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Is recycling about saving the planet? Or paying bureaucrats’ salaries, benefits and pensions?

13 Jul

I like to look at Anthony Watts’ blog, “Watts Up With That?” for several reasons. First, it’s just enough over my head to make me reach a little. Well, sometimes it’s a lot over my head, but Watt’s keeps it witty and cheerful anyway. Second, he gets comments from all over the world, it’s really interesting to read. Third, I agree with Watts – “Global Warming” has turned into the biggest mass hysteria since “War of the Worlds”. 

There’s a lot of just plain news on WUWT – here’s a story about the California Recyling Fund that I find very sad.

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2015/07/11/californian-recycling-fraud-case/

Yes, I believe this is a problem, but, the real killer has been legislative raids on the fund itself – this article from 2009 describes how the CRV fund  “had hummed along successfully for two decades until state officials left it nearly bankrupt after taking $451 million out to help balance the budget.”

http://articles.latimes.com/2009/nov/30/local/la-me-recycling30-2009nov30

Balance the budget? At that time we didn’t know that meant, paying down the enormous unfunded pension liability – a.k.a. The Pension Bomb. The Pension Bomb has been ticking since Gray Davis agreed to allow the retirement systems to fund pensions with the stock market instead of making employees pay for their own benefits. By 2009 the fund had crashed a few times with the market and been bailed out to the tune of hundreds of millions by the taxpayers. Rather than bring the public in on the problem, the legislature started raiding various funds to pay down the pension deficit. They just about tanked the CRV fund, even as beverage sales went up. 

The recycling companies, small Mom and Pop firms and businesses like the Work Training Center started to rattle their chains – they weren’t getting reimbursed at the rates they were paying their customers, and sometimes they weren’t getting any money at all. One small company up near Los Molinos was having trouble staying in business, as were many others. 

I don’t think the fraud problem is too hard to figure out – pending legislation will make it illegal for one person to redeem more than a certain amount of recyclables – no more semi trucks pulling in with thousand of dollars worth of recyclables trucked in from Mexico or another state. But, it includes all kinds of hang-ups for Mom and Pop operations, requiring software reporting programs that will most likely require an extra full-time employee to run. For example, if you get more than $100 from the Work Training Center, or any center, you have to present your identification with an address. Large loads (I’m sorry I don’t know poundage) require a hauler’s license. The days of some old  retired couple just weighing the goods and doling out the cash are over.

According to this article from April, these changes have not been that good  for redemption rate (the rate at which people are returning the containers).

http://resource-recycling.com/node/5884?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=READ%20MORE%3E%3E&utm_campaign=PRU%2004-08-15

But that’s good for the state, because they need the CRV money to pay salaries, benefits and pensions. “The program changes have resulted in a drop in the redemption rate. At the same time, more consumers are buying drinks, resulting in a revenue boost, Collins noted. The redemption rate for fiscal year 2014-15 is projected to be 81 percent, down from 85 percent in calendar year 2013. The ‘break-even’ rate, or the redemption rate at which there are enough unredeemed containers to pay the fund’s expenses, is projected to be 79 percent. That leaves a gap of only 2 percentage points for fiscal year 2014-15, down from a 10-percentage-point gap in 2013.”

Do you get that? They’re counting on 79 percent of us not recycling so they can pay their salaries and pensions!  Is that outrageous enough for you? The only reason they care about “recycling fraud” is because it takes money out of the state’s pocket. They don’t care if 79 percent of purchased recyclable containers go straight to the landfill. 

This is the same kind of fund raiding that goes on Downtown. They’ve raided the development fund, the sewer fund, and the airport fund right into the red to pay off the pension deficit. The conservatives that are currently in charge blame it on the liberals who just got tossed over – but what are they doing about it? They’ve deferred developer fees, they’ve given fat raises to management and public safety, and they’ve moved funds around to cover their checks. They can’t fix the streets, they can’ fix the park, they are talking about selling at least a portion of Bidwell Ranch to developers. 

Fund Raiders of the Lost Paradise.

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Why are we subsidizing for-profit developers by deferring developer fees?

