REVENUE MEASURE STRATEGY CONSULTANT City staff released a Request for Proposals (RFP) to obtain submissions from qualified firms to advise on developing appropriate ballot language for a proposed one (1) percent sales tax measure to appear on the November 2022 general election. The RFP further requested the consultant assist on educating voters on the revenue measure and on developing materials and conducting outreach efforts to ensure citizens receive objective and accurate information related to the revenue ballot measure. (Report – Mark Orme, City Manager)
Recommendation: The City Manager is requesting authorization to enter into a professional services agreement with CliffordMoss to develop appropriate ballot language and create materials and outreach efforts to ensure citizens receive objective and accurate information related to the November 2022 revenue ballot measure.
But the meeting is closed for the COVID shut down. The best way to contact these people is in their mailbox. Find that here:
PG&E has not been doing the work they were ordered to do after the Camp Fire
This sentence is confusing: “The company also noted that the monitor does not suspect that the company’s leaders are honest in their efforts to rectify the situation.“
If the monitor suspects the company is being dishonest, I agree. We have a property east of town, and we’ve had three different contractors from PG&E evaluate and mark trees on and adjacent to our property since the Camp Fire, asking us to open our gate so they can come in and cut the trees. We’ve showed up on the appointed day, left the gate open all day, and nobody has ever showed up. Same goes for trees marked by the same contractors all up and down the roads around our property, trees they could have taken at any time without asking for anybody to open a gate.
I sent pictures to Mike Wolcott and his former star reporter Natalie Hansen, and they never even responded, even though Hansen was doing a fluff piece on the subject.
Reading through this article, it doesn’t look like anybody is taking this too seriously, including the judge that ordered the work. So, this summer, we lost Greenville, and we almost lost Chester. Whole towns that have been inhabited by generations of tax and rate-paying citizens, just GONE.
It’s the same old story – the outrage isn’t big enough yet. How many more towns will they burn before people really get mad?
I happened to read the ER the other day, when Mike Wolcott ran a swishy push piece about Chico City Manager Mark Orme. I’ll tell you what – Orme has been hearing his own name around town lately, and not just from me, and it’s pissing him off. So he called Wolcott, who is a stooge, and asked him, could he write something nice, and oh yeah, don’t forget to mention the tax measure…
“November 2022 may seem like a long time away, but there is a lot going on in the city of Chico government right now. A city tax is currently being planned to be on the ballet next year. Meet the person in charge of running the city of Chico day-to-day: Mark Orme.“
This is called “rebranding,” or changing a bad reputation to a good reputation. I learned about this tactic watching the various consultants who have conga-lined through the city of Chico and Chico Area Recreation District. If there were polls on city leadership, Orme’s ratings would be dropping about as fast as Joe Biden’s. Let’s face it – look around you, and ask yourself, how much has the city deteriorated since Orme rode into town in 2013? How much have the pensions gone up? How come Orme got a 457 Plan (special 401K for public workers)?
Somebody had to answer this obvious push piece, so I wrote a letter to the ER. It’s time to push back, and keep pushing, until Orme gets the message – GET OUT!
Chico City manager Mark Orme is correct, the state’s CalPERS program is dysfunctional and puts a strain on the city’s finances. It’s frustrating that the only solution Orme offers is raise taxes.
How about opting out of CalPERS? According to CalPERS, someone would need to acceptresponsibility “for sufficient funding to continue paying the retirement and death benefits paid and for future benefits”. If employees would agree to pay their own pension deficit, take more rational pensions, and pay more reasonable shares of the cost, we could all be done with CalPERS.
Employees pay 9-15% for pensions of 70-90% of salary, creating the deficit. Just look at the math. But, employees do not pay toward the deficit – the taxpayers are left on the hook for an increasing amount every year. Last year Staff directed $11.5 million from city infrastructure and services toward “extra” payments to CalPERS. If they won’t agree to ditch CalPERS, why not ask employees to share in the “extra” payments?
According to Transparent California, Mark Orme’s personal pension deficit is about $70,000. At a base salary of $207,000/year, Orme could easily afford to pay his own pension deficit and more than his current 9% share.
The ER reporter forgot to ask Orme why he didn’t recommend a 2/3’s ballot measure – here’s why – a simple majority measure isn’t restricted to public safety, streets or fixing the sewer plant. The additional revenues would most certainly disappear down the pension hole.
If you are unhappy with the current leadership and direction of the city of Chico, remember this – city councils come and go, but the city manager stays in place, making the same recommendations no matter who’s on the dais. Write your letters to council, the paper, let them know how you feel about Orme’s tax measure.
