The discussion is finally getting interesting

13 Jun

Last week’s meetings (6/9 continued to 6/10) were the most outrageous yet. You can get an entertaining and informative recap from Rob Berry here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/chicofirst.org/

“One day later, another city council recap, June 10, 2020”

Berry’s a lawyer, he understands a lot more of this crap than the average housewife, and he loves to yak, so I like to read his recaps.

I also like to check the comments on Chico Engaged. I don’t think Engaged is a substitute for open meetings, but it’s an interesting site. For example, the biggest conversation regarding this past week’s meetings was the tax measure. Of 87 comments, I only counted 3 or 4 that said they would support a simple measure. The rest registered themselves as “opposed.” A few of those said they wouldn’t support any tax, others expressed a willingness to discuss a 2/3’s measure, even support it. Most of those cited public safety, but a few others mentioned roads.

Troubling to me was that some actually mentioned schools – it’s scary how little people know about the government and which agency funds what. The city has nothing to do with the schools, in fact, those agencies are often pitted against each other over property issues like mowing weeds and bum camps.

The most common reason to oppose was distrust in the current Chico City Council – 44 comments included that as a reason they would not support the proposed measure. Some named Ory, Stone, Brown and Huber directly, some included Schwab, and a couple included “the city manager.”

Here’s a high note – 22 people complained that the discussion was taking place in closed meetings. Some cited the shut down as their only or main reason to reject the sales tax measure, accusing the council of trying to shove a poor measure through the chute behind closed doors.

Which brings the conversation back to the mistrust in council and staff. Look further at the Chico First site, I see these comments:

“If 30 or 40 Chico City employees would reduce their fat bloated salaries, we might have enough money to operate.”

It is so refreshing to read someone else’s thoughts on that, I was afraid people are deaf, dumb and blind to the payroll expenses. I wish everybody was this interested in the budget.

Here’s another that says it pretty plain.

“If the council weren’t crooks wasting the tax money they already have and actually used it for its said purposes the city wouldn’t be in this situation! Cut the council’s salaries! NO NEW TAXES! Screw you your vagrants, addicts, park campers and the crime that you fucks promote! To hell with your communist college too!”

It’s comforting to know that other people know about little perks like the council members’ salaries and, hopefully, their overgenerous health packages. And, as I knew, people are pissed off about what the “homeless industrial complex” is doing to our town. But you know, I haven’t heard the college called “communist” since I was a kid!

Finally, a really well thought-out response to the weird meeting I watched on Tuesday night:

“My three thoughts from this meeting.

First, I found Chris Constantine’s presentation uncomfortable. I didn’t appreciate him telling the council his marriage ended because his job is so hard. The simple fact is the citizens of Chico do not trust this council or staff to spend the money wisely.

Second, I laughed out loud when the discussion of ‘sunsetting’ the sales tax came up. When has a tax ever seen a sunset? 😂

Third, did anybody catch Mark Orme’s sneaky maneuver with the Homeless Solutions Coordinator position during the budget discussion? When Joy Amaro was brought on board, it was only funded as a 4-month trial. When Ann asked about that approaching end date, Mark Orme said: ‘I asked them to put that in my budget…the full year’s worth of funding.’ Ann’s reply: ‘I appreciate that you have done that. I think that’s an investment this community really can’t go without.’ Hmmm.“

The whole presentation was unbelievable. Very emotional, unprofessional, troubling behavior. Constantin’s melt-down, then Ory’s stuttering, shaking, desperate delivery, followed by a very visibly pissed off Mark Orme. I sense a lot of trouble Downtown. These people can’t even run their own lives, but they think we should be grateful to have them? Grateful to the tune of paying their outrageous salaries and then paying them again in pension? Thank you Mother, may I have another?

And no, I have never seen a tax sunset, including the recent sales tax that Governor Moonbeam foisted on us as temporary and then put it on the next ballot as permanent. It passed – people get used to things fast, especially when they are not implemented for a year after the election, as Ory suggests for this measure. People forget, and then they don’t notice a few pennies here and there. Ka-CHING!

And yes, while they keep telling us Orme just laid off 11 employees (which is misleading, they were empty and part-time positions, even interns), they don’t talk about the hiring of Amaro or the new Public Information Officer. Full time positions with benefits.

I’m so glad others are hip to the poor decisions and the misleading by staff that add up to a big mess for those of us who pay for all of it.

Yeah, what a meeting. So now we have a proposal for a half-cent tax that will not take effect for one year after the election and which will sunset in a short amount of time – did Ory say 9 years or something like that? But thank goodness we have some voters who question what’s going on. The discussion is finally picking up.