11 Jul

I got a comment on an old blog recently. It was a blog about the road work on Hwy 32 east of the freeway, and how the developers aren’t paying for work they necessitated with all those new houses and apartments out there.

https://chicotaxpayers.com/2013/08/22/hwy-32-widening-will-caltrans-carry-out-their-threat-to-sue-us-because-we-didnt-collect-developer-fees/

There are no pedestrian or bicycle improvements out there for all those “live units” they’ve built, and they’re continuing to build without adding any. They’re putting people out in the sticks who don’t have cars, without providing safety improvements required for pedestrians and bikes.

From Py:  What about the new ‘low income’ 141 apt. Complex at the corner of 20th & Bruce road’? State law states that a car must give a bicyclist at least 3feet of ‘leeway'(or words to that effect)! What a joke!!

I use my bike to get around town, but I drive when I have to leave the city center, because the car drivers get more agitated the farther you get from Downtown. The cyclist will encounter car drivers who actually question the cyclist’s right to use roads. If there’s not a marked bike path, they act as though cyclists are not allowed. 

But, as a car driver, I get nervous around bike riders who seem to think now that they have a bike, it’s all about bikes! I find a lot of people who have driven all their lives, as soon as they get on a bike, they ride like they drove – remember the old Disney cartoon, Mr. Walker and Mr. Wheeler? Well, they should have made a bike version, the intelligent pedestrian fears bikes as much as cars. The answer is wide roads with adequate space for proper bike lanes and sidewalks, with adequate signage and signals. Why don’t the developments on the outskirts of town have the same amenities as central neighborhoods? Because the city didn’t require it of the developers who made millions out there. 

The city needs to require more of developers.  In that old blog, I posted a conversation I had with Mayor Mark Sorensen in which he told me none of the developer fees had been collected for the Hwy 32 work. Since that conversation, city council has actually deferred developer fees again, saying they want to encourage construction. More construction without proper infrastructure?  As we also discussed in that old blog, Cal Trans threatened to sue the city because they were permitting too much development without setting aside money for the necessitated road improvements.

Just as I feared from this new council, they are talking about developing at least part of Bidwell Ranch.  And this is what we can expect – if we want the bike trails and the other amenities, we will have to pay for them out of the tax pot. Meanwhile the existing streets around town will get worse and worse as we subsidize for-profit developers. 

Are you ready for another water rate increase? Cal Water Proposes to raise revenues by $95 million in 2017, another $23 million in 2018, and $23 million more in 2019 – where will YOU get that kind of money?

7 Jul
Thanks to Connie for this article from Market Wired
California Water Service Group 11 hours ago
 
SAN JOSE, CA–(Marketwired – Jul 6, 2015) – On July 3, 2015, California Water Service Group’s (NYSE: CWT) largest subsidiary, California Water Service Company (Cal Water), filed a General Rate Case requesting authorization from the California Public Utilities Commission (Commission) to increase rates to add revenues of $94.8 million in 2017, $23.0 million in 2018, and $22.6 million in 2019.

According to President and Chief Executive Officer Martin A. Kropelnicki, about 80% of the requested increase is attributable to capital improvements needed to improve water supply and upgrade infrastructure in the communities Cal Water serves.

“We need to continue to invest diligently in water supply sources, as well as the pipes, pumps, treatment plants, and other facilities that are needed to provide a safe, reliable water supply to our customers. We are proposing water system improvements totaling $693 million, which is the most significant driver of the requested increase,” he said.

The filing reflects Cal Water’s aggressive cost control measures, which include reduced benefits costs and freezing employee headcount for all positions except those required to make water supply and system improvements.

“Our team has worked hard to control our costs in all parts of our business, and this application shows that effort,” Kropelnicki said.

The filing begins an 18-month review process by the Commission, with new rates expected to become effective in early 2017. The Commission requires a General Rate Case filing every three years to ensure that rates reflect the actual costs of providing service, while allowing the Company a reasonable return on investment in water system infrastructure. The Commission has the authority to approve rate increases that are lower than requested, but not higher.

