Drawing a line on the editorials page

14 Mar

Below is Chico Taxpayer Association board member Casey Aplanalp’s letter to the Enterprise Record, run in this morning’s paper. 

If you haven’t seen the survey he mentions, look here:

https://chicotaxpayers.wordpress.com/2012/03/05/lando-releases-survey/

The survey isn’t just leading, and it isn’t just misleading, it’s downright dishonest, insinuating that certain people and groups support the tax without asking these folks for their permission – including Larry Wahl and the Bidwell Presbyterian Church, both of whom contacted me/this blog. 

Lando will use the dishonest survey results to write his tax increase measure for the council, and I’m afraid certain members of council will try to say that’s enough to put the measure on the ballot. We have to write letters to council – write more than one letter if you feel the need –  telling them we want a petition with the legal number of signatures. We should let both Ann Schwab and Bob Evans know that if they put this measure on the ballot without the signatures, they’re going down in flames in November. 

I believe my question regarding how a tax increase measure gets on the ballot, along with a general report regarding the upcoming tax increase proposals (that’s proposals, plural…) headed for the upcoming ballot is agendized for the first meeting in April, but you’ll have to wait for confirmation from the city clerk. I’ll keep you posted. 

In the meantime, read this letter from Casey and try to search for inspiration to write your own:

We need to know more about the sales tax hike proposed by Tom Lando and Jim Stevens. This needs to see the light of day.

I have a copy of the script the survey company is using, and it’s as crooked as a rubber cane. Biased and leading. Results should be scrutinized and dismissed upon presentation.

I’ve sent Lando an invitation to present and explain his proposition publicly, which has been ignored. What is he hiding? The Chico Taxpayers Association, Butte Taxpayers Alliance, Chico Tea Party, Butte Republican Party, Butte Libertarian
Party, Young Americans for Liberty, and the local Ron Paul Support team are all opposed to this sales tax hike proposed by Lando.

Where’s the tax hike support? And where’s the coverage?

 Casey Aplanalp, Chico

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Oh, let me get my little violin for the poor policeman!

11 Mar

The Chico PD and fire department are the biggest salary suckers in town. Together they take about 85 percent or more of our city pie, with the cops getting over half.

It’s not just their salaries, which were artificially raised along with all city workers by that MOU that linked pay to revenue INCREASES but NOT DECREASES. The cops and fire department are the worst because they have managed to get overtime written in to their contracts. They are guaranteed a certain amount of overtime, and given just about as much as they want beyond that. Some of them double their salaries with overtime, a practice know in the industry as “spiking.”

Spiking has driven our city employee costs through the roof, especially pension costs. See, cops and fire are allowed to retire at 90 PERCENT of their highest year’s salary. So, you got these people who agreed to salaries in the $50 – 80,000 range, “spiking” their pensions up to  $100,000 plus. Fire Chief John Brown retired a couple of years ago at over $206,000. I used to watch this man struggle to stay awake in meetings, just so he could give his two cents that overtime saves money over new hires. What a crock of bullshit, but council has bought this line for years, allowing the police and fire departments to suck the city dry without really providing any service.

Another problem with the fire and police departments is workman’s comp. For two years running, I’ve heard Malfeasance Director Jennifer Hennessy report that we are “again” overbudget in this fund, due to excessive injuries in the Chico police  and fire departments.

So yesterday we are treated to a front page story in the Enterprise Wreched – “Officer who suffered career-ending injury in Chico riot dies in Willows.” 

I usually try to avoid disrespect for the dead, but I’m certainly not going to try to manufacture any phony respect for a guy who saw an opportunity to rack up some overtime playing “Riot Cop” in another town when he knew damned well he had a bad knee and didn’t have any business on active duty. 

According to Greg Welters epic sob story, then-47-year-old Willows police sargeant Bill Carter injured himself during the Rancho Chico day “riots” of 1990. But as you read the story, a few things stand out.  At some point during the mayhem, Carter claimed, “Something popped in his left leg, and he knew his knee had become dislocated.”  Yes, he knew his knee had become dislocated, because it had happened before.