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Joe Azzarito knocks another one out of the park: All of government loves to raise taxes because they pay their salaries

12 Jun

Thanks again Joe Azzarito – this is the kind of push back it will take to defeat the city’s ill-conceived sales tax measure. Karl Ory tried to change the rules the other night – this is a common tactic. They will now pitch us a smaller tax with a sunset, but they will come back in two years and ask us to make it a full cent and permanent.  Ory’s suggestion to delay the implementation of the  tax for a year is another sneak – who will notice a half cent here, a half cent there? 

So yes, we’re still opposing the measure. 

By  |

Today, June 8’s issue of USA Today talks of public pensions and their risk of shortfall. Only 13% of private employers have pensions, while 73% of public employers have them.  Why does California consider these perks contractually unalterable while private employers can do whatever? Query the California Rule on the internet.

I worked 45 years and retired nine years ago with only Social Security — at that time $1,957 per month. That was based on 40 quarters plus of work, factored in for those 45 years — not based on my last highest earned year like so many public pensions.  My last employer waited after my 10th anniversary before starting an EMPLOYEE PAID 401(K), only to disband it completely after about five or six years, having previously dropped a minimal match before that. Why wasn’t my plan a contractual obligated plan like government?

All of government loves to raise taxes because they pay their salaries.  The upcoming sales tax proposal is morally as well as financially wrong. We are told it will be for roads, public safety etc. It will not so long as it goes into the General Fund on a simple majority vote. Demand that all salaries and benefits be voted on by those that pay – Chicoans and not council and DO the right thing – disregard the California Rule making pensions in perpetuity before bankruptcy forces changes.

Tell public employees to pay their own way through life not borne by the likes of me.

Joe Azzarito, Chico CA

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Joe Azzarito: do not let Orme spend another $22,800 of our money on a survey that is nothing more than a marketing tool for a tax. 

9 Jun

Sorry this post is kind of a mess, I don’t know what’s up with word press, but the settings are whack. It’s kind of hard to read, but try anyway, it’s worth it. 

I’ve heard it through the grapevine that council is currently being “bombarded” with requests to “de-fund the police department”. Well, they are also being “bombarded” with requests and demands to drop the sales tax increase measure. Which, frankly, an intelligent person would see as de-funding the police department, since that department is currently the biggest part of the city budget.

In fact, across California, financial experts are pointing to “public safety” as our financial problem – salaries well over $100,000/year, overtime written into their contracts, spiking by way of accruing vacation and sick time – these contracts are the hole in our little dinghy, and we’re sinking fast.   Management employees are way overpaid, but they’re vastly outnumbered by over compensated public safety employees, who are the primary drivers of the pension deficit or Unfunded Actuarial Liability. 

I’m not saying get rid of the police department, I’m saying, cut the costs and make it viable again. Not only do we need to rework the contracts, we need to train these people to stop pulling out their piece at the drop of a splinter.  As Scott  Rushing has pointed out time and time again, these cowboys cost us a lot of money with their behavior, triggering lawsuits that cost the taxpayers millions. 

So yeah, a demand for new, more sustainable contracts would mean more, better police that protect everybody. 

Here’s one citizen’s demand – thanks Joe Azzarito for answering the call to duty and sending an email to council. Joe points out, this is a regressive tax that hits lower income people harder – people making less than $40,000 a year on the hook for pensions of 70 – 90% of salaries over $100,000/year. He also points out that city staff is misleading the public about the true costs of this measure – starting with another $22,800 for a consultant to run their campaign, on top of $22,800 and plenty of $taff time already spent. Ending with a bond – and none of the money restricted to anything.

And, I’ll point out – the letters Mark Stemen has been circulating are all FORM LETTERS. How much conviction do you think it takes to sign a form letter written by your college professor (the guy who hands you a grade)?  Chico Taxpayers are intelligent enough to come up with their own material, thankyouverymuch.  So, let’s take Joe’s example and get busy “bombarding” council with your thoughts on a sales tax increase. 

 

Chico City Council Members,

As I have said many times before, DO NOT propose a sales tax increase, NOT NOW, NOT EVER. Our citizens can least afford this highly regressive tax increase so that you, city management and city staff can live the good life while we regular citizens suffer with no services that address our needs first. The proposal should never be an unrestricted simple majority tax to begin with. It makes possible uses unconscionable to all of us living day to day but most especially when thousands of local people are out of work, barely affording our housing costs and doing without many necessities. To mislead citizens that this sales tax is a panacea for what ails us is a blatant lie. You know full well that the proceeds from such an increase, quite possibly far less than you anticipate, will not be enough to even cover the revenue bond you hope to float – which by the way, no one talks about except Mark Orme and his toady Chris Constantin.