California Water Service Group is the parent company of California Water Service, Washington Water Service Company, New Mexico Water Service Company, Hawaii Water Service Company, Inc., CWS Utility Services, and HWS Utility Services. Together these companies provide regulated and non-regulated water service to approximately 2 million people in more than 100 California, Washington, New Mexico, and Hawaii communities. Group’s common stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “CWT.” Additional information is available online at www.calwatergroup.com.

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Stephan Farris, you need to do your homework Sweetie

4 Jul
I wrote a letter to the Enterprise Record about the new budget. I’ve been going to meetings and reading documents for years now, I’ve watched the budget very closely, I’ve watched the agendas. Every year they throw out a budget, but it’s a joke – through “appropriations” they manage to raise spending millions over budget, all they have to do is file an “appropriation.” 

“Appropriate” means “take,” by the way.

City salaries rise and council won’t control it

The taxpayers must be asleep when city staff more than doubles the budget from $43 million to $109 million, giving themselves all generous salaries and paying the lion’s share of their own benefits out of the public till.

City staff has done very well for itself. Meanwhile, the park looks terrible, with liability issues such as rotting tree limbs, pot-holed roads and gopher-pitted trails. Our neighborhood streets are also a liability issue.

Our city staffers are making as much as five times the median income, but complain they can’t serve us. City Manager Mark Orme takes over $200,000 in salary, pays less than 10 percent of his own pension and benefits, but complains he needs an assistant. At that kind of salary, I’d expect Superman, but Orme complains he can’t do his job. That’s become a pattern of late — he justified his salary raise saying he had a big job to do, gutted staff to save the money to give himself that raise, but now complains he needs help.

And our “fiscal conservative council” — don’t make me laugh. They approved the budget and the salary increases, now they will ask us to raise the sales tax rate to pay for these outrageous salaries and pensions. They will promise us a stadium, a new swim center, smiling cops on every corner — but all we’ll get out of it are more overfed bluejays to screech and squawk for more money, more money, more money.

— Juanita Sumner, Chico

I hate writing to the ER because they allow Topix. Topix requires membership with Facebook or Twitter or another one of the social networks, to which I do not subscribe. I can’t stand Tweeters, I’m sorry, get a life. Sounds waaaay too much like Tweaker, anyway.  So, Topix users are able to say whatever they want about a letter, and I can’t respond. Here’s a comment that is just flatly insulting and uninformed.

Stephan Farris • a day ago

“You need to do your homework… The total budget approved for 2013/2014 was $110,519,079. The total budget approved for 2014/2015 was $120,449,882. The approved budget for 2015/2016 is $109,700,000 (rounded) which is a significant reduction from last year and small reduction from the prior year.”

Mr. Farris, you do your homework, Jackass. I think you actually know the truth, but you spread misinformation to further your bottom line, whatever that is. Wife a public worker? You might want to attend a few meetings, read a few documents Mr. Farris before you tell somebody else they don’t know what they’re talking about. 

And, of course, the old budgets have been taken down from the city website. Oh well – this is it folks, either you believe me or you don’t. Ask yourself – who’s been going to meetings all these years, and who’s just been jerking their wad on Topix? 

 

You get what you accept – Chico, you need to raise your standards!

1 Jul

Yesterday  was the last day to turn in you Utility Tax Rebate application. I wonder how many people applied for that this year.  When I go in to collect my rebate, I feel like I’m making some attempt to hold city council and staff accountable for the mess they’ve got us in. But you can’t hold these people responsible, they just wiggle out. They’re insane – one minute they’re telling us they’re too broke to keep the library open and the next minute they’re more than doubling the city budget  to accommodate their pensions.

I’ll tell you what else is insane – Scott Gruendl has got a new job! He’s been hired as the Assistant Director of Behavioral Health Services for the County of San Mateo. There’s just no accountability for these people. Gruendl just retired from Glenn County Health and Human Services split hairs ahead of being fired for substance abuse. He just got his hat handed to him in the last Chico city election, having led the city on a drug-influenced spending binge for 12 years. 