What was a 47 year old man with a bad knee doing at a riot in another town? 

Well, of course, he was SPIKING HIS SALARY. And, he got his cherry on top – retirement with full disability at 47 years old, with a pension based on that last years spiked salary. 

And now I’m supposed to cry for a guy who just spend the last 20 years milking a bad knee? He even went on to another job – how ironic – he went into fraud investigation work. Maybe he should have investigated himself. Read the story – at several points, he knew his knee was injured, but he made the decision to keep re-injuring himself, until he had an injury that was sure to end his “career” and set him up for life.

Cry for a 69 year old man who just died after milking the system for the last 20 plus years? I don’t think so. I think there should be a special place in Hell for people who take advantage of the public trust. And their widows, too. 

When I did some research regarding knee injuries, I found a list of specific jobs in which knee injuries are considered part of the game – three were sports, the fourth was carpet layer. Neither cops nor firefighters were on the list. Only jobs in which a repetitive action will result in a predictable type of injury were listed. For carpet layers, it’s the knee kicker that moves the carpet into place. That will also give a person a hernia. So will carrying giant rolls of carpet onto a job site without any assistance. My husband has had both of those injuries, but because he’s a contractor instead of a publicly-paid trough sucker, we had to pay the doctors out of our own pocket, and he’s not eligible for workman’s comp, so he was just unemployed. 

The next two reasons given for the average knee injury were age and obesity. I didn’t know Bill Carter, but let’s face it – 47 is old for any active job. You wouldn’t have found a 47-year-old Nolan Ryan running out to fight with drunk 20-somethings in a riot. Any adult should have better sense. I think Carter did it on purpose, but that’s my opinion.

There also ought to be a special place in hell for journalists who write this kind of crap, but it’s about what I’ve come to expect from Greg Welter. Welter never writes a story that’s NOT slanted. He’s on the cop beat – funny, he was also on the Redevelopment Agency’s “citizen’s oversight committee” a few years back. The committee that was disbanded on Scott Gruendl’s request when I and some other citizens asked that the commitee’s activities be opened up to the scrutiny of the public. I was put on their e-mail chat list, and I read over the conversations they were having among themselves. At one point, when other members balked at the (then) $40 million price tag for the new police station, Welter argued that the cops should get whatever they want. “Whatever we do, ” he cautioned, ” we (the RDA committee) don’t want to be perceived as ‘anti-police’…” 

I don’t know why he’s so worried about being perceived “anti-police”.   Maybe he should try to be perceived as an honest journalist who writes unbiased stories. But maybe that’s not why he got into journalism, I don’t know. 

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Get ready to make turnip juice! Or get ready to fight.

10 Mar

I bet you are as happy as I am to hear that the Butte Taxpayers Alliance has voiced their opposition to both the proposed sales tax increase and the phone tax coming before the city of Chico. We need to network to get the word out, and Jack Lee and friends are working hard to do just that:

http://www.norcalblogs.com/post_scripts/2012/03/bta-will-oppose-new-taxes.html

These folks are doing serious work, reviewing the city budget, going to committee meetings, asking the questions that need to be asked, and getting the answers out to the public. Their website:

http://www.buttetaxpayers.org/

I’m sorry, I attended neither the Finance Committee Meeting nor the Economic Development Committee meetings this past week. I didn’t even attend any Sustainability Task Force meetings lately. Sometimes I need to stay away from the bullshit factory, it starts to be a drain.

But, I don’t think I need to go to committee meetings to know the city is planning to sucker us out of almost $12,000,000 a year in additional taxes, and I’m not going to just stand here and take it. This council has ruined the housing market, lost large manufacturers and chased others away, and now they will ruin the retail sector? We can’t have that. Tell your friends, get ready, we’re all about to be squeezed. If you aren’t a turnip, you better say something.

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Airport Lawsuit: $300,000+, and ticking…

8 Mar

I’ve had a lot of interest and questions about the post I made about the airport lawsuit:

https://chicotaxpayers.wordpress.com/2012/02/20/hostile-city-of-chico-mismanages-the-airport/

Alot of people I’ve spoken to have asked how much this whole thing is costing the taxpayers. Stephanie Taber actually went to the trouble of putting that question into writing and handing it to $taff. When you give them a written question, they have to give you some kind of response. 