Trash the sales tax idea, and by the way, do not authorize another survey at gobs of money to satisfy yourselves that wee little people will go for it. Months ago at one of your “dog and pony” open council meetings, I asked Orme why 400 people who were 70% in favor of a tax represented 120,000 people. His answer: “Not everyone votes!”  But I do, and I will remember to vote down every one of your outlandish ideas that do not address real needs and not “make believe feel good ones”. As to your closed meetings, I am totally disgusted at not being able to attend.  How dare you do the crap you do without an audience. I respond to Chico Engaged, which should be changed to Chico Enraged. What is going on is nothing but pandering to a small minority and not at all essential business.

In summation, do not let Orme spend another $22,800 of our money on a survey that is nothing more than a marketing tool for a tax.  Instead, read about the California Rule, as if you did not know what that is, and find a way to cut back 50% or more on all of your salaries, perks, medical benefits and, most especially the tremendous UNFUNDED PENSION LIABILITY, that city workers should be paying for totally – since from that comes their pensions — their expense not mine. We would when have plenty of money to perform all of our collective needs, not just those of a chosen few.

Joe Azzarito

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Council still hiding behind COnVID – they have to work fast because they can’t spend taxpayer money on their sales tax measure after they hand it to the clerk (deadline July 7)

7 Jun

On April 8,  the Enterprise Record announced,  “car washes, tanning, landscape, pet care, and child care facilities” could start reopening, with simple guidelines like sanitizing heavily touched surfaces, social distancing and telling employees and customers who feel sick to stay home. Today, restaurants are open again for dining – did anybody really think handing somebody an alcoholic drink in a to-go cup through the window of their running car was a good idea?

So now that things are opening up again, why is Chico City Council still having closed meetings?

As local wag Rob Berry points out frequently on Chico Engaged, council announced back in March they would not have meetings for anything less than “essential business” and no more than one such “special” meeting per month. They’ve had a meeting a week since then, discussing everything  from weed abatement to weed retail shops, none of it particularly essential or timely.

They tell us there is no Brown Act violation because they’ve provided a website through which we are allowed to speak to council members. But let’s face it – if we were there in the room making our comments, they’d have to listen to us. With email they can read what they want and nobody’s the wiser – there’s no quiz after the reading period!

I’m not the only person who has opined they are running stuff under the wire while the public is shut out. For example, they have until July 7 to hand their sales tax increase measure to the county clerk, and they want to be able to work on it without the public underfoot. If you’ve looked at the remarks posted for this upcoming agenda on Chico Engaged, you’ll see, there has not been one comment or vote supporting the sales tax measure, just opposing remarks. While council members are not forced to read the comments, staff tallies and reports “oppose” vs “support” votes.

The main sentiment on Engaged is not “anti-tax” but a call for a 2/3’s measure instead of the simple 51% measure demanded by staff. City manager Mark Orme and ass city manager Chris Constantin have made it clear they do not want the money dedicated in any way. They want a general measure so they can use the proceeds to secure an unrestricted bond.

While nobody in the “Citizens for Safe Chico” camp seemed to be listening, Constantin made it clear in presentations made last year to the various boards and committees that the proceeds from a one-cent sales tax measure would not be nearly enough to fix the streets, manage the park, or hire more employees, certainly not pricey cops.  He predicts proceeds will only be enough to finance a bond. And then NO, the bond will NOT BE RESTRICTED to street maintenance or the park or any of that – it will go to the General Fund, where it will be available for hobo camps and pot shops, free syringes and self-cleaning bum toilets. If you are a methamphetamine-addicted transient who needs somewhere to shoot up and then a place to buy pot for the resulting hangover, this tax will be good for you.

Oh well, it’s fun to point the finger at the bum lovers, but most of all the proceeds of this tax would go to pay down the pension deficit.

You’ve heard of the California Rule – it says, before anything else, the pension deficit must be paid. And if you look at the city budget, you see, no matter what our situation, the Pension Stabilization payments get bigger by about a million dollars, every year, no matter what. That’s the California Rule.

People have posted very accusing and negative remarks about the attempt to shove a simple measure down our throats from closed meetings, even if they don’t understand how bad it really is.  Just imagine that kind of hubbub in the room. Staff doesn’t want council to be subjected to public pressure, so they continue to advise council to shut out the citizens.

Staff is  getting desperate.  See, they can’t spend any more city money on that turd after they hand it to the clerk, so what they plan to do at the Tuesday (6/9/20) meeting is “dedicate” another $22,800 to hire their consultant EMC to do another “survey”, while the spendin’ is good!

You must ask yourself – why do they need another survey? The survey we already paid for said that as many as 70% of the Chicoans polled (a group of 400 carefully chose individuals) said they would support the measure. So why run another survey?

As one woman noted on Chico Engaged, that survey was run before COVID. She doubted that people would support a tax increase in light of what the shut down has done to the economy.  She’s probably right, and that means, EMC needs to run another “survey” to convince us that we should tax ourselves.

