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City facing $178,075,000 in unfunded street projects, less than $2 million in the street improvements fund

18 Aug

Speaking of the proposed sales tax increase – “to fix the roads” – here’s another knee slapper – the city needs over $178 million to bring our streets up to standard, just to mitigate the effects of new construction. Here’s the link to that report in next weeks Finance Committee agenda.

http://www.ci.chico.ca.us/document_library/minutes_agendas/finance_committee/8-23-17FinanceCommitteeAgendaPacket.pdf

Right now city staff is wrestling with developers like Bill Webb, who feel the city is expecting too much of the money to come out of new construction fees.

The report is difficult to understand, but what I’m guessing is, they don’t want to pay the “Urbanization” fee at all, they think the taxpayers should have to pay to fix the streets. But, I’ll give it to staff – they make a very good argument, pointing out the obvious – new development, especially these high density subdivisions that are going into Grandma’s backyard all over town again, generate more traffic and the developers/homebuyers who build them should have to pay for the added impacts.

What about the proposed sales tax increase?  Taber admitted, “The city would only raise 4 to 4.5 million per year if they increased the sales tax by a quarter cent. ” 

Well, like I said – $4.5 million compared to $178 million – that’s a little tiny bubble of spit on a great big griddle.  According to the Finance Committee report linked above, just one of five currently approved projects – a stretch of Humboldt Road that has been heavily impacted by new development – will cost over $6 million. Other’s ranged between $800,000 and just over $2 million.  

But, $4.5 million would cover the increasing amount CalPERS is demanding to cover our pension deficit – $800,000 now, expected to increase to $1.5 million within the next three years, and on up from there.  Meanwhile, Chico City Council is handing out raises that increase the deficit while refusing to ask employees to pay more out of their own paycheck.

Tsk, tsk, get good tires on your car.

 

 

 

 

So much for the idea of a “citizens advisory committee”…

18 Aug

Given the latest news about Chico’s pension deficit, I have to laugh at Stephanie Taber and her suggestion of a quarter cent sales tax increase to “fix the roads”. Good one Steph, especially that part about a citizen’s advisory committee to make sure the funds are spent appropriately.  Read the latest Yuba-Sutter Political Notes from Lou Binninger in the Territorial Dispatch.

http://territorialdispatch.biz/component/edocman/?task=document.viewdoc&id=342&Itemid=0

“On August 9, the Sutter Butte Flood Control Agency (SBFCA)
in charge of managing more than $200 million in levee upgrades
disbanded the Citizens’ Assessment District Advisory Committee
(CADAC). It did so after promising to establish and utilize the ‘watchdog’
group in exchange for the public’s support for the 2010 levee
improvement assessment measure.

“Two previous measures had failed until public assurances were
given that a citizens committee would examine the finances and
ongoing management of the revenues from stiff property assessments
on more than 30,000 parcels and continuing for 33 years. The
public did not trust huge property assessments handed over to an
unelected and unsupervised agency. “

The other problem with “citizens advisory committees” is that they are not elected either, but appointed by the board or council that has passed the revenue measure.  Chico Unified  school district got to set up the rules about who could participate and then appoint citizens to their advisory committee. I’ve looked for information online, but in the case of the recently passed Measure K, all I could find was the Charter Schools advisory committee.  It looks like the committee members are all district employees, like Margaret Reece, CEO at Country Day, and Dan LaBar, principal at Inspire. 

http://www.chicousd.org/Departments/Business-Services/CUSD-School-Bonds/Charter-School-Facilities-Commitee-CSFC/index.html

I wrote to district finance manager Kevin Bultema to ask for more information, let’s see what he says. But so far, I don’t see much oversight on Measure K, just puff pieces in the ER about all the wonderful projects they’ve been doing. I still see the portables standing at Hooker Oak. 

Meanwhile, do you think Taber and her quiet friends on staff have given up on a sales tax increase? I don’t. 

Who wants to go to the CARD meeting with me tomorrow night?

16 Aug

When I ran into Mayor Sean Morgan at LaMalfa’s community meeting, he asked me, “Where have you been?!”

Morgan and I have kind of a Junior High School relationship – like many other members of our local government, he would like to put my head in a toilet, but in a light-hearted, good sported kind of way.

The guy loves to argue, but he’s never screamed “Bullshit” or “Shut Up!” at me. 

That said, as I told him, I almost never agree with anything he does. He voted with council to give Mark Orme a $9,000 raise to cover Orme’s new pension share, having heard the pension deficit is poised to send us into bankruptcy. 