And now, read back over the stories about his 100 mph+ speeding ticket, and look at all the lies. The guy has got a serious problem with The Truth – it doesn’t fit in his mouth!

Go ahead, have a good laugh at your own expense – this is the guy who kept insisting that Chico was his “hometown” all these years. If you look at his Twitter account here, you’ll see just how sincere that was as he talks about the spendy new homes he’s looking at in the Bay Area.

https://twitter.com/ScottGruendl

“The winner is: Candidate 1 – Upper Market/Castro Home – welcome to the new home of Scott and Nicholas Gruendl..”

Excuse me – barf!  I just can’t stand this kind of carpet bagger.  I knew he was a fake, and there it is. And you won’t hear any of his former friends down at Democratic Headquarters making any excuses for him, they’re pissed at him too. He used to brag to me about having dinner with little Janey-bob MulDolan and her friends – I’m guessing Bob Mulholland wouldn’t admit knowing Gruendl at this point.

My question, and I don’t know where to get a straight answer on this – how does he retire from one public agency and then take a job with another? Will he collect a salary and pension simultaneously? This is a question that needs answering, I just don’t know where to get that answer.

Speaking of crime, Rose wrote a thoughtful note to the ER letters section, encouraging people to take notice of suspicious activity around them and say something to the cops. But, I don’t know how seriously the cops would take my reports.

There was the conversation I overheard at the Mangrove Safeway. We always park our bike near the entrance, where there’s oftentimes a little group of, well, I’ll say it – ne’er do wells – hanging around. I think they’ve been warned not to panhandle, but if they get your eye they’ll start a little conversation – “wow, great bike!” – and the next thing you know they’re asking you for one thing or another. We try not to make eye contact, play deaf, just smile and turn away.  The other day one guy was talking about having beaten up another man who said something he didn’t like – “that’s when I head-butted him!”. I wondered, where did this take place? Here at my grocery store? I kind of doubt it, the Safeway management keeps a tight lid on these guys. A few days later I heard about a stabbing at One Mile.  I realized suddenly how unsafe the park really is. 

Yesterday morning we were driving our car across town to get it serviced, and I noticed, at the corner of 4th and Pine, somebody had raked together a little pile of tree debris and burned it like a camp fire right in the middle of the lane, just north of the intersection. I guess they thought that would be safer than a fire in their side yard? Or maybe they don’t have a side yard? How would somebody get away with this in a town where the cops were doing their job?

When we went Downtown later yesterday afternoon, we found the usual little encampments at City Hall and The Plaza. Some creeps were jumping their BMX bikes off the stage at the plaza, right in the middle of the day. Earlier yesterday they had that “Picnic in the Plaza” nonsense – what a laugh!  That is just a fundraiser for the sales tax increase campaign the city will be running by next Spring.

When we drove by the CARD center I again saw why the CARD board decided to move most of their business sessions out to Cal  Park Pavilion – there is a regular little encampment on the back patio of the CARD center. I’m guessing that a closer inspection would find they are smoking and drinking alcohol and that’s not permitted there. 

People are allowed to gather, but they’re not allowed to loiter. The cops are supposed to have a very clear legal understanding of the difference between those two words. Frankly, all you have to do to get rid of a lot of these people is put on a uniform and talk to them regularly. It makes the creepy ones uncomfortable, you know – like shining light on a cockroach. I don’t have a uniform, or a taser, or even a can of hairspray to protect myself. I don’t get $70,000+ a year to spend my time moving creeps along. I don’t get what amounts to a hand-out for the rest of my life either. I want to see Chico PD doing their job. 

 

The problem with the online reporting mechanism is, for me, if the crime is important enough to take my time to report it’s important enough to talk to a cop. Having these people tell us, they don’t have time to take reports – that’s the essence of their job. When they tell us they don’t have time to do their job, my mind goes straight to a picture of a pig wearing a cop uniform, stuffing a doughnut into his face.  What else? I sure don’t see them racing through town  catching perps red-handed.  For every little victory you read about in the paper  – oftentimes citizen action or just plain stupidity on the part of the criminal – how many crimes go uncovered and unpunished and will happen again and again? Meanwhile they demand more and more money. 