Because that’s what surveys are really about – they’re very leading, sometimes not even so subtle. The first survey CARD ran told us our kids would become heroin addicts if we didn’t pay their tax. All they have to do is make a statement and put little bubbles with terms like “Agree” , “Strongly Agree”, “Disagree” , “Strongly Disagree” – you get it?

Survey or polls have been used since elections were invented to influence how people vote. The simple basis of this practice is “The Bandwagon Theory” – people want to belong to a group so they tend to behave as do others. “When in Rome, blah, blah, blah”. Here’s an interesting piece from 2012, The Huffington Post.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/understanding-how-polls-affect-voters_b_2009034

In October 2012, David Rothschild wrote, “There is a lot of concern in the media and political circles about the effects of poll results on voters.” Using polls run during the last months of the 2012 Romney/Obama campaigns as an example, he said, “To answer the burning question, researchers have long observed that people often conform to majority opinion (i.e. during every election, some people jump on the bandwagon and shift their preference to the leading candidate or the most popular policy).”

Speaking further about “The Bandwagon Effect,” Rothschild explains, “During elections, and major public policy events, much of the media coverage focuses on the “horse race,” or fluctuations in support for a candidate or policy. Reporting on public opinion not only affects support, but levels of engagement: donations, volunteering and turnout. These bandwagon effects can make polls self-fulfilling prophecies; the predictions of the polls come to pass because the polls not only measure public opinion but also influence public opinion and engagement.“

In this 2016 article, John Papadakis, CEO and Cofounder at Pollfish, 

https://sociable.co/web/polls-influence-votes-american-election/

not only warns us that polls are often inaccurate (citing the famous “Dewey Defeats Truman” flub), but agrees, accurate or not, “Polls have the power to influence votes; even to change public policy.”

Papadakis explains, “Polls help the public to gauge election results, and it’s great to have that prediction. However, polls also play a larger role by actually influencing votes.”

He  says voters have two reactions to polls.  “Polls cause voters to follow the crowd. Voter behavior is affected by how they perceive the public will vote, especially when the media analyzes poll results. This happens by the means of the ‘Boomerang effect’ – where voters see a candidate is so far ahead in the polls, they feel their vote doesn’t matter and don’t vote at all – or the ‘Bandwagon effect’ – where essentially the opposite happens, and people want to vote with the crowds to support a candidate.”

Rothschild also makes some behavioral observations, concluding, “Confirming past studies, we find strong evidence of an overall bandwagon effect; people become more supportive of policies that have more general support. We further find that both social acceptance and social learning drive the bandwagon effect. However, the effect of social learning is significantly and substantially stronger than that of social acceptance.”

So, what I’m hearing is this: people are more influenced by real information than by the desire to run with the pack. That’s our job – yell louder than the liars Downtown. Tell people what this tax is really all about. It’s a pissing match folks, and it’s ON! 

It starts with writing an email to each member of council and telling them you will not support this tax. Tell them you are outraged by Orme’s suggestion to spend another $22,800 OF YOUR MONEY on a survey that is nothing more than a marketing tool for a tax.

 

There’s a whole lotta lootin’ goin’ on!

5 Jun

Thanks Dave, for sending me the following article from KCRW radio in Los Angeles:

https://www.kcrw.com/news/shows/zocalos-connecting-california/joe-mathews-police-have-been-looting-for-years

This article makes a very important point that I never get around to making – public employees have become so expensive we can’t afford to hire enough of them to provide even the most essential services. Ever. 

Radio commentator Joe Mathews uses the police as an example, 

“The escalating police pensions, along with lucrative disability benefits and costly retiree health coverage, crushed city budgets. They also contribute to the ironies of the current crisis.

One irony is that today’s young protestors will spend decades paying the unaffordable retirements of the cops who are using tear gas and rubber bullets against them. Another irony is that massive increases in police budgets haven’t produced more police. Most cities have fewer sworn officers than they did in 2008. That’s why police departments are now struggling to muster personnel to protect property from vandalism and looting. “

but it’s not just the cops. Since 2012 Chico city management has pared away lower-paid staffers while raising management salaries all around. They’ve laid off maintenance workers and deferred maintenance in favor of  raising management salaries. In 2017, City Manager Mark Orme added a Fund 457 to his contract – a type of 401K for public workers. In addition to over 80% of his CalPERS pension costs, the city of Chico gives Orme $10,000 + 4.5% of his $207,000/year salary via this slush fund.  

Hey, did I ever tell you guys – your city council members receive salaries and health insurance benefits? The salary might not seem like much – only $600/month ($720 for mayor).  But that’s the catch – they only pay 2% of their salary toward benefit packages of their choosing.  According to publicpay.gov, in 2018, their benefits packages ranged from a low of about $7200 (one member) to a high of nearly $20,000 (most members chose packages over $15,000/year). Do the math – 2% of a $7200 council salary is $144 of a $20,000 package. Well, duh, of course they choose the $20,000 package.  The taxpayers pay the rest.  