Here’s their response:

“Through the end of December 2011, the City has spent approximately $130,000 on
outside attorneys since the lawsuit was filed. The Assistant City Attorney has spent more than 1500 hours on the matter, plus additional hours spent by the City Attorney. Additionally, approximately $38,000 has been spent on non-attorney/salary costs (i.e. depositions).”

I don’t feel this is a particularly straight answer – notice how they just give us the amount of hours on the assistant city attorney, no mention of actual money, and then “additional hours spent” on the part of the city attorney, Lori Barker. Barker’s time is worth about $126 an hour. So, let’s make a ballpark shot – the assistant city attorney is making at least $90 an hour, maybe more, so we’ve paid him over $100,000, just to work on this case. Plus, he can’t litigate, so they have to hire the outside attorneys at $130,000. And that’s just so far.

My source has told me that Mr. Jay has a pretty big “Sue-sue-sue Ya!” budget, he’s not sweating this thing. And a little bird told me, he’s probably going to win, eventually. That’s what all the stalling is about, apparently. That, and two city attorneys lining their nest with the green stuff, and a third city attorney illegally and inappropriately using her position to help her parents also line their pockets. 

 While Alicia Rock is not working directly on the case, she is a member of $taff, and in my opinion, something stinks here. The whole thing is outrageous. 

Old Yiddish proverb: When the fish stinks, it’s the head of the fish that stinks. In this case, as in all cases before the city of Chico, the stinking head would be our mayor, Ann Schwab. 


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My name is Sue! How do you do!

7 Mar

I oftentimes get so frustrated with the cornmash that passes for public discussion Downtown, I’ll admit – I’ve avoided meetings because I just can’t stomach any more. 

You have to listen to people like Valerie Reddeman, owner of the flopped business Green Feet, lecturing about how everybody else should behave. You have to listen to the “Emily Latellas” –  people who obviously haven’t read the agendas or reports and don’t really understand the subject at hand but insist on blathering on for their three minutes of absolute attention – thank you singing bag lady! Last night we got our own local version of The Voice! 

If you’re lucky, you will be there when somebody gets up there and tells it like it is. Last night that was Sue Hubbard. Sue stood up against the bag ban, telling council and the assembled bag-ban groupies how sick she is of watching her town run into the dirt by a bunch of self-aggrandizing egomaniacs. 

Sue goes to the meetings regularly, so she knows what she’s saying. These meetings are frustrating. Certain council members don’t listen to the public, and make no bones about that. Andy Holcombe has actually admitted that he makes his mind up previous to a meeting and nothing the public has to say is going to affect him. Last night he tried to derail a conversation I had requested be agendized, regarding the placement of tax increase measures on the ballot, by pretending not to understand what I was asking for.

Thanks to Sue, who stood up during “Business from the Floor” and asked them to honor my request. And I stood up. And then the crickets chirped. I thought we were dead. 

But then Mark Sorensen came roaring in, reminding everybody, there’s THREE possible taxes coming round (like some rough beast) on the June ballot – including that phone tax I was talking about – and Sorensen suggested there should be some kind of public discussion regarding the nuts and bolts of deadlines, etc. 

And, along came little Ann – butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth! – to agree with Sorensen!  

So, while they aren’t agendizing any big to-doo about it, the city attorney is going to write up a little “informational” ditty to be included on an upcoming agenda explaining the process we are about to watch unfold. I’ll get that as soon as I can. 

I’d like to dedicate this blog to Sue. Here’s one of my favorite songs by Johnny Cash:

This is from San Quentin, and the song is so new you can see him reading his notes as he sings. 

“I tell you I’ve fought tougher men, but I really can’t remember when…” Go Sue! 