Whenever we pick up our lunch at Chico Locker, the place is full of Chico public safety workers. They won’t make eye contact, they act nervous and suspicious, like little children whose Momma just discovered a discrepancy in the cookie jar.  It’s GUILT.

This is our fault. We don’t hold these people accountable. Lie in your dirty bed Chico, it’s the bed of your own making.

 

 

 

 

 

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Koyaanisqatsi – life is out of balance around here

24 Jun

I get a report from Word Press about how people get to my site – what search terms they use.  Lately there has been a lot of curiosity about various members of city council and  staff.

Of course Sean Morgan and his wife have been a subject of interest, since Morgan complained that his wife got a parking ticket Downtown recently. He admitted she’d violated her parking meter, and that her front license plate was missing, but he complained that the parking enforcement “specialist” hired by Downtown merchants are being overzealous. 

My husband wonders how Morgan could be so stupid as to make such a complaint publicly. I told him, you just have to come to a meeting, this behavior would not surprise you if you’d been watching the guy. He’s a total idiot. He thinks being elected to public office gives a person some sort of deference, a special privilege above and  beyond the rights of the common and ordinary Joe and Jane Citizen. He’s very demanding, like a spoiled  child. 

At least Morgan is stupid enough to let himself out of the bag – you know they all feel that way. Something about the recycled air in the city chamber just gets to their brains, something about those fancy chairs gives them a pair of brass cojones. At a time when the people need to lead, we sit in the peanut gallery, throwing tomatoes at these clowns.  Koyaanisqatsi.

Then there’s Chris Constantin, spelled various ways. Whenever I get a lot of searches for a person like that, it seems they are looking for a new job, but that’s just my past experience. To think what that guy has accomplished since he got here – cutting staff down to a skeleton crew, rearranging our finances to accommodate unprecedented salaries for himself and his cronies, making the 9 percent employee share of pension cost look like some kind of taxpayer victory, and taking a $43 million budget to $109 million over the course of a year, at the same time telling us around every corner we’re in a precarious financial condition.

Where did he get another $50 million for this new budget? Koyaanisqatsi.

Another common search is “plastic bag ban,” “single use bag ban”, etc. I know that’s not just Bob, people are pissed off one way or the other on that issue – we’ll see who’s got enough piss and vinegar to tip the boat one way or the other. I won’t say I’ve gotten over it, but I don’t have much energy to put into it – like Bob, I am pretty sure the ban will hold up. The overwhelming propaganda – the island the size of Texas made up of shopping bags, blah, blah – added to the average Californian’s poor education and lack of motivation,  will hammer the last nail in that coffin. 

But who knows – 35 years ago environmentalists were likening the use of tree pulp in making shopping bags to The Holocaust, now you see them flowing out of the grocery stores just like the old days, and it’s okay because they cost 10 cents a piece. Koyaanisqatsi. 

CARD finally found a solution to Obamacare – outsource labor costs to a consultant (long time public contractor Greg Melton) who can keep his staff small enough that he does not fall under the Obamacare laws. Over a year ago, the CARD board voted to cut part time workers’ hours to 28 hours or less to avoid having to pay healthcare under Obama’s new 30 hours is full time ruling. Meanwhile, some 30-odd full time employees enjoy full benefits and pension, for which they pay nothing out of their own salaries. Koyaanisqatsi. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CARD chooses new general manager (Ann Willman), cuts her salary to $100,000/year – really?

20 Jun
This article from the Enterprise Record says new CARD General Manager Ann Willmann’s salary will only be $100,000/year, but also says Hayne’s salary was only $105,000. Why is the state controllers office reporting a salary of $124,000/year, plus benefits?

Sorry, I haven’t been going to these meetings, this report is from a month ago. I’m still waiting for CARD to get back to me with some questions I’ve had about the Aquatic Center Advisory Committee, I’ll try to get to the July board meeting.