Okay, just tell me to stop – the city of Chico also has a very common clause in the contracts, including those made with city council members, that if they have insurance from another job, they can choose between that package and the city’s package, and if they choose the package they get with their job, the city will give them cash in lieu of health insurance. 

And stop right there, I already know what you’re going to ask – yes, council sets the terms of their own salaries and benefits, and of course can give themselves raises. 

So when you are staring buggy-eyed at your tv, watching the world gone mad, you better wonder what’s going on at city hall.  

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Use Engaged Chico to let council know what you think of their sales tax increase

1 Jun

Tomorrow Chico City Council will discuss their tax measure. You can read that agenda item here, Item 5.2:

https://chico-ca.granicusideas.com/meetings/337-6-slash-2-slash-20-city-council-meeting/agenda_items?page=2

You can use Engaged to comment now, and those will be displayed to the public, including council members, who supposedly read all of them. The clerk will not read them at the meeting, but will tally “opposed”, etc. You can also comment directly to council members now, but if you contact them through the clerk you can save yourself some time. Ask her to make your email part of the public record. That’s debbie.presson@chicoca.gov

You can also use the “public comment” email during the meetings. Here’s the notice from the agenda, just in case I forgot anything.

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION: This meeting is being conducted in accordance with Executive Order N-29-20.
The public may view the meeting on Comcast Channel 11 or http://chicoca.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=2, with remote public participation allowed in the following ways:
Public Participation During the Meeting – The Engaged Chico civic engagement program will be available
for citizen input on individual agenda items both prior to and during the meeting and that program can be
accessed through the City’s website at the link listed at: https://chico-ca.granicusideas.com/meetings.
Public comment will also be accepted by email with the subject line PUBLIC COMMENT ITEM ____, and can
be sent to publiccomments@chicoca.gov during the meeting, prior to the close of public comment on an
item. The public is encouraged not to send more than one email per item and not to comment on numerous
items in one email.

Go ahead and have your fun on Engaged! But ask yourself this – why are we putting up with these closed meetings? I’ve been out and about throughout the COVID crisis, cause you know what – MY life is ESSENTIAL. Here’s the report – two weeks ago, town was dead. I live a block from Bidwell Park, midtown, and I’ll tell you what – the lack of activity was disturbing. The streets were empty, we didn’t even see the usual dog walkers passing our house.  Grocery shopping was absolutely WEIRD. Then came Memorial Day weekend, and wham – the conga line of cars headed out of town was unbelievable. As of Tuesday, people are out and about around Chico again, retail centers are busy, groups are milling on the streets, Bidwell Park is busy.  Things are looking almost NORMAL again.  But the meetings are still closed? 

What?!

 

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Senator John Moorlach: Chapter 9 bankruptcy, a “friendly alternative” to waiting for pensions to tank our economy

29 May

Sheesh – at least a month ago, Bob sent me this taped interview with SoCal Senator John Moorlach (R, Orange Co.), and I’ve only recently been able to finish it.

https://calocalelectedofficials.org/cleo-call-with-john-moorlach/

Not that Moorlach isn’t an engaging speaker – he’s very natural and easy going, and he puts financial matters in terms the average person can understand. But, it’s so shocking, I had to listen in bits and pieces, and then I had to rewind a lot. 

Moorlach has an impressive resume, in fact, I wish he’d run  for governor. A certified public accountant and financial planner by trade, he has served since 2015 as California State Senator, 37th District.  He started his political career as Orange County Treasurer-Tax Collector, from 1995 – 2006. He quit his Treasurer job to run for Orange County Board of Supervisors, serving for the next 10 years. He left the Board of Supervisors to run for Senator in 2015. 

During his campaign for county treasurer, Moorlach exposed his predecessor’s risky and illegal finance escapades and predicted the coming Orange County bankruptcy – according to wikipedia, the largest municipal bond portfolio loss and bankruptcy in U.S. history. He led Orange County back to solvency (he talks about how in the interview) He has earned a reputation as an expert on municipal bankruptcies. 

He suggests the same remedies for California’s financial problems that we have heard from Edward Ring, Adam Andrzejewski, and many other financial “experts.” I don’t usually care for “experts” but all this stuff sounds perfectly legitimate to me,  cause I’ve seen the books Downtown, and these guys are RIGHT ON.

So, I hope you will listen to that interview, but I tried to squeeze Moorlach’s suggestions into the 250 word limit imposed by the Enterprise Record:

State Senator John Moorlach (R, Orange County) tells us, “if you abuse a defined benefit plan, you are headed for trouble.” The abuses – a “reckless” investment target, a retroactive change in the retirement formula that increased benefits by 50%, and employee unions bankrolling board members and judges, making it almost impossible to take any proactive measures on the pensions.