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Lando releases survey

5 Mar

Here is Tom Lando’s sales tax survey, apparently conducted at some point within the last couple of weeks:

Chico Sales Tax Survey

(1/18/2012 Version 7)

 Methods:

 Field Dates: • January, 2012

Sample Size: • 400 completed interviews within the City of Chico

Sampling Error: • Less than +/- 5.0%

Unit of Analysis: • Voter Households

Population: • All parties

Propensity • + 40

Questionnaire • 40 data points, plus sample demographics

Interview Length • 12 minutes

Sample Vendor • Political Data Inc.

Field Vendor • SSI

 

Hello, this is _____ of _____, a public opinion research company. We are . . .

 • Right Track – Wrong •

 1. Would you say that city government in Chico is on the right track, or is the city going in the wrong direction?

 01) Right track

02) Wrong direction

03) Undecided / Neither {VOLUNTEERED}

99) Refusal

 • 1st Ballot •

 2. Business leaders and other members of the Chico community are considering placing a locally controlled one-cent sales tax measure on the ballot. The sales tax would last for 20 years and then sunset. The sales tax would fund a variety of community improvements in areas such as public safety, high school sports, community facilities, libraries and local traffic improvements. If the election were held today, would you vote for or against the locally controlled one-cent sales tax measure?

 01) For {GOTO 4}

02) Against {GOTO 3b}

03) Undecided {VOLUNTEERED} {GOTO 3b}

99) Refused

• Follow-UP Ballot •

 3b. If the election were held today, would you vote for or against a locally controlled three-fourths-cent sales tax measure?

 01) For {GOTO 5}

02) Against {GOTO 3c}

03) Undecided {VOLUNTEERED} {GOTO 3c}

99) Refused

 3c. If the election were held today, would you vote for or against a locally controlled one-half-cent sales tax measure?

 01) For

02) Against

03) Undecided {VOLUNTEERED}

99) Refused

 • Name Identification & Impression •

 4. Let me read you some names of people who are active in the community. For each one, please tell me if you have heard of that person. Then, if so, please tell me if you have a favorable or unfavorable impression of them..

 CATEGORIES FOR CODING:

01) Heard/Favorable

02) Heard/Unfavorable

03) Heard/No Opinion

04) Not heard

99) Refusal

 {RANDOMIZE ORDER}

 4a. Councilman Bob Evans

4b. Councilwoman Mary Flynn

4c. Councilman Scott Gruendl

4d. Councilman Andy Holcombe

4e. Mayor Ann Schwab {MAYOR}

4f. Councilman Mark Sorensen

4g. Vice Mayor Jim Walker {VICE MAYOR}

• Item Block •

 5. Now let me read you a list of items that could be partially funded by a locally controlled sales tax measure. For each item please tell me if including that item on the list would make you much more likely, somewhat more likely, somewhat less likely, or much less likely to vote for the measure.

 01) Much more likely

02) Somewhat more likely

03) Somewhat less likely

04) Much less likely

05) Undecided {VOLUNTEERED}

99) Refused

 {ROTATE ORDER}

5a. Up to 25 new police officers and fire fighters.

5b. A new community and recreation center

5c. A new high school football stadium

5d. Restoring high school sports, theater, music, and industrial arts programs

5e. Chico Library operations.

5f. Bidwell Mansion operations

5g. Bidwell Park Maintenance.

5h. Repairing roads and filling potholes.

5i. Supporting local non-profit organizations.

 5j. A new competitive-level community pool.

• Endorsement Block •

 6. Now let me read you a list of organizations that might endorse such a sales tax increase. For each organization please tell if their endorsement would make you much more likely, somewhat more likely, somewhat less likely, or much less likely to vote for a sales tax increase.

 01) Much more likely

02) Somewhat more likely

03) Somewhat less likely

04) Much less likely

05) Undecided {VOLUNTEERED}

99) Refused

 {RANDOMIZE ORDER}

6a. The Chico Chamber of Commerce

6b. Chico Democratic Club

6c. The League of Women Voters

6d. Friends of Bidwell Park

6e. Chico Esplanade League

6f. Former Supervisor Jane Dolan

6g. Supervisor Larry Wahl

6h. Supervisor Maureen Kirk

6i. Sierra Nevada Brewery Owner, Ken Grossman

6j. Former Mayor Michael McGinnis

6k. former City manager Tom Lando

6l. Bidwell Presbyterian Church Pastor Steve Schibstead

6m. Chico Police Officers Association

• Opposition Block •

 7. Now I’m going to read you a list of organizations that might oppose such a sales tax increase. For each organization please tell if their opposition would make you much more likely, somewhat more likely, somewhat less likely, or much less likely to vote for a sales tax increase.

