Chico Taxpayers Association

Wow, what a meeting that was. I thought for sure somebody was going to get stuffed into a teapot.

It all started with the usual staff report. After Chris Constantin gave a brief rundown on the recent history of the measure and council direction, he presented two sample measures – one a simple half-cent measure, one a simple full cent measure, and then explained that if neither of those were satisfactory to council, he had staffers set up with word documents so they could edit either or both into a new measure. He told council he was willing to work with them on a 2/3’s measure, but again warned them how restrictive such a measure would be.

Alex Brown remarked that the language in the sample ballot measures was “interesting,” and asked Constantin how he wrote them. Constantin explained simply that he had used the survey results from the city’s consultant, EMC Research. I told you this is how it works – “the language was premised on the polling results… including priorities the public felt were highest…”

Even though staff wrote these as simple measures, they included the “priorities the public felt were highest…” That is misleading, and they know it. That was the whole purpose of the survey, to find out what people wanted, in their own words, so they would think this measure was their idea in the first place, and that it would be dedicated to those uses.

At this point Karl Ory went into hyperdrive – this guy is a loose cannon, I think he could be censured for his behavior but you’d have to ask the guy who plays an attorney on TV. Ory became agitated over Constantin’s inclusion of a proposal for a full-cent measure. Ory was the one who brought forward the motion to dump the full-cent measure in favor of a half-cent measure, believing the voters would not pass a full-cent measure.

“By whose authority,” he demanded, had Constantin brought forward another proposal for a full-cent measure? Ory then related the votes from the previous meeting, attacking Constantin in a mocking tone for being a “rogue staffer“, saying, “How do you do that, call the mayor and say, ‘we’re going to bring something different?'”

I felt Ory’s little tirade was unprofessional, and Constantin stood glowering like a schoolboy at the insult. He managed to pull himself together and reply, “There is no restriction on staff from providing as much information as possible,” and left the podium in a huff. Ory again taunted him off microphone – “Rogue Staffer!” and other disparaging remarks.

While I could see Ory was completely out of line in his behavior, I have to agree with his charge – Constantin is trying to push a full-cent measure on council. I don’t think it was appropriate for him to bring this to council after they’d said they wanted a half-cent measure. Constantin’s desperate to get a full-cent measure, because even THAT will never be enough to mitigate years of deferred maintenance and a out-of-control pension liability.

Constantin admitted as much at board and commission meetings all last Summer. He told assembled city policy makers even a full-cent sales tax would never generate the billions required to bring our streets back up to par, but that it would be enough to secure a bond. He needs at least half the money to secure the bond.

At the June 9 special meeting, Orme introduced the concept of the bond to council. He told them a full cent measure would provide about $18 million. He then said he wanted to use half the proceeds for “bonded debt for capital,” adding, “the City may safely use almost $9,000,000 for capital debt. ”

This is all in the report for the meeting, available here, page 7 (use Cont+F and key in “bonded” and “capital”):

I have always wondered if council members really read reports – Ory acted as though he’d never read that June 9 report. But, luckily Dave Howell had mentioned the bond in his comment on Chico Engaged – thanks Dave! Ory saw the comment and asked Orme, “will proceeds be committed to a bond, I see a comment here complaining about the expense of a bond…”

At first Orme just denied they’d made any “committment,” but went further, lying through his teeth, “at no point in time right now do we have anything in line to look at bonding…”

Here’s my dilemma – how do I reconcile Orme’s report from June 9 and his denial from June 23?

I hope to finish recapping this meeting later, it was a hum-dinger.

City council has scheduled ANOTHER CLOSED MEETING for June 23. I usually have an agenda sitting in my mailbox by this time (usually by Wednesday evening) so when it didn’t arrive I asked city clerk Debbie Presson if I should be expecting one. She said yes, but it’s held up right now because one of the ballot issues up for discussion is Alex Brown’s proposal for “ranked voting”.

That is the stupidest shit I ever heard – oh yeah, let’s make the voting process MORE CONVOLUTED Alex, just like your personal life. Presson already told Brown that the county clerk will not agree to this ridiculous format, and we’ll need to run our own election. But Brown seems to have selective hearing. She is one of the worst wasters of $taff time since Mary Flynn Goloff.

I’ll take time out here to express my gratitude to city clerk Debbie Presson and Asst City Clerk Dani Rogers for not throwing up their tablets and running for the parking lot. What they’ve had to do to insure public participation in these closed meetings is an abuse of their contracts. It doesn’t matter how much money you get when your boss is a 7-headed shit-for-brains.

The ballot issue I’ve been following, as you know, is the tax measure. Ory made changes to Orme’s proposal and you saw it – Orme got so mad I though he would stamp his foot and disappear. Let me rephrase that, “I hoped he would disappear.” No such luck.

Orme proposes using the tax proceeds to secure a general bond, meaning, a bond that can be spent for whatever council approves, using the proceeds of the tax to pay the debt service (interest and fees on these things can be as high as 50%) . Ory’s motion came as a shock to Orme, cause I think he’s pretty desperate for the full cent – even there, he’s not looking at a lot of money. The costs Constantin has predicted for fixing our roads go into the hundreds of millions. Orme’s projected $18 million/year is going to disappear, as I like to say, faster than spit on a griddle.

So, start writing those emails to council now, the meeting is next Tuesday. I sent the following to the newspaper. One other thing I could tell was really eating both Orme and the newly single Constantin was the biting disapproval they were getting from public comments. Sheesh, think we can make ’em cry?

At the June 9 Chico City Council meeting, city manager Mark Orme introduced a simple majority ballot measure for a permanent one cent sales tax increase.

Orme suggests the city use half the proceeds of the sales tax increase to  “incur bonded debt for capital “. Projecting an average return of $18,000,000/year, he says, “the City may safely use almost $9,000,000 for capital debt. ”

This is a risky proposition. For years now council has discussed retail “leakage” – other small towns getting their own retail sector, no longer dependent on Chico. And then there’s the growing trend toward online shopping. I started shopping online when Tom Lando proposed this tax in 2012, and I like it. What if sales tax revenues fall short of Orme’s projections?

Furthermore, sensing a lack of support among the voters, Karl Ory received majority approval for his half cent tax with sunset date. With half as much tax, will there be enough money for roads, public safety, AND bond service? Not to mention $130,000,000 in Unfunded Pension Liablity .

I would prefer to see staff get their house in order, start paying more toward their own generous benefits packages, instead of putting their hand out to the taxpayers. Orme, for example, only pays $24,000 a year toward a pension of over $140,000/year, with COLA. The rest is left to the taxpayers, the average living on less than a quarter of Orme’s salary. 

Email your council now, they will take this issue up again June 23.

Juanita Sumner, Chico CA