As we’ve been told repeatedly by city staff, Chico is in trouble.

Moorlach notes that Wisconsin’s pensions are 100% funded because they dumped the DBP and instituted “shared risk plans”. They changed the retirement age to 65, raised employee “shares”, and therefore the total agency contributions. They ended the Cost of Living Increase and went with a realistic investment projection of 3%, as opposed to CalPERS’ “reckless” 8%.

But, Moorlach says, pensioned legislators are unlikey to enact this solution, while “the proposition route has been brutalized by the AG’s we’ve had…”

Moorlach’s suggestion is Chapter 9 bankruptcy, a “friendly alternative” to waiting for pensions to tank our economy. “A federal judge can rescind, change or modify existing local bargaining agreements.”

Moorlach believes a well-managed DBP would work. That would require the following changes:  employees pay more; no COLA until a plan is 80% or more funded, and realistic investment target of 1 – 3%. I would add, sustainable salaries and reduced retirement health benefits. Why are we paying health benefits for people getting 70 – 90% of their highest year’s salary?

We must elect city council members in November who will accept these measures and act now.

Juanita Sumner, Chico

 

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Joe Azzarito: The California Rule needs to be repealed

29 May

Well, they’ve thrown down their tax measure – at another “remote” meeting. 

5.2. ORDINANCE ADDING CHAPTER 3.90 TO ESTABLISH A ONE-CENT SALES TAX
On November 20, 2018, the City Council approved a Finance Committee recommendation to
engage a professional consulting firm to conduct a tax feasibility voter survey of City residents to
determine the viability of passing a tax measure and on April 16, 2019, the City Council directed
the administration of a voter survey for a 1 cent sales tax measure. EMC Research conducted the
voter survey and on October 15, 2019, EMC presented the results to the City Council which
indicates support for a 1 cent sales tax measure in November 2020. The City Council acted to
direct City staff to prepare the necessary documentation and related actions to place a 1 cent
general sales tax on the November 2020 ballot. The requested action would initial the formal
requirements to proceed with the measure. This action requires 5 affirmative votes. (Report –
Chris Constantin, Assistant City Manager)
Recommendation: City Manager recommends the City Council introduce the following ordinance
by reading of the title only:
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF CHICO ADDING CHAPTER 3.90 TO THE CHICO CITY
MUNICIPAL CODE TO ESTABLISH A ONE CENT GENERAL PURPOSE TRANSACTIONS
AND USE (SALES) TAX TO BE ADMINISTERED BY THE CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF
TAX AND FEE ADMINISTRATION INCLUDING PROVISIONS FOR CITIZENS’ OVERSIGHT
AND ACCOUNTABILITY

As you know, the city of Chico is in financial trouble. So, wow, how have they pulled off a $9,000,000 annual pension payment, in addition to millions more paid in payroll? You realize, in 2012-13 they reported a $168,000,000 pension deficit – now it’s only about $130,000,000. That’s about $5.4 million a year – EMBEZZLED out slowly by our city staff to pay their pension deficit.  Look at your trashed streets, trashed park, and your increasing sewer fees – where do you think they  got the money? Bake sales?  

For years, Staff has siphoned money out of city funds into their pension deficit. They  take a percentage of payroll from each department, JUST TAKE IT.  According to the legislation known as The California Rule (no, you didn’t pass it, your pensioned legislators passed it),  the pensions get paid before anything else. Yes folks, that the law. You are second to the public employees. How does that make you feel? Like you got a pack of leeches in your pants? 

Here’s what Chicoan Joe Azzarito thinks about it.

Previously, I wrote about desired attributes of both elected and non-elected government office holders.  Attributes: 1) Integrity 2) Honesty 3) Accountability 4) Transparency 5) Experience 6) Reliability 7) Morality and lastly 8) Scruples.  Nowhere did I list the ability to lie with a straight face.

Prolific writers Scott Paulo and Roger Beadle feel that only Republicans, especially Donald Trump, exhibit this last most undesirable character flaw. They fail to examine and call out their own heroes – Democrats.  The Corona pandemic has exacerbated this negative feature that a vast majority of government displays daily.

Locally, CARD officiously wanted to put into force a parcel tax without owning up to hidden lies as to cost. Chico council plan to follow suit with a sales tax increase because government employees cannot live with six figure incomes. On a distressed airplane about to crash, we are told to care for our children first before ourselves.  Not so in government – they take care of themselves first and tell us every chance they get to live with broken streets, bad lighting, crime and ultimately homelessness.

The California Rule, behind which they all hide to insure their livelihoods, needs to be repealed.  No Chico person needs $100,000 to $200,000. How many police chiefs and fire chiefs should Chico pay forever. Chico council and their staffs love tax increases because from them come their salaries.  We need to clean house once again and get rid of these leeches. Top pay for one or two individuals should equal $100K and everyone should pay 100% of their pension – no more.