I guess I should have answered him, “Where have you been? On another fucking planet?”

A planet where everybody has a public salary and a public pension, and money  grows on trees…

But given the spirit of LaMalfa’s meeting, I decided, us two old porch dogs should give the public an example of how to be civil to somebody you’d cross the street to avoid, but they happen to be standing between you and the exit.  

This does not affect my feelings that Morgan needs to go. He’s just a shill for the public employees. 

Where have I been? Well, I don’t get paid to go to meetings, I get paid to work. Sometimes I have to do a job that’s beyond a 58 year old woman, and I get a work related injury.  I have sprained my back, it feels like somebody kicked me right between my shoulder blades, really, really hard. It only hurts when I sit up, walk, reach my arms out, or breathe.

Actually, it hurts all the time, but who am I to complain – if you are in pain, you are still alive. That which does not kill you, will only make you stronger and bitchier.

CARD has a meeting tomorrow night. They will undoubtedly discuss their plans to put a bond on our homes. My husband can’t take me, and I can’t make it by myself. Any takers?

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The new trash deal is going to stink

14 Aug

Tomorrow Chico City Council will finalize the trash deal. I’ve read and commented on it for years now, this latest draft still has a lot of problems.

  • they will require everybody to pay for a yard waste bin
  • if bins are damaged, including graffitti, more than once, the customer is on the hook for the replacement of the bin – no prices included, we have to wait til our bin is damaged to find out
  • no rates published, but Waste Management is allowed to raise our rates at will with the CPI

Right now my family pays about $25 for a 96 gallon bin which we share with our tenants. Nobody would tell me what the new rates would be, but I’ve checked in other towns – we should expect to pay $25 for a 35 gallon bin under the new deal, so the bigger bins will be closer to $35 and $50 a month. Plus the additional whatever for the yard waste bin. Recycling will also be required, but free. 

I’ve howled about this deal, which former mayor Mark Sorensen called a “trash tax.” I don’t think the public will pay attention until they get their new bills. We’ll see what kind of stink rises up over Chico when people find out, trash service will not be mandatory under this  deal, just a lot more expensive!

Hi Council,

I just wanted a few last words before you hit us with  the trash tax.

I won’t pay for a yard waste bin I don’t need. I’ve got rentals, I do my own yard work and hauling, I pay to take the stuff to the green waste facility on Cohasset, so I shouldn’t have to pay for yard waste bins for tenants who don’t do any yard work.   Besides, why should I have to have a third truck stop in front of my property, every week?

Also, they should have to tell us how much these bins cost, UP FRONT, if they are going to require us to replace them when they get damaged/tagged. That also makes the yard waste bin a liability I don’t need.

Waste Management should also have a rate schedule on their website that is good for a year. When I tried to sign up for Waste Management earlier this year, the dispatcher gave me old rates, and told me she had no idea what the rates would be when the franchise takes effect in October. That’s called “bait and switch”.

Thank you  for your anticipated cooperation – Juanita Sumner, Chico

 

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In Chico we shout down anybody we don’t agree with

7 Aug
0807170805a

On the surface this looked like a nice crowd.  This was the opening prayer.

My husband and I decided to put aside chores this morning to attend a Q&A session with 1st District Congressman Doug LaMalfa at the Elks Lodge here in Chico. I don’t agree with him on very much but wanted to hear what he had to say.

And, it’s a very nice bike ride from our house to Manzanita Place, traveling along Lindo Channel. The temperatures have been hilariously cooler the last day or two, we didn’t even bust a sweat peddling along at 7:30 am.  We had our water and sunscreen and were determined to enjoy the morning regardless of politics.

What I wasn’t ready for, was the crowd that showed up.  You know me, I like to say it like it is, I like to use “colorful language”. But I refrain from standing up and screaming “Shut UP!” or “BULLSHIT!” when somebody else has the floor at a meeting. I mouth stuff and make faces, but I sit down and shut up.  I may be nasty here at the blog, but at public meetings I really try to respect the other person’s right to have their say, including our politicians.

Besides, you have to listen to these people to find out what they’re up to. LaMalfa opened the meeting quickly and courteously, with remarks about the progress Congress is having “reforming” the Affordable Healthcare Act – Obamacare. I had to agree with most of what he said, what I could hear, because at this point, less than 20 minutes into the meeting, the crowd started to go nuts. 