CARD picks new manager, approves bocce ball

By Laura Urseny, Chico Enterprise-Record

POSTED: 05/21/15, 9:03 PM PDT | UPDATED: 4 WEEKS AGO

0 COMMENTS

Chico >> A new general manager, a restructuring on hold, and a tentative go-ahead on bocce ball at the Dorothy Johnson Center all made it through the Chico Area Recreation and Park District board’s approval in less than an hour.

During the Thursday night meeting, the board came out of closed session to announce that Ann Willmann of Chico had been hired as CARD’s new general manager. Willmann previously worked at CARD, but left in 2013 to become the general manger at Feather River Recreation and Park District in Oroville.

Willmann joined CARD in 2006 as a recreation supervisor, then left to take on the FRRPD top position. She will start with CARD on July 6 at an annual salary of $100,000, plus benefits. Board members, some of whom had worked with Willmann previously, congratulated her and welcomed her back.

“Welcome,” said interim General Manager Steve Visconti, who spent 15 years as GM before his retirement and worked closely with Willmann.

“It’s like coming home,” she told the board.

Visconti will return to his retirement, which he started in July, then interrupted to serve as GM after previous General Manager Jerry Haynes resigned in February, citing differences with the board. Haynes was hired at $105,000 annually.

With the permanent general manager coming on in a little over a month, the board tabled the idea of restructuring until Willmann was on board. The board seemed to support Visconti’s suggestion of doing away with a vacant position of superintendent of parks and facilities to create a new manager over both the parks and recreation programs. Willmann said she was good with the idea of an assistant general manager or the new position, but wanted to examine the structure a little more.

The board unanimously approved the concept of a professional service agreement with Melton Design Group, and directed Visconti and board attorney Jeff Carter to draw up the agreement. CARD would tap Melton Design Group when additional services were needed by the special district. Visconti noted that Melton was already working on the proposed rose garden and had helped with the proposed aquatic center.

Bocce ball supporter Debra Cannon got tentative approval for her citizens group to look into putting two bocce ball courts at the Dorothy F. Johnson Center on East 16th Street, which CARD owns. However, the board directed that the Chapman neighborhood be asked for input on the courts through a public meeting or hearing before giving final approval. Representing a group of citizens supporting bocce ball, Cannon said the group was good with using the Johnson center lawn, and asked for approval of a shade structure over the courts, with lighting for the courts that would not disturb the neighbors.

While CARD offered the location, the bocce group will have to raise money to put in and maintain the courts. They estimated construction at about $100,000.

The game is similar to bowling on a sand court.

Contact reporter Laura Urseny at 896-7756.

Will California voters overturn the bag ban? Maybe this issue will piss people off enough to raise voter participation in 2016

15 Jun

From Ballotpedia:

The California Plastic Bag Ban Referendum is on the November 8, 2016 ballot in California as a veto referendum. If the measure approved by the state’s voters, it would:[1][2]

  • Ratify SB 270 (2014).
  • Prohibit large grocery stores and pharmacies from providing plastic single-use carryout bags on July 1, 2015, and small grocery stores, convenience and liquor stores on July 1, 2016.
  • Allows single-use plastic bags for meat, bread, produce, bulk food and perishable items.
  • Mandate stores to charge $0.10 for recycled, compostable, and reusable grocery bags.
  • Exempt consumers using a payment card or voucher issued by the California Special Supplemental Food Program, a public assistance program, from being charged for bags.
  • Provide $2 million to state plastic bag manufacturers for the purpose of helping them retain jobs and transition to making thicker, multi-use, recycled plastic bags.

The American Progressive Bag Alliance is leading the campaign to repeal SB 270.[3]

This measure is a veto referendum; this means that a “yes” vote would be a vote to uphold or ratify the contested legislation – Senate Bill 270 – that was enacted by the California State Legislature, while a “no” vote is a vote to overturn Senate Bill 270.

Read more here:

http://ballotpedia.org/California_Plastic_Bag_Ban_Referendum_(2016)

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Good idea – Secretary of State wants to give all voters mail-in ballots

13 Jun

Secretary of State Alex Padilla has proposed an idea that I’ve been thinking of for a long time – let’s  send all voters a ballot that they can either mail in or drop off at their polling place on or before Election Day. Let’s have fewer polling places, but keep them open for a week or so before Election Day, so people have plenty of opportunity to turn them in if they tarried over the mail box. 

They’ve  tried this idea in Colorado, and early reports indicate they’ve raised voter participation while cutting election costs.

Our last election turn out was so bad – a record low 31 percent across the state – that it lowered the threshold by which measures can qualify for the ballot in 2016 – the signatures required to put a measure on the ballot are based on the turnout in the previous election. So, get ready for a lot of reading in 2016, many of them tax proposals. 

In the Los Angeles Daily News,

http://www.dailynews.com/opinion/20150612/padilla-on-right-track-with-proposal-to-change-voting-daniel-borenstein

Daniel Borenstein says, “Our voting system in California, like most in the nation, is predicated on an antiquated notion.  It assumes that on Election Day we walk to the neighborhood polling place — perhaps a school, a fire station, a church or nearby garage — wait in line to sign a register, step into a little canvas and wood-framed booth, and then mark our ballots.”

Those days are gone, he says, and I agree. Chico is not a small town anymore. How many of your neighbors do you know?  I’ve often wanted to take a straw poll at a public place – “Name your city councilors…name two of your city councilors…did you know Chico has a city council?”

Still, a vocal minority has always resisted mail in ballots. Some people complain they don’t get returned. Well, more of them got returned in the last election than got used at polling stations – in all of Butte County, only 15 percent of registered voters walked into a polling place to case a vote, the rest were returned by mail. 

Butte County actually had a good turnout – 54 percent, compared to 39 percent state wide. I believe County Clerk Candace  Grubbs said participation was up from last year.

Enterprise Record editor David Little has in past complained that people in Butte County request mail-ins but don’t return them by mail – who cares how they get back in, as long as they are returned on or before Election Day. He’s complained that mail-ins delay the vote count – how? They are received before or on Election Day, or tossed. How would that hold up the count  any more than the boxes received from the polling stations?

One thing I like about Padilla’s idea is having polling stations open for a week or more, staffed with people who can answer questions about these measures. I would also like to see a very aggressive ad campaign that would start as the ballots are mailed out. I’d like to see the clerk mount a few billboards at election time, besides her own campaign ads. 

I think there’s people who would like to keep turn out low. I know when we tried to change the local election to June, there were some ugly loudmouths who made it clear they wanted to do that to keep college students out of the elections. That was sad, because there were many of us who believed separating the local elections from state and federal elections would help voters focus more closely on our issues.

I think there are plenty of people who would rather keep elections quiet, keep people uninformed, so a highly self-interested minority can run our town. I also believe there are a lot of people who live outside of Chico but register at addresses within the city limits. I know the liberals outed the owner of Payless Lumber when he registered to vote at his business, but I wonder what a quick survey of the voting rolls would turn up? I can’t help but wonder if the county clerk would notice people registered at 400 West First Street, or 411 Main Street? 

Rules change for public entities finance reports – how will unpaid Nature Center loan and pension liability affect Chico’s credit rating?

7 Jun

The Chico Creek Nature Center has still not made payments on the $180,000 (plus) loan they got from the city in 2009. They were forgiven the accumulated interest and penalties last year, but still would not pay the loan. When I sat in on the meetings for this item a year ago, I tried to ask questions about their books, trying to make a point that they weren’t running their lucrative daycare operation above boards, and Mayor Sorensen angrily told me, “that’s enough Juanita!” 

When I finally got ahold of their “finance report”, I found it to be some kind of high school style report – no actual figures! And, gee – they spend exactly what they take in, right down to the last zero, isn’t that convenient? But they just don’t seem to  take in enough to pay their bills. 

In this town? A daycare operation that’s not making enough money to pay it’s rent? In the private sector that would mean the end of business, but in the Chico public sector anything is possible. 

Now the center simply wants the loan forgiven, and for the city to fully fund their sketchy operation. 

This was up on Tuesday’s agenda, I couldn’t make the meeting, and now I find that item was just dropped from the agenda, no explanation. I sent a note to the city manglers and I’ll see if they reply.

In the meantime let me tell you what I suspect. Over the last three years the board membership of Chico Creek Nature Center has changed radically. Formerly run by John Merz, Dave Guzzetti and Susan Mason, the center has now been taken over by friends of Bob Linscheid, employees of Chico State and various “economic development” corps. Is that why Mark Sorensen and his minions on council are so ready to now forgive over $200,000 in loan, interest and penalties? A loan that has been hanging on the books like a big booger since July of 2009? 

Below is the excerpt from the Enterprise Record story of last week:

ER 5/31/15

The council will also be considering several options related to a loan to the Chico Creek Nature Center that is currently in default. Options include forgiving the loan with or without conditions, deferring the loan obligation until July 2016, or taking no action and proceeding with remedies in the loan agreement.

The nature center owes the city a principal balance of $181,026.95. In May 2014, the council amended the loan agreement to reset accumulated interest and penalties from July 2009 to April 2015 to zero, to adjust the interest rate from 1.8 percent to 3.42 percent annually from July 15, 2014 forward, and establish interest-only payments beginning with a payment due July 15, 2014.

However, the nature center did not agree with the terms and has not signed the agreement, which caused the loan to fall into default.

If the loan obligation is forgiven, the general fund would be required to reimburse one of the neighborhood parks funds for the current principal balance plus accumulated interest, at a cost of $205,539.71.

The staff report notes that based on the loan’s history and actions in recent years, nature center likely will never be able to repay the loan.

The nature center has requested the city either assume the loan, provide funding to the nature center for visitor services and subsidizing programs for local families, include the nature center in discussions on transient occupancy tax decisions, or become a significant funder of the center. An alternative is for the city to fund the Bidwell Park visitor information services and the center will then begin paying off the loan.

 

When I asked back in April I got this explanation  from Chris Constantin. The city has been bending over backwards for the CCNC board for over a year now. Something stinks.

 RE: CNCC loan activity

 Chris Constantin
4/19/15
To: juanita sumner Cc: Mark Sorensen, Mark Orme, Frank Fields
 
Hello Juanita,

The City is undertaking a review of leases for city-owned facilities.  As you can imagine, there are quite a few with differing terms and conditions.  We will be looking to draft a comprehensive policy to guide decisions we make with City-owned property as well as leases.

As for the CCNC, the City Council in the lead up to the 2014-15 fiscal year, reset their loan to the original principal amount and changed the payment terms.

For the last several years, the CCNC would request a waiver for paying during the year, and the result would be the City would receive no payments and the loan would accumulate additional interest.  Obviously the CCNC could not pay the principal and interest of the original loan, so even if we reset the loan, there was not a guarantee that we wouldn’t be in the same situation.

To make it easier for the CCNC and to provide some payment to the City, with the change to reset the loan amount back to the original amount in 2014, the City requested an interest only amount to be paid quarterly to at least turn a non-performing loan into some revenue.  At the time of the discussion around this topic, a CCNC representative came to finance committee and the Council meetings and while there stated that the CCNC did not want to default on its obligations.

In 2014, the City Manager proposed writing off the loan completely given that this was funding that went into improving our building, but after the CCNC rep’s statements that the CCNC did not want to default on their obligations, the new option discussed above was approved.

While the CCNC did not disagree with the new option, the chose to not sign the agreement implementing the new option.  As a result, the old, original loan is still in effect.  As of today, they are in default of their original loan, and the City, as part of their lease review will deal with non-performing agreements such as this.  I’m hoping to have something out in May regarding the CCNC.

The real problem is that this unpaid loan looks very bad for Chico’s credit rating. Well, if this looks bad for Chico’s credit rating, what do they think that $94 million pension liability is doing to our credit rating? 

According to Pensions and Investments Marc Lieberman and Mark Lasee, “For many public sector retirement plan sponsors, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board’s new pension reporting rules couldn’t have come at a worse time. The changes, effective June 15 and encapsulated in GASB Statements 67 and 68, mandate that governmental balance sheets reflect unfunded pension liabilities. This has been met with grave concern by plan sponsors.”

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