Joe Azzarito, Chico CA

 

Rob Berry, please tell us your plan!

26 May

From Chico First Facebook, 5/26/20, about 12:57pm

Rob Berry uploaded a file.

29 mins

I am often asked by advocates of the current Homeless Industry, “OK Rob, what is your plan?” Tonight at the City Council meeting, once again, in the second Special Meeting in a week, we will be hearing a verbal report on the City of Chico’s plan to “end homelessness”.

While “ending homelessness” is not and has never been my goal, protecting the interests of the Citizens of Chico is my goal. In order to achieve that goal, we need a plan to end the negative impacts of unmitigated habitation of our parks and public spaces.

HERE IS MY PLAN: It is not perfect, but it is not useless either. All I can do is share it with you, and I will share it with our city council.

Please take a minute to read through this. It is 5 1/2 pages long. I would like you to have this in you mind as you hear tonight from our Homeless Coordinator and City Manager, and of course our City Council members on what they have in mind for Chico. Here is an alternative that most likely will never see the official light of day.

One thing is clear: they cannot tell me I don’t have an alternative plan. Here it is.

But, as if often the case  with Chico First postings, Berry’s comments are immediately followed by a notice, “This content isn’t available right now.” 

So, Rob, please, tell us your plan. 

 

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CARD needs to fire Miss Management

24 May

Meanwhile, back at the hen house…

A little over 2 months since the COVID shut-down began, less than 6 months into the year, and CARD has a $440,000 deficit?

According to Enterprise Record reporter Laura Urseny, “Unable to collect revenue from halted programming and hall rentals, the Chico Area Recreation and Park District is looking at ways to cut expenses, including the possible abandonment of Shapiro Pool. It faces a $440,000 deficit in its preliminary 2020-21 budget.”

Looking at their 2019-20 budget,

https://www.chicorec.com/district-budget

I see that program fees and facility rentals brought in about $4.3 million last year – wow, that’s about $338,000/month. But that’s divided over 12 months – they make most of their money between May and September, with weddings and kids’ camps. Urseny also reports, “On the good news side, however, the CARD office at 545 Vallombrosa Ave. opened to the public Friday, and youth summer camps are on the horizon.“

So let’s remember, like the figure the city has thrown out – these “losses” are projected. They don’t know what they would have made, who could know that. Let’s see CARD’s totals from the same period last year, and then we’ll talk.

Here’s one of the real sources of CARD’s money problems – Miss Management. She is a silly gal. For some reason, she’s been spending $11,000 to fill and maintain a swimming pool that has not been open to the public for swimming since 2016. “CARD has leased Shapiro Pool from the Chico Unified School District for decades, but over the past few years shut it to the public because of the expensive and public health risk of the old equipment, which it can’t afford to replace. It cost CARD about $11,000 a year in supplies and 300 staff hours, with only one event — a dog splash gathering — all year.”

First they deferred maintenance on that pool for years, allowing it to sink into sub-code condition, Willmann admitted that several times over the course of the Measure A campaign. It’s also in the budget – look – they spend millions on their own salaries and pensions but only about a $2.5 million on “maintenance and supplies”, roughly half million of that is utility bills. Meanwhile, last year, they spent $1.7 million (see 2018-19 budget) on their Unfunded Actuarial Liability, or Pension Deficit.

Willmann would also have us believe that “programming and rental fees are the majority revenue source for the special district…”  That is not true. Again, look at the budget. While program fees and rentals brought in $4.3 million, TAXES brought in over $4.5 million, especially when you add in Park Impact Fees (payed by developers and added to the price of a house)  and Neighborhood Assessments (paid by residents in newer subdivisions) – over $200,000/year. 

Willmann persists in denying that RDA pass through comes from taxes. Wrap your head around this – RDA pass through money is generated from bonds that are guaranteed with the 2% annual increase in property taxes. That money is borrowed at a rate of $2 interest for every $1 spent. Taxpayers are on the hook to pay it – how is that not a tax Ann? She wanted to put us another $30 million in bond debt with Measure A – that’s Miss Management popping up her potato head again.

Another persistent lie Willmann keeps spreading is that ” Property tax is the next largest income source, which could also be down.” Two lies in one, really. As I just explained, property tax is their Number 1 source of income, not their “next largest“. Furthermore, it’s hardly going down. Again, look at the budget, it’s right there, up every year, even given the losses from Paradise (that’s another conversation). In fact, CARD’s total revenues increase by at least a million a year. Given the current building boom, it will continue to go up more and more each year.

Here’s their real problem: as the revenues go up a million or so a year, payroll costs also go up a million or so a year. And, they seem to outstrip revenues by about a million a year.  This year’s budget shows a $166,000 increase in pension payroll payments. Part of that was Willmann’s recent salary increase.