Frankly, I should have guessed what was going to happen, when the red cards went up during the opening prayer. It got pretty ugly, one man shouting “shut up and let us talk” while a woman behind us shouted “Bullshit!” to everything LaMalfa had to say. 

This folks, is public discourse in Northern California. I don’t get out of town much anymore, I don’t know how they do it in other congressional districts, but here we shout down anybody we don’t agree with. 

And here we’re made fun of in the LA Times. 

http://www.latimes.com/politics/essential/la-pol-ca-essential-politics-updates-rep-doug-lamalfa-catches-an-earful-on-1502130906-htmlstory.html

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Well, DUH!

4 Aug
Every dog has her day, and I’ll say, I am enjoying the latest titter about the pension deficit – as if people just heard about it?

Finally David Little says, “But asking government to solve a government-created problem is like asking the fox to tuck the hens into bed every night.”

But he offers the solution, as if he hasn’t known it all along: “Meanwhile, city councils need to quit handing out pay raises and benefits increases as if somebody else is paying for them. “

He says, “ But convincing government to cut benefits to current employees — colleagues, co-workers, friends — isn’t easy.”

I’ll say same about convincing our local media to report this stuff.  This has been an issue for over 10 years. When I’ve tried to say something about what I’ve seen at meetings, the local media has treated me like a zoo monkey who throws her own excrement.

I’ll never forget taking my then-6-year-old to a morning meeting at which then-mayor Scott Gruendl was broaching this problem for the first time. He stood up to one of those tablets on a stand, with multi-colored Sharpees, and he proceeded to doodle as he rambled about our financial problems. At that time he didn’t say anything about the pensions, he just said “we” had spent all “our” money.

At one point he started to open the red Sharpee, but laughed nervously and put the cap back on. He said, “we don’t want to scare anybody…but seriously, this is bad, this is really bad…”  He fumbled with the colored pens, leaving caps off – that really bugged my kid, who was always expected to take care of his stuff.

 

My son, now 22, asked me on the way back to the car, “if we’re in so much trouble, how come Scott’s got all those pens?”  He mentioned the caps being left off, and I realized what he was really saying – these people are capricious  with other people’s money.

For years when I attended meetings, sitting alongside fellow howling cur Stephanie Taber, I tried to tell people, in my own white trashy way, what was going on. At one point I realized at least two of our city council were having some sort of drug – or sanity? – problem. Meanwhile David Little ran an editorial about what a nice lady Mary Flynn Goloff was because she hand delivered him a jar of her “home made” jalapeno jelly.

That guy would not recognize Satan if he rode into town on a goat.  He’s been too friendly with these people, he has no objectivity.  He actually thinks some people are better than others because of their position in life. 

So excuse my absolute shock when I read his recent editorial, condemning council’s recent approval of a $9,000 raise for city mangler Mark Orme, to cover his new, slightly increased pension share. Right on the heels of a “lions, tigers and bears” discussion of the pension deficit. Oh My!

 

Editorial: Pension reform won’t come from government employees

 POSTED: 08/03/17, 12:34 AM PD. T | UPDATED: 17 HRS AGO
 Back in April, Chico’s vice mayor asked the city staff to research what can be done about the ticking time bomb that is pension debt. The council finally got a report on the matter this week and the short answer was: not much.

So far, the city’s response has been much like most city, county and state governments. They describe an awful problem, wring their hands a little, then say “Oh well, we looked into it.”

But asking government to solve a government-created problem is like asking the fox to tuck the hens into bed every night.

Vice Mayor Reanette Fillmer’s request to learn about the pension liability was a vital one. The overview the council heard Tuesday night is one repeated to most city councils statewide, and the same one state legislators are hearing. The obligations for governments to pay generous pensions for its current employees when they retire is eventually going to cause big problems, they are told. If a course correction isn’t made, government will be faced with having to cut services to pay pensions. And since the biggest part of local government budgets is police and fire protection, those visible cuts would finally get people’s attention.

By then it would be too late. So government needs to act now. But convincing government to cut benefits to current employees — colleagues, co-workers, friends — isn’t easy.

That’s why elected officials need to act. They’re elected by the people to make sure our government remains solvent. It does us no good to repeat over and over again, as City Manager Mark Orme did on Tuesday: “This is not a Chico-specific issue. This is a statewide issue. This is something we’re all going to have to face.”

Yes, we know. So face it.

Instead, the councilors and the city talked about all the things they can’t do, the steps they can’t take. They didn’t leave much hope that anything would get resolved anytime soon.