 01) Much more likely

02) Somewhat more likely

03) Somewhat less likely

04) Much less likely

05) Undecided {VOLUNTEERED}

99) Refused

 {RANDOMIZE ORDER}

7a. Butte County Republican Party

7b. Butte County Tea Party

7c. Butte County Taxpayers Association

 • Push Block •

 8. For the next couple of minutes please listen to some arguments that have been made for and against the measure. For each argument please tell me if it makes you much more, more, less, or much less likely to vote for the measure. If the argument makes no difference either way just say so.

 01) Much more

02) More

03) Less

04) Much less

05) No difference / undecided

99) Refused

 {RANDOMIZE ORDER}

8a. Supporters argue that government works best and is more accountable to taxpayers when decisions are made locally. Funds generated from a locally controlled sales tax would receive local independent citizen oversight.

8b. Supporters argue that budget cuts have weakened local police and fire staffing and services. Funds generated from a locally controlled sales tax would allow Chico to hire up to 25 new police officers and firefighters to protect our streets and provide essential emergency services to our community.

8c. Supporters argue that years of budget cuts to our schools have led to the elimination of important school programs like art, sports, theater and shop. Funds generated from a locally controlled sales tax will restore and protect many of these important programs for our kids.

8d. Supporters argue that there is no end in sight to future budget cuts. A locally controlled sales tax would generate local funding to protect many of Chico’s most important priorities, including public safety, libraries, and youth and high school programs.

8e. Opponents argue that even local governments have a poor record of providing accountability. We don’t really have any guarantees that revenues from this tax increase will be well spent.

8f. Opponents argue that Public safety and emergency services are essential, but during tough times we need to find more funding for our police with money from non-essential programs. Just like a family living on a budget, we need to move money from non-essential programs to those most critical.

8g. Opponents argue that funding for school programs like art, sports and theater need to come from parents in times like these and should not shouldered by someone without any school-age children who could already be on a fixed income. A sales tax hike will cost everyone more, and while we’d like to replace lost funding, we just can’t afford it.

8h. Opponents argue that Taxpayers are taxed enough already. The taxpayers simply can’t endure more taxes, at least not until the economy improves. For the moment government needs to tighten its belt along with taxpayers.

 • 2nd Ballot •

 9a. Having heard this information, would you vote for or against the one-cent sales tax measure?

 01) For {GOTO 11a}

02) Against {GOTO 10b}

03) Undecided {VOLUNTEERED} {GOTO 10b}

99) Refused

 10b. If the election were held today, would you vote for or against the three-fourths-cent sales tax measure?

 01) For {GOTO 11a}

02) Against {GOTO10c}

03) Undecided {VOLUNTEERED} {GOTO 10c}

99) Refused

 10c. If the election were held today, would you vote for or against the one-half-cent sales tax measure?

 01) For

02) Against

03) Undecided {VOLUNTEERED}

99) Refused

• Demographics •

 Just a few more questions for statistical purposes . . .

 11a. Do you consider yourself {ROTATE ORDER}liberal, somewhat liberal, middle-of-the-road, somewhat conservative, or conservative?

 01) Liberal

02) Somewhat liberal

03) Middle-of-the-road

04) Somewhat conservative

05) Conservative

99) Refusal

 11b. Thinking about how you vote, do you usually vote {ROTATE} mainly Republican, mainly Democrat, or about the same for each party?

 01) Mainly Republican

02) About same for each

03) Mainly Democrat

99) Refusal

 11c. Please stop me when I read the age group that contains your age…

 01) 18-34

02) 35-44

03) 45-54

04) 55-64

05) 65-74

06) 75+

99) Refused

 11d. How long have you lived in Chico: less than 5 years, 5 to 10 years, 11 to 20 years, or more than 20 years?

