fascination with over-consumption. WWJB is a light-hearted look at America’s addiction. Bill Talen is an “actor-activist”, he’s got a good sense of humor, trying to make a serious point – “America, you got a problem...”
“What is OPEB? Other Postemployment Benefits (or OPEB) are benefits (other than pensions) that U.S. state and local governments provide to their retired employees. These benefits principally involve health care benefits, but also may include life insurance, disability, legal and other services.”
Wow, the Gravy Train just keeps rolling. But who feeds the horses and picks up all the shit? That would be you, The Taxpayer. Like the pensions, the post-employment benefits are only partially paid, through unrealistic “contributions” from the city and the employee. This leaves the same type of deficit that is racking up on the pensions.
So how much does the city owe toward benefits given to retired employees? It’s hard to find that information, you have to know what to search. There are book keeping tricks to keep you from finding out. “Some liabilities are not due and payable in the current period and therefore are not reported in the funds.“
Dave Howell tipped me to the “Comprehensive Annual Finance Report” required of the city of Chico. Thanks Dave!
Here’s how I read these reports – I use the F-search to find “OPEB” and “Other Postemployment Benefits.” Next I’ll punch in “deficit” and “unfunded actuarial liability“, or UAL. You find more damning information with every search.
“Governmental activities” means payroll. “Deferred outcome” means money owed on the deficit, that hasn’t been paid yet. “
Deferred Outflows ofResources. This classification balance, although similar to “assets,” is set apart because these items do not meet the technical definition of being a City asset on the date of these financial statements. In other words, these amounts are not available to pay liabilities in the way assets are available. When all the recognition criteria are met, the deferred outflow of resources will become an expense
These amounts are not available to pay liabilities – meaning, the costs generally associated with running a city, like street or sewer or park maintenance. The pensions and postemployment benefits are eating the budget. It’s like watching Lowell George go after a pizza.
The report details how our employee expenses keep increasing. Employee expenses include not only their salary and benefits, but the interest on the deficit. The city makes annual payments toward the deficit, to which the employees contribute NOTHING. On page 8 of the report, you see that these payments just keep going up. “The City has reported deferred outflows of resources for pension contributions and differences between actual and estimated earnings of pension plan investments totaling $16,571,533 and deferred outflows for contributions of $135,463 for OPEB for governmental activities at June 30, 2020.”
That’s odd because finance director Scott Dowell only reported a $11.5 million payment toward the UAL. And he rarely talks about the OPEB payments. And then there’s the interest owed on both. It’s just rabbit math.
I’m on vacation right now, and the rest of the family wants to go have some fun. So I’ll leave you with this – it’s like eating shit, you have to take a few bites, digest, walk away from the table and barf…
According to the California Constitution, state law prohibits local agencies to use public funds, public employees, or public resources to expressly advocate the approval or rejection of a ballot measure. While the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) has said they have limited jurisdiction over this matter, county district attorneys can take on an agency that violates this law.
Unfortunately our district attorney has a very poor record of upholding the laws that protect the people. Fortunately for the taxpayers, there’s the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. HJTA uses funding provided by members like you and me to take on the agencies that buck the law. But they need taxpayers like us to be on alert to these illegal activities. When the city of Chico tried to get “judicial validation” of a Pension Obligation Bond instead of putting it on the ballot, concerned Chicoans contacted HJTA – we sent a Bat Signal! – and their attorneys went into action, filing a Cease and Desist Order with a threat to sue if Chico Staffers continued on that track. I kind of held my breath, expecting City of Chico to call HJTA’s bluff and proceed. So far they seem to have abandoned that action. I realize, Chico knows that action was illegal, and the chances are very good that they would spend a bunch of money to lose in court.
Locally, HJTA has taken on both Yuba County and the Hamilton Branch Fire Protection District (near Chester) over deceptive and illegally-funded tax measure campaigns. In Yuba County, 2018, voters were asked to approve Measure K, a 1% sales tax increase for “public safety/essential services.” The language of the measure listed exclusive special purposes, and followed all code requirements for a special tax. HJTA advised the county that it was a special tax requiring a two-thirds vote, but the county ignored the law and declared it a general tax. It barely passed with 54% of the vote. The trial court sided with HJTA, declaring Measure K invalid. Unfortunately the appeals court reversed that decision and Yuba County was allowed to go on collecting their illegal tax.