NOTE: Here’s a union mouthpiece from Glenn County who decided to chime in on Newsbreak App:
Jeremy Lazarus16h ago – This writer knows nothing about PERS or the City’s budget. The current pensions are absolute trash and account for a very small amount of yearly budget. If employees are expecting to pay more without a wage increase then it is no longer a benefit and no longer a desirable job. I suppose you’d prefer unqualified workers responsible for the City’s infrastructure.
This is what I’m up against trying to shed some light on city operations and the pensions. As soon as you go up against a tax measure you find yourself up against the unions. When we opposed Measure A, the CARD parcel tax, we were fighting Chico Police Officers Association and the Service Employees International Union, the two biggest public workers unions in town. They put over $60,000 into pushing Measure A, because they knew it was intended to pay down CARD’s pension deficit, and whatever is good for CalPERS, is good for the unions. We beat their asses, sent them crying home to their mamas. And I’m ready to do it again, how about you?
Fighting a lying machine like Mark Orme is tough. You know what they say – liars never sleep. Over the last few days, we’ve been hearing about a group of Chico Public Works employees who went before council the other night to expose the disparity of pay in the PW Department. I’ve always noticed that the lower-level workers get paid squat compared to management. Here’s the story from Action News in Chico:
CHICO, Calif. – Dozens of City of Chico Public Works employees were at the City Council meeting tonight sharing their concern with low wages and lack of workers to the council.
The story quotes one senior worker who makes the usual complaints about losing employees and difficulty in recruiting due to low wages. We’ve all seen the result – just drive around town. So I looked at the secty of state’s website, publicpay.gov, as well as Transparent California. Both sites depend on information given by the agencies, and most agencies aren’t too anxious to hand over this information. So you see some discrepancies, mostly due to how they list the figures. Let’s take a look at Erik Gustafson, who is listed under “Operations and Maintenance Director”, or by his original title, “Public Works Director”.
On both sites you’ll see that his salary has gone up every year. Contrary to claims made by City Manager Mark Orme. In an interview with Chico Enterprise Record, Orme claimed city employees haven’t had raises for years.
Look at those two sites – they have slightly different figures, but both show a steady increase. According to TC, Gustafson’s salary has gone up every year, from total pay (which includes overtime and holiday pay but not benefits) of $132,623.06 in 2016, to total pay of $144,482.54 in 2019. Public Pay lists his 2020 salary at $147,925.
But look at the “workers” salaries. You need a name to search TC, but here’s the page from publicpay.gov that shows the disparity.
Three “supervisors” in the $90,000 range, then a sudden drop to $68,000/year for the highestpaid “senior worker”. Also note the disparity in the benefits packages – hey, guess what, management pays the least contribution at 9% of cost. You also see another problem with Chico – top-heavy management. Two managers? One of those positions was just created by Orme earlier this year. Both making in excess of $100,000 to sit in the office buffing their fingernails? While the guys who drive the heavy equipment and man the shovels are living on less than $70,000/year? In Chico? No. I wasn’t surprised to hear their union rep say they can’t even afford to live in town.
So here’s the rest of that piece from Chico Action News. There’s another article in the ER, linked above. I wish the workers would point out what I just pointed out, but you know, they’re afraid to push too hard, might get fired. But Orme is obviously trying to use workers’ complaints to insinuate that the taxpayers are the problem. I wouldn’t be surprised if Orme is behind this grandstanding. Don’t buy it.
“Ultimately, we wanted to point out to them that we have a serious situation with our wages and we’re trying to gain their support and trying to do that through educating them on what we do and what we bring to the city, what we bring to the table. Hopefully they got the message,” said senior maintenance worker James Erven.
Erven tells Action News Now they have lost 12 people in the last four years to higher paying jobs and have several people who are constantly looking for new positions.
“We have positions that starting wage is beneath minimum wage, that’s a problem. We have a hard time recruiting qualified candidates,” said Erven.
There was not an agenda item topic regarding this issue, but public works employees shared these issues to the council during the business on the floor portion of the meeting.
Three employees shared their concerns, then they all left the meeting. City Council heard their concerns. Our reporter reached out to council members, but was unable to get a statement from them regarding these issues.
The area director for the union representing public works, Del Mallory tells me these employees have not received a pay raise in 11 – 12 years and several can’t afford to live in the city. He says they are finally putting their foot down and addressing this issue.
“We finally reached this breaking point where folks are fed up and they’re ready to fight. That’s why we’re here because we need to engage our city council into this conversation so they know that we’re serious and that we need them to bargain with us in good faith,” said Mallory.