 01) Less than 5

02) 5-10

03) 11-20

99) 20+

 11e. Do you own or rent your home or apartment?

 01) Own

02) Rent

99) Refusal

 11f. Do you have any children that attend Chico public schools?

 01) Yes

02) No

99) Refusal

This has been a confidential interview conducted by… Thank you very much for your time and have a good evening.

 11g. Sex {BY OBSERVATION}

 01) Male

02) Female

 11h. Vote propensity {FROM SAMPLE}

 11i. VBM – poll voter {FROM SAMPLE}

 11j. Median neighborhood household income {FROM SAMPLE}

 11k. Cell phone – land line {FROM SAMPLE}

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Let’s increase revenues without increasing taxes

4 Mar

We had a great meeting at the library today and again I want to thank everybody who came down.

Something that really impresses me is the diversity of this group, people who have had disagreements in the past, who take time out from their personal schedules to work together toward a common goal. These people are hard workers.

Today we had a great discussion about ways in which the city could address our current deficit without raising the sales tax.

First, there’s the need to reduce expenditures. We all realize we need certain staff services, but we also know there are problems with the current contracts. We’d like to see to see more employees, at lower salaries, who pay a bigger share of their own healthcare and pension premiums, instead of a few highly paid individuals who constantly complain that they can’t serve us adequately because they are short of staff.  There is an opportunity coming up this year to re-negotiate the generous contracts that were made behind closed doors during the boom years, before the “sunshine” laws required sharing the contracts with the public. We’d like to see some “flexibility” in dealing with these contracts, instead of being held off by the forehead by our elected leaders and staff and told that renegotiating  our way out of this mess, created by salaries and benefits, would be “reneging on our promises…”

We also discussed ways in which the city could raise revenues without putting the squeeze on taxpayers. We believe they could go farther to promote business and therefore generate more sales tax through increased sales instead of increased tax. I’ve seen the regulations and fees – yes, the city can come off as being hostile to business. This is a basic attitude problem.  Remember the WalMart conversation – Scott Gruendl asked WalMart for a million dollars, to be put toward swapping out woodstoves – in exchange for permission to expand on their own property in order to increase the amount of merchandise they could carry and therefore the amount of sales tax they could generate. The expansion would have allowed WalMart to carry a larger grocery selection, bringing in more customers who would also be exposed to more taxable goods. Our city staff and council need to adopt a more practical attitude toward promoting business instead of exploiting the very people who are willing to take risks to stimulate our local economy.

We’re planning another meeting next month, and we’re trying to line up some guest speakers. In the meantime, we’re trying to make council aware that we do not support this  tax, while trying at the same time to be part of the solution.  Keep writing those letters to the council and the newspaper, talk to your neighbors and friends.

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Come on Down! Chico Taxpayers Assoc. meeting, Sunday, Chico Library, 11:30am

2 Mar

Sue sent in an interesting comment yesterday – she said a member of the Chico Tea Party Patriots had been contacted by a survey company regarding Tom Lando’s sales tax increase proposal.

The recipient was apparently asked if he’d like to have a sports complex, and felt the questions were generally leading.

If anybody else gets a call like this, please let us know via this website. Try to take notes of exactly what is said, and try to give them as little information as possible, even if you just have to say, “I’d rather not answer that question, are there other questions you’d like to ask…”

Before you hang up, be sure to let them know, you won’t support a sales tax increase for ANY purpose, and that you’ve contacted your council and told them to demand a petition.

And be sure to send any communications you’ve sent or received regarding this matter to the blogsite here, and I’ll post it.

Hope to see you all at the Chico library, this Sunday morning, 11:30. We’ll have a news update and we’ll talk about our next steps. We’ll keep it rolling and be out of there by 12:30. Come on down!

The Pension Bomb is ticking – Chico Taxpayers Assoc meeting this Sunday, 11:30am, Chico Library

29 Feb

Tom Lando is being quiet about his tax proposal – that doesn’t mean he’s given up. Currently he’s conducting a “survey”, supposedly in order to gauge public support, but more likely intended to mold his proposal into something the public will support. He’s just trying to find out what rainbows he needs to promise in order to get it past the uninformed.