In 2020, Hamilton Fire Protection District proposed Measure A, a $175 increase in the local special tax. Run as a two-thirds measure, it failed. A year later, they brought the same proposal back to the ballot. It passed with 74% of the vote. But here’s where city of Chico residents need to pay attention – the district illegally used taxpayer money to run their campaign. Their Facebook page, as well as full-page glossy color photo brochures urging voters to “please Vote YES on Measure A“, declaring it “well worth the peace of mind!“
That is patently illegal. HJTA filed suit against Hamilton Branch Fire District. And like the city of Chico, the tiny district realized they were had and asked for terms of settlement. Among other points, HJTA asked for “adoption of an official written policy that would prevent such abuse in the future”.
The city of Chico is running a tax measure, it would seem logical they have to use city funds. So far they’ve hired a consultant to run the campaign.
RFP- Revenue Measure & Communications Consultant The City of Chico is seeking to obtain proposals from qualified firms to advise the City Council and City staff on developing appropriate ballot language for a proposed 1% general sales tax to appear on the 2022 November general election. Additionally, consultation will be necessary on how best to educate voters on the proposed 1% general sales tax measure and the development of materials and other outreach efforts to ensure citizens receive objective and accurate information related to the ballot measure. The City will accept proposals until 5:00 p.m. on Friday, November 5, 2021. Please click on “Projects to Bid” on the right to view the RFP within Public Purchase.
This seems illegal to me but I’m no lawyer. “how best to educate voters… efforts to ensure citizens receive objective and accurate information…” There’s the important point – just exactly how do they intend to “educate” the voters? CARD’s “educational” process was deceptive. Director Ann Willmann held “public information sessions,” during which one taxpayer caught her saying the district had no debt – despite their $128 million pension deficit. The board approved the use of taxpayer money to print glossy brochures extoling their virtues, leaving out important facts about the measure, including the bond they intended to secure with the revenues. So I’ll contact HJTA to put them on alert to the city’s tax measure, if they aren’t already aware.
And I’ll add, you can be a member of Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association for as little as $15. Your money goes to efforts like these. They have a small legal staff to go up against huge public agencies. They could use some back-up.
A reader sent me information that has had me doing a lot of research the past week. For years I’ve known that city council members receive salaries and benefits, but according to Transparent California, several members have somehow racked up pension deficits.
A pension deficit is created when an agency promises pensions but only makes partial payments toward the premiums. City of Chico has paid less than 50% of cost, with most employees contributing less than 15%. CalPERS claimed they could cover those deficits with stock market investments, but their investments have paid poorly, partly due to corruption such as taking bribes to buy bad stocks. One investments director, a Chinese national, was found to be making investments in his own holdings in China.
Staff’s strategy to bang down (or at least look like they are banging down) the deficit has been to siphon money from every city fund to make their “side fund” or “extra” payments. While employees pay a 9 – 15% share of the “regular” payments, they pay nothing toward the “extra” payments. So at present, CalPERS is demanding over $140 million in “deficit”, and our lovely council and Staff expect us to pony up.
Are council benefits part of that deficit? According to Transparent California, as of 2019, Council member and former mayor Sean R. Morgan, who receives about $20,000 in benefits, had about a $22,000 deficit. Wow, Ann Schwab is reported at about $43,000! Coolidge and Reynolds also have deficits listed. How could this happen?
Transparent California, run by Nevada Policy Research Institute, gets its figures from the public agencies on which it reports. So I contacted city of Chico Human Resources Department.
The staffer I contacted was pleasant and seemed helpful, but when I confronted her with the links, she told me she believed, ” the data on the website (that the City of Chico does not maintain or control) is not fully accurate.“
She also offered, “ some Councilmembers may have public-sector jobs which may be covered by CalPERS…and thus possibly some overlap of data? “
Obviously she didn’t look at the site – as you can see at the above link, Morgan’s salary and benefits as an employee of CSU Chico are listed separately. So are Schwab’s.