Normally, we hope for citizens to lead the way with voter initiatives. But the California Public Employees Retirement System has its interests protected. The only way a city can get out of CalPERS requirements is to withdraw entirely and pay huge up-front costs.

“We can’t just leave CalPERS without paying $175 million,” said Mayor Sean Morgan.

There may come a time when that buyout looks like a bargain.

Meanwhile, city councils need to quit handing out pay raises and benefits increases as if somebody else is paying for them. The problem is, somebody else is paying for them — our children and grandchildren, who will be stuck with the tab long after current elected officials leave office.

Citizens are tired of hearing what can’t be done. Let’s hear what can be done.

Sales Tax Increase Anyone?

30 Jul

Taber’s letter

Letter: No mismanagement of city finances under new staff

POSTED: 07/27/17, 1:53 AM PDT 

0 COMMENTS

 

The headline read, “Chico government can’t be trusted with tax increase.” The letter implied current city management is deceitful in its handling of city finances. Nothing could be further from the truth. If the letter writer attended monthly Finance Committee meetings, any accusation of supposed mishandling of taxpayer monies could be explained. I know, I attend those meetings.

Since our new management staff (Mark Orme, city manager, Chris Constantin, assistant city manager, Scott Dowell, administrative services director, and Barbara Martin, deputy director-finance) took office many positive changes in financial reporting have taken place. Detailed financial reports are presented at both the committee meeting and at City Council meetings. Those reports are published online for all to see and pick apart if the public chooses. I cannot recall the letter writer coming forward with a question, comment, or criticism this entire year.

Most of the letter seemed focused on past majority driven ultra-liberal councils (2004-2012) and the old management team that was either unwilling or incapable of controlling their spending. Things have changed dramatically. All it took was one conservative council member and the Grand Jury report of May 2013 to shed light on the mismanagement of taxpayers’ money.

I have no misgivings in suggesting that the city raise sale tax by one-quarter of 1 percent (7.25 percent to 7.50 percent) equaling $4-$4.5 million annually. I will gladly pay that extra 12 cents on a $50 purchase if that meant we could repair/replace our hazardous city streets in this century.

— Stephanie L. Taber, Chico

 

My response to Taber, e-mailed 7/29/17 (we’ll see if this is printed, ER staff removed similar comments I made on Taber’s letter )
We have been assured that all Chico’s financial problems have been put to bed under our “new” staff.  
Former finance director and current assistant city manager Chris Constantin instituted the policy by which whenever a fund is in deficit money is “administratively” transferred from other funds. For example, the gas tax, which most people believe is dedicated to road repairs and improvements is routinely “allocated” for  salaries, pensions and benefits, just like when Jennifer Hennessy was our finance director.
Current administrative services (finance) director Scott Dowell was with Chico Area Recreation District when they failed to make recommended repairs to Shapiro Pool, instead spending $400,000 on a “side fund payoff” to CalPERS.   When he left that agency CARD had over $1.7 million in pension deficit for less than 35 employees, despite spending over $300,000/year in regular payments.

The city’s pension and benefits liability is now over $180 million, and the state is demanding an escalating payment scale. Meanwhile, we continue to pay the majority of our employee benefits, giving them raises to cover their increased shares.  We will never get out of our financial morass until our management staff agrees to pay 50 percent of their own pensions and benefits without corresponding salary increases to cover it.

A quarter cent sales tax increase would be spit on a griddle.

Juanita Sumner, Chico

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JetChico presentation tonight – small airports cannot support themselves, will need heavy subsidization from taxpayers

25 Jul

Yesterday I received this agenda for an Airport Commission meeting tonight:

http://www.ci.chico.ca.us/government/minutes_agendas/documents/Agenda20170725finala.pdf

I’ve signed up to received these agendas for various meetings Downtown, they’re usually sent out the Friday before the meeting. Why only a day ahead? Probably because city staff doesn’t  really don’t want the public to get wind of what they’re talking about with JetChico, the group that is working to get taxpayers to subsidize commercial air service at Chico Airport.

jetchico.org

“Wanna be Turlock?”?   Really?  Ooooo! Trash talk!  

This group is shady, they don’t say who they are – you have to attend their meetings – at a winery? – to find out what they’re up to. Or you can attend tonight, or you can watch it online.

 

I hope you will – I cannot attend, I’d already committed myself to a work week out of town by the time I got the notice.

