ER editor can endorse whatever he wants, but letters writers tell the real truth

10 Feb

As you may know, the Enterprise Record, under the failing leadership of salesman, not journalist, Mike Wolcott, has endorsed both Measure A – a parcel tax  from the rec district – and Prop 13 – a measure that makes it easier to pass taxes. 

That’s funny, if you remember a time when the ER was the stalwart conservative champion, hated by the liberals all around. How times have changed. Something that has also changed – the ER used to be the biggest paper north of Sacramento, now it has less than 10,000 subscribers. For a paper that used to be read in at least four counties, that’s not good. The population of Chico has more than doubled since I was a kid, but the newspaper circulation has gone down – bad, bad, bad.

In fact, Wolcott told me the paper is in such a hole it would die without their ad-rag, Market Value Place. That’s your charity folks, allowing them to toss that bag of pulp out in front of your house every week – your job is simply to move it from the street to your trash bin without complaining, that’s all Wolcott asks. 

I have to laugh every time he re-writes his “rules for election letters” – what a jerk. For one thing, he called the cut-off  December 22. What? Only one election related letter per person between December 22 and March 3? This is a lazy, lazy man. He could, and should, enlarge the letters section at election time – that’s what the readers want. But here’s the thing – he can’t afford to take any more space away from ads. So he cuts off letter writers. 

I’ll say this for him – at least he prints letters in opposition to his opinions. In fact, I’ve only counted one letter in  favor of Measure A since Wolcott made his endorsement, while I’ve counted at least half a dozen NO on A letters. Not including mine. And today I saw a NO on Prop 13 letter that summed it up pretty good. 

Thanks Kathie Moloney, who also wrote a pretty kick-ass letter last month about Janus vs AFSCME, the court decision that overturned mandatory union dues. And big thanks to regular writers Dave Howell and Steve Wolfe for taking on Measure A. 

By  |

I am disappointed in the Editorial Board’s support of the new Prop. 13. The state is constantly looking for more ways to raise your taxes, and burden residents with more debt. This is the second school bond in two years with the state borrowing an additional $15 million but we will pay back $27 million with interest.

In addition, this bond allows school districts to go further into debt and when they do so through bonds your property taxes go up and renters, that raises your rent too!   How much more can we taxpayers take? Wake up and tell cities and especially the state NO to more money! Vote no on Prop 13 and any other bond or tax increase they or their cronies put on the ballot.

— Kathie Moloney, Orland

By  |

If Measure A passes, not only do you get a new tax but a tax increase every year as it perpetually increases.  Deceitfully not mentioned in the ballot measure is tens of millions of new debt that will cost $2 million annually to service leaving only $1 million annually for CARD.

The yearly increase is indexed to the CPI.  Even without a return to 1970’s style inflation the compounding effect over time will be significant.  Seniors on fixed incomes and others whose incomes do not keep pace with inflation will be hurt the most.  Also, this is a regressive tax with no sunset.

Money that should have been spent for park maintenance, new facilities and programs has been spent on unrealistic and unsustainable pension and other employee benefits.  These benefits have also resulted in unsustainable unfunded liabilities.  Even with a 43% increase in CARD’s revenue since 2013 there is not enough money to fund these liabilities and the parks hence Measure A and if it passes the resulting massive new debt.

A new tax and more debt only postpones the problem a few election cycles when more taxes and fees will be demanded.  The answer is to reform the unsustainable liabilities, but the special interests will not tolerate this which is why they have raised over $60,000 to pass the tax.

— Dave Howell, Chico

By  |

Voting yes on Measure A approves a parcel tax to enrich CARD at the expense of Chico property owners.  Adding insult to injury, it has no “sunset clause.”   In other words, it runs forever.  As I understand it, it is also tied to the Consumer Price Index which means that when that rises, as it frequently does, property owners will pay more the following year.  This is an unfair tax to begin with, as all Chico residents may vote on it though only the property owners must pay it.  Even renters will eventually pay more as apartment owners will certainly pass on the increased bond costs.

Recent letters by various writers have shown that CARD seemingly has little financial acumen in that is has let Shapiro Pool slide into ruin, deferred maintenance in able to transfer hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay pension expenses and increased salaries and benefits while allowing permanent employees to pay minimum percentages to their pension funds.  And now CARD wants more, in fact a never ending stream of “more.”  It is said that CARD’s budget is up 8% over last year, due to property taxes & development fees, with greater increases in line due to new housing development.  CARD promises to provide greater security and maintenance.  This writer expects continued band-aid maintenance, payments to the pension fund and the funding of an aquatic center.  If the desire for an aquatic center is so great, may I suggest a bake sale.

— Steve Wolfe, Chico

 

 

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This election is going to be over fast, let’s start thinking November

8 Feb

I got my ballot with county voting guide a few days ago, and mailed my completed ballot yesterday. I’ve been ready for this election for years now, believe me. I’ve been watching attempts to disable Prop 13 coming through the legislature and I’ve been watching Chico Area Recreation District fumble along with their tax measure. Dan Walters and other political observers have been telling us about the ginormous pension deficits around the state, so who would be surprised at all the tax measures that are making their way, again, like some rough beast, toward the ballot. 

It was a no-brainer, as far as I’m concerned – No on 13, No on A.

And now it’s off to November! 

Whether or not we are successful in beating Measure A, we have to start watching CARD more closely. Board members Tom Lando and Michael Worley are both up for re-election in November, and I think Lando needs to go. He is the driving force behind the tax measures coming forward this