And here’s another reason CARD is in decline – every time they sense a dip in revenues, they cut workers instead of management.  Ann Willmann took a raise this year, and every year she’s been General Manager. She now makes over $127,000/year, and pays only 8% of her benefits costs. But here she says, again, they will cut workers if they don’t get their money.

“’Everything’s on the table,’ she said, in reference to pay cuts, fee increases and layoffs.”

Everything?  Will she take a pay cut? Offer to pay more than 8% toward 70% of her $127,000/year salary for the rest of her life?

“The preliminary 2020-21 budget presented Thursday showed total revenue of $8,890,128 — down about $34,000 from the previous year. It also shows operating expenses at $9,329,919, with a projected net income loss of $444,291…”

Hmmm, “operating expenses” (about 2/3’s payroll) are up by just about exactly the amount projected to be lost? It’s like walking into the kitchen, and finding somebody with one hand in the cookie jar and the other hand in their mouth, and having them tell you that you need to better stock your cookie jar. 

But, Miss Management stands firm over her own best interests, throwing the taxpayers under the bus with this threat, “The preliminary budget includes a conservative estimate and will require difficult decisions that will affect program offerings and operations in the future.”

READ THE STORY HERE:
By  | lurseny@chicoer.com | Chico Enterprise-Record

CHICO — Unable to collect revenue from halted programming and hall rentals, the Chico Area Recreation and Park District is looking at ways to cut expenses, including the possible abandonment of Shapiro Pool. It faces a $440,000 deficit in its preliminary 2020-21 budget.On the good news side, however, the CARD office at 545 Vallombrosa Ave. opened to the public Friday, and youth summer camps are on the horizon.

CARD has leased Shapiro Pool from the Chico Unified School District for decades, but over the past few years shut it to the public because of the expensive and public health risk of the old equipment, which it can’t afford to replace. It cost CARD about $11,000 a year in supplies and 300 staff hours, with only one event — a dog splash gathering — all year.

At Thursday’s board virtual meeting, General Manager Ann Willmann asked the board for preference, which was unanimously for “giving it back to the school district.” The matter will come back to the board at the next meeting — June 18 — giving the public a chance to weigh in on the pool, along with the preliminary 2020-21 budget.Because programming and rental fees are the majority revenue source for the special district, without the usual spring recreation selections and halls being closed because of coronavirus, the district is down in revenue. Property tax is the next largest income source, which could also be down.

“We had zero programming in April and May, and afterschool programs bring in about $150,000 a month. There’s expenses there too.

“We’ve definitely had a loss of revenue,” Willmann said Friday.

The board Thursday approved a preliminary budget required by law that shows a roughly $440,000 deficit, but chair Tom Lando said what guides the district will look nothing like the preliminary budget. Willmann noted Friday that CARD needs a balanced budget, and will be looking at a combination of strategies.

“Everything’s on the table,” she said, in reference to pay cuts, fee increases and layoffs.”

The preliminary 2020-21 budget presented Thursday showed total revenue of $8,890,128 — down about $34,000 from the previous year. It also shows operating expenses at $9,329,919, with a projected net income loss of $444,291.

It’s hard to guess the revenue and expenditures, said Willmann, because changes occur daily. Resources like parks and activities fields have to be kept up, even though unused. Some part-time staff has been brought back to help with that, but partial staff related to programming have been let go. Some maintenance projects are being delayed.

The sooner the county re-opening occurs, the sooner revenue from programs and facility rentals can come to CARD. But the reopening schedule is still fluid, so predictions are difficult.

Willmann told the board in a written statement that, “The preliminary budget includes a conservative estimate and will require difficult decisions that will affect program offerings and operations in the future.”

Willmann told the board that online registration was ready once the county health officials gave the go-ahead to reopen, and the traditional youth summer camps were on tap. In addition, pickleball courts and the Humboldt Skate Park are operating, and bathrooms at CARD parks were open.

“The current phased reopening will affect classes, youth and adult sport leagues, aquatics, senior programming and special events,” she wrote in her budget report.

With large money-making gatherings — like large weddings or parties — not likely in the immediate future, CARD plans a limited reopening of rental halls, along with rentals of picnic areas and sports field once the county signals.

However, the district will move forward with Chico Rotary sponsored Centennial Park on Ceres Avenue, estimated at $1.5 million. CARD plans to tap the city pool of park-development fees to cover development, but the project is also financially supported by the Rotary club in honor of its 100th year.

Her budget report indicated the district has a restricted reserve of $1.2 million for emergency operation, and Willmann encouraged that amount to be increased to $1,800,000 over time.

A public hearing on the budget, which can be seen online www.chicorec.com or in the CARD office, is planned for June 18, with final adoption of the budget on July 16.

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