He says their next bargaining meeting is tomorrow, and that they are determined to get what they need.
“We will bargain with the intent to get a deal, but we are willing to do whatever it takes to get a good deal,” said Mallory.
City Council also directed the City Attorney’s Office to analyze the cannabis ordinance, so they can revisit the topic in a future meeting. The council was also introduced to ARDA Demographics tonight as their representative said there will be two public hearings regarding redistricting before any maps are created.
Staff’s comment to my inquiry about the rental tax bothers me – “The recommendations will likely come back to Council in January.” So I wrote a letter to the editor about it. I think it’s important to remind people – the city is running a tax blitz, and it’s all about the pensions.
I was glad to hear Chico Internal Affairs Committee directed Staff to stop pursuing the rental tax on the Dec 6 agenda. But a staffer told me, “The recommendations will likely come back to Council in January.”
Staff has repeatedly recommended a “gross receipts” tax on both businesses and all rentals within the city limits, as well as an annual registry fee. According to the staff report, “The City could consider removing the unit exemption entirely requiring even renters of single family homes to pay the tax. Furthermore, the definition could be changed to residential and non-residential property, picking up any property rental within the City.”
Staff’s only concern is to “raise additional local funds”. They are desperate for revenues to cover their pension deficit, created by unrealistic employee contributions. Council has already approved a general sales tax increase for the 2022 ballot. A general tax measure has no restrictions on spending. The mayor has suggested sales tax revenues would be used to secure bonds. The city has already attempted to secure a Pension Obligation Bond without the approval of the voters.
They’re determined to ignore the obvious solution – instead of raising the price of everything all over town, Staff needs to pay more realistic shares toward their generous pensions, or accept smaller pensions. Council instead grants salaries over $100,000/year and 70-90% pensions, with employee shares only 9 – 15%, the taxpayers on the hook for increasing payments. Let’s change the structure of our payroll from Defined Benefits to Defined Contributions.
I emailed the clerk’s office about yesterday’s Internal Affairs meeting and staffer Stina Cooley got back to me with good news – “The Committee voted to keep the recommendation for the Rental Registry and Sex Trafficking Ordinance the same, so the recommendation to Council will be to direct staff to stop pursuing those items.”
But she added, “The recommendations will likely come back to Council in January.”
I’m not going to bother Stina with the obvious question (why and who would bring it back?) because she’s under a ton of work, and Staff time is expensive. But it would be interesting to know who is behind this rental registry scam. That would take a read back to October 2020, when it was first introduced in the IA committee.
As a landlady, this rental registry is of special interest to me, but really, it’s just part of a bigger push to raise our local taxes to pay the pensions. So, I’ll dig that out and start looking at it.
Unfortunately, I didn’t make that meeting yesterday. Sometimes the magic works, and sometimes it doesn’t. But I was able to get the report for the May 2021 meeting at which the decision was made not to further discuss this item.
Wow, what a gobstopper of a report. I’ll be looking this over today, and I’m looking forward to talking about it here later.
I’m also looking forward to hearing from Staffer Stina Cooley, who will hopefully tell me what the Internal Affairs Committee decided to do with this item.
Today the Internal Affairs Committee is going to discuss the rental tax that was shelved earlier this year. This tax includes a “rental registry” (and a fee) and a tax on proceeds. One provision that ruffled my tenants – they want to inspect the rentals. I don’t think that’s appropriate – are they going to start inspecting owner-occupied housing? Read your constitution – they’re not allowed to treat citizens differently based on their housing situation.
Here’s another thing – the agenda does not include a report. There’s a reference to the May 2021 meeting at which it was first discussed, but I had to email staff to ask them where I could find that meeting agenda or minutes. I’ll get back with that.
Some years back, when the state proposed a sales tax increase, local manufacturer Ken Grossman said he would simply add that tax to every bottle of beer he sold. And then some. I’ll say, landlords will do same. So, it’s not really a “rent tax,” it’s a “renter tax”.
This tax, part of a bigger “business tax”, is just part of the tax blitz being brought forward by Staffers desperate to fund their outrageous pensions. According to the constitution, any tax should be on the ballot for the voters to decide, but Staff is making all the preparations to institute these taxes without voter approval. Let them know what you think – write letters to the editor, to your district rep, and to the council at large.
That meeting takes place today at 4pm, with members (newly appointed) Chief O’Brien, Dist 7 Deepika Tandon, and my rep Kasey Reynolds in the Chair. I will try to make it, because getting information out of these people is like pulling teeth.