So I went to the Secretary of State’s website, publicpay.gov
I like Transparent California better because they list names, which is less confusing. As you see, publicpay.com just lists positions. And, publicpay.com has a notice – “This city [CHICO] does not include payments toward the unfunded liability of the employer sponsored retirement plan.”
As I dug deeper into information about TC, I found out they “prorate cost of pension debt payments made by the agency“, because the agencies won’t give that information. So what does that mean?
The HR Staffer told me the city pays the mayor a flat salary of $720/month and council members get $600. They are allowed to choose their benefits package. They are offered a range of plans.
She highlights the cheapest plan, just for example – see the city’s contribution for an EPO for an employee + spouse (and several of these people have children so it’s more) is over $1200/month. The employee, for a plan that covers their spouse, pays only $188 a month.
Judging from the figures we see on publicpay.gov, these people are being pretty generous with themselves. The 2020 benefits figure for Coolidge as Mayor is over $17,000.
According to city charter, if the employee has another job at which they have a better plan, they can choose to opt out of the city’s plan and take cash instead!
According to state law, if city council members are offered benefits packages, whatever the pay split, the entire cost must be paid. I’m not sure how that works, and I’m wondering – is the city paying the entire premiums? Or letting them ride with CalPERS investments? Why else would there be deficits for sitting council members?
I cc’d my representative Kasey Reynolds in the conversation because she’s listed as having a debt:
Of course Reynolds didn’t respond. But here’s what I think. I think the city is letting the benefits ride on the stock market just like the pensions. Otherwise, why would they have a separate deficit, “Other Post Employment Benefits,” or OPEB?
I’ll have to get back to you with that, next time, on This Old Lady Goes to Town.
This letter appeared in the Chico Enterprise Record yesterday (11/9/21)
“Today the weather was beautiful, and I went downtown to shop. I was stopped short by the sight of an ugly cyclone fence around my Plaza Park. It blocked off 40 parking spaces. It stopped me from parking where I usually do. I found a parking spot a block away. That fence was such a depressing sight that I walked back to talk to a courteous young woman who was cleaning litter that had blown against the fence. She answered my questions to the best of her ability; her job title is Ambassador and she works for an association of downtown property owners. Not the city, not the chamber.
She said the public would be kept out for about three weeks while the contractors prepared for the ice rink. I asked if the fence would be taken down then, but she answered that the fence would remain until the rink shut down in January. I asked if the general public (except for those paying to skate) was going to be shut out of our park for two and a half months. She said she believed that once construction was finished, a corner of the fence would be opened slightly so we could squeeze in and sit on the grass.
Really?! Really?!
You are going to take away 40 prime parking spaces during the Christmas shopping season? And why is our downtown public restroom blocked off? Is that even legal?”
Catherine Riley, Chico
I don’t know if any of this is true so looked at the city website, had to search for it, but found this blurb.
Open from November 19, 2021 through January 9, 2022, the Chico Ice Rink in the Plaza will feature ice skating sessions, private party events, special events, and more! This joint effort with the Downtown Chico Business Association will be adjacent to our City Hall and located in an area of over 425 diverse businesses.
I’ve also seen pictures of ice rinks in other towns, like Sacramento, and yeah, the public is excluded. What I saw was a more attractive fence, but it was a fence that restricted the public from a public park.
Blocking the parking spaces is a shocker, Downtown parking has always been a hot-button issue. But we’ve seen recent actions – such as expansions of restaurants onto sidewalks, and the bike-lane experiment that blocked parking spaces – that show how little consideration city staffers have for the general public. City employees and council members seem to think Downtown Chico is their own private playground.
I’ll admit though, I never go Downtown anymore. What’s there to buy Downtown? Corporate Sacramento-owned restaurants? Over-priced thrift stores? Doo-dads? Evening wear for college girls? Who can afford to shop at Colliers anymore? All of whom raised their prices to cover the Downtown Business Association fees and other expenses “special” to operating Downtown.
Let me ask you – how “special” do you feel dodging human excrement, panhandlers, and car break-ins as you are paying extra to shop Downtown?
But don’t forget – your money goes into this thing. Ask Kasey Reynolds how much she expects to profit, with a business a block away from this boondoggle. Ask if her business will sponsor the rink, and if she will be allowed to put a concession stand there.
Chico Taxpayers Association 