Or you can read JetChico’s reports – it’s all there. I read their financing reports, and what I see is, they expect to get most of their money from grants and bonds – tax money.  The reports are pretty damning, and make it pretty clear – small airports cannot support themselves, they need over 50 % subsidization from the tax payers, most of whom will never fly.

 

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Humboldt Fire caused by transients?

21 Jul

You have probably heard about the 100 acre Humboldt (Road) fire that occurred along Hwy 32, just above California Park and the new Forgarty houses on the other side of the road. It came within yards of Cal Water’s new tank.

When my husband and I drove out on Hwy 32 yesterday, we saw that it came from the area where we had reported illegal camping a few months ago.  There was a tent with a tarp, clearly visible from Hwy 32. When we investigated we found a fire pit surrounded with garbage and scattered household goods. The fire pit was well established, lined with rocks gathered from the surrounding hillside.  The site looked as though it was regularly used for years, and very recently.

We reported it and were referred to Office Scott Zuchin, who told us he hadn’t seen any camp there. He offered to set up a neighborhood meeting, but when I persisted in my complaint he got testy. 

Please be more specific then. We may not be speaking about the same location. You may attach photographs to your email if that helps.

I had given him the exact location, and told him it was visible from Hwy 32.  I don’t think these people read an e-mail completely before they respond. Shortly thereafter, the tent and tarp disappeared, but the campsite was never cleaned up.  We saw signs of illegal camping all along Humboldt road, in the exact vicinity of that 100 acre fire, and aside from a poorly organized last minute clean-up of the road by a private group for the Wildflower Century, there have been no attempts made by any city or county agency to clean the garbage out of that area.

I had cc’d  Third District Supervisor Maureen Kirk into that discussion because she lives in Cal Park. She is fully aware of the transient camps along Humboldt Road and complained about crime being on the increase in Cal Park. This woman needs to wake up and get off the pot – she’s up for re-election in 2018 and doesn’t have a clue as to the problems she is causing every time she votes to fund some “homeless” program. The county brings these people in here for the stipend attached – $550 a day to pay down a pension debt that has them cutting  staff and closing fire stations. But to these agencies money is like an ice cube in hell – it’s already gone to management salaries and pensions before it even hits  the floor.

Write to Kirk and tell her she has to do something to stop the flood of insanity she’s turned loose on our town – that’s mkirk@buttecounty.net

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Safari Inn murder just another symptom of our collective mental illness

20 Jul

I’ve had to turn off the news lately – I’m sick of hearing about the murder at the Safari Inn.

Yes, this is news – a woman brutally murdered at a local hotel. But why aren’t they giving us all the details?

For one thing, the man who was seen coming and going from her bedroom window on the night of the murder,  well known transient Marc Valcarenghi, was on a second probation for grand theft and possession of crank.  He’d been arrested in 2014 and again in 2016 for roughly the same crimes – including possession of a drug known to cause unpredictable and violent behavior. Placed on probation, you ask? Yes, not once, but twice this guy was had by law enforcement and allowed to skitter off into the bushes. 

For another thing, the Safari Inn has always had a questionable reputation despite recent efforts to clean up the outside of the place. Back in the 80’s it looked like a total dive, the city went after them to clean it up, so it looks like a “normal” motel. But see what out-of-towners have to say about it here, complete with pictures:

https://www.yelp.com/biz/safari-inn-motel-chico

I have never seen so many graphic and bad reviews of a motel, and we always checked with Yelp! before we went on road trips. 

What’s creepy is, you can see, the outside of the motel looks pretty harmless.  Check those reviews before you go on the road people – imagine ending up in a place like this in a town like SF or Sa-crap-mento!

Here’s another dead giveaway – the price is so low, transients can stay there on the proceeds of tipping garbage cans. Apparently, the victim was staying there in exchange for cleaning? Did you read some of those reviews? 

I think it’s used mostly by transients and even prostitutes. And let me ask you – the motel employee that talked to both Ch 7 and Ch 12 told them the room was so “trashed” she didn’t find the body right away. The newspaper said the woman had been badly beaten and strangled. How does all that happen in a motel and nobody notices? Nobody calls the cops? Cause it’s pretty common there? 

One person who reviewed this place says the health department needs to give it a look. Ya think?  Another person reported finding syringes and a shopping cart in the parking lot. 

What does it take to get the city to investigate a place like this? For a short time we also had a very high-profile routing by the health department, restaurants all over town were shut down and others started sporting the health department clearance sign. But not motels? 

This murder has caused quite a sensation – we’ll see if it causes anything to  change in city and county policy. 

 

 

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