When I don’t hear from or about an old friend for a while, I check the obits. Or I check Arts Devo, in the Chico News and Review.
I picked up a copy of the News and Review at the grocery store, in fact, I picked up several copies, cause they are good for all kinds of things. I read them as I spread them out under the sink, under the dog’s dish, as I wrap packages or trash, or as I crumple them into our charcoal chimenea to start our BBQ. The other day as I was getting ready to start a pile of charcoal, I found this announcement in Arts Devo.
Kelly Meagher(11/25/21), environmental activist, philanthropist, Chico icon, beloved local human of the highest order
Also in that issue, a reprint of a pretty good 2011 profile by Tom Gascoyne, another guy I regularly check the obits for. Both of these men have affected my life in ways they probably don’t even realize.
I met Kelly through my old friends Liz Merry and Aaron Standish,
but I knew him because of his “political activism”. Kelly taught me a lot about perseverance, persistence, or, how to get what you want simply by refusing to go away.
My husband and young children used to attend Chico City Council meetings with me, in the old days, there was a lot more public participation in those meetings. Kelly was a regular attendee and speaker. One night I won’t forget – he got into it with Dan Herbert, who could be a real ass on occasion. Herbert tried to argue with Meagher, who was at the podium, and Kelly just kicked his ass. Kelly just held his ground, he wouldn’t let Dan shut him down. I think Herbert finally conceded in about these words: “Kelly, you’ve interrupted me so many times, I can’t remember what I was going to say… you win.” He was laughing as he said it, and very sincere.
I didn’t always agree with Kelly, and he knew that. He was one of the only liberals who never tried to talk me out of a position. In fact, believe or not, he’d often admit that he agreed with me on an issue, despite the stance of the local Democrats. He was the only one of my liberal friends who never got mad and stopped talking to me. We never really talked politics, we just yakked. He just liked me, and I liked him, and politics should never get in the way of a good friendship.
So, I’ll say something sappy here – Thanks Kelly, for your respect and friendship. I feel lucky to have known you, and I’m grateful for the way you treated my kids and the respect you gave my husband. I’m sorry I didn’t try harder to find you over the last few years, but I figured you were enjoying your own time, with your old friends. And, I believe, we carry our friends in our heart. I’ve put one of those special lift chairs in there for you Old Buddy, come on in, take your shoes off, set a spell. I’ll tell you what, I don’t even care if you want to light a cigarette.
CHICO — A program assisting unhoused people with shelter access ended earlier than expected causing 36 people occupying 26 rooms at the Town House Motel to be evicted by Nov. 30. Five of the parties could not find shelter within their 15-day eviction notice, and were given tents as last minute effort to house them by local shelters.
The program to which this story refers used to be called Project Room Key. Local shelters worked with local motels to get rooms for “unhoused” persons whenever the local shelters could not house them, for whatever reason. Here they insinuate COVID is the reason.
The Butte United Shelter Program was created in July 2021 by United Way of California and True North Shelter Team to protect unhoused people who have no option to self-quarantine by providing them temporary shelter and access to housing resources.
In years past, the program, with very little supervision, was a disaster. I think they were taking advantage of local motels to dump drug users that the shelters wouldn’t take, but that’s just a guess. Rooms at motels were trashed, other guests were harassed, and the troublemakers refused to leave the premises when asked. Last year, in a very candid phone conversation, my district rep Kasey Reynolds told me, “I hate Project Room Key.”
Well, does she advocate giving them tents and sending them to Bidwell Park or other city owned land?
It seems to me there is a more sensible option than just putting them out. These people need proper supervision. This is why churches stopped participating – none of the agencies or groups that advocate for the “unhoused” would provide supervision, or clean up the mess left next morning.
City manager Mark Orme created a new position in 2020 – Homeless Coordinator – and hired his friend Joy Amaro, with a salary over $100,000/year. Amaro apparently found some conflict in the job, and almost immediately quit to head over to a “non-profit” called True North Housing Alliance. True North is now running Torres Shelter, and have administered and now closed the motel program. They boast a “19% success rate.” What?
The Torres Shelter sits on city land and gets public funding from both the city and the county. The shelter director gets a salary – at last I checked, when Brad Montgomery ran the place, it was about $65,000, plus benefits. They also routinely have empty beds but still turn folks away.
I don’t know what kind of person would brag of any kind of “success” here. I don’t know what kind of idiot would give a transient an tent and send them on their way. Furthermore, what kind of public official would condone this arrangement? And ask yourself – who keeps voting these people into office?
Chico Taxpayers Association 