That’s why I’ve tried to keep people informed to what’s really going on here – the city is broke after 10 years or more of absolutely reckless and irresponsible spending and Lando has been tapped (because he doesn’t have an elected position at stake) to sell the voters  a tax increase. 

Last night council wasted another two hours on a rambling bullshit session regarding the budget.  It wasn’t a “work” session like you’d see if you attended a city council meeting in Red Bluff or Gridley. In those towns they actually fix streets and get money for school projects.Here they sit and babble for hours and come up with NO SOLUTIONS.

They’ve got to start cutting the upper level staffers. Dave Burkland should not be allowed to retire at 50 years of age, taking over $130,000 a year in pension.  He should be told that he’s going to get a 50 percent salary cut and if he doesn’t like it, there’s the door. Same for Assistant City Manger John Rucker, who is instead getting ready to insert himself as Police Chief, and I’m guessing his new salary will be within $5,000 of the big 2-0-0-0-0-0! Same for at least 20 upper level employees, and those are just the cockroaches you can see.

Ann Schwab won’t fight the union – she IS the union.  She works for the university – SEIU.   Same with Holcombe, Gruendl and Flynn-Golom.  These people are loyal first and last to their benefactor, the union. They know boat rockers get the pitch overboard.

They don’t want to “fix” the budget, they want more money to pay the pensions, including their own. They want a higher state sales tax, and they want a higher local sales tax, you can bet on that.

When I spoke to Ann Schwab at her “Meet the Mayor” event Saturday at the library, she assured me she would not support a sales tax “for a ballfield.” That was it. She won’t support a ballfield? Well, at the regular city council meeting last week she said she’d dip into the reserve fund to hire new people. She ‘s already used the RDA like a credit card to pay salaries and pension payments, that’s bad enough. Hiring new hires without getting your finances in order is like putting out a fire with gasoline.  Or in this case, putting out the Pension Bomb by throwing some more flaming pensions at it.

If you’ve already written a letter to council, I’d certainly like to post it here. Sometimes it helps if they see the conversation going public, makes it harder to ignore us. You can also post your thoughts here anonymously, as long as they are on subject (Chico sales tax increase) and within the legal boundaries (don’t knowingly spread misinformation, and if you make a mistake, please be sure to retract quickly). Just click the “leave a comment” icon at the bottom left of each post.

Also, don’t forget, Chico Taxpayer’s Association meeting this Sunday, 11:30, at the Chico library. We have the room for about an hour before the next group comes in.

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Chico Taxpayer’s Association meeting, this Sunday, 3/4, 11:30 am, Chico library

27 Feb

I hope we can get a few people to join us at the library this Sunday at 11:30  to discuss the latest news on local tax increases, including Tom Lando’s proposal to raise local sales tax.

I’ll try to bring along a little video I made of my conversation with our Mayor Ann Schwab, regarding the proposed sales tax increase. She was at the library this weekend, putting her campaign into full gear.

Please write those letters to council asking them to agendize a discussion regarding how a sales tax increase gets on the local ballot. Will the council shove it on there with a “super majority” (5-2) ? Or will they require Lando and Associates to gather 10 percent of the registered voters’ signatures, as was the case with Measure A?

There are other questions, such as, who will pay for the $taff time that goes into writing the measure? Our city attorney’s time is paid out at about $126/ hour, and that does not include her $taff, or her benefits/pension.

The best way to avoid problems is to be proactive. Write early, and write often. Don’t ramble, stick to the point – tell them you won’t support a sales tax increase, and demand that Lando be made to bring in the petitions.

And, I hate to say this, but if you’re nice about it, there’s more of a chance they’ll finish reading your letter. Elected officials aren’t bound to take abuse, if you start out lobbing shit your letter is going to get round-filed.  Try to keep it short and, hmmm, if not sweet, then not dripping with  acid either.

I think you will be surprised how well this tactic works, if we apply it in force. Please join us in making it clear that Chico will not support an increase in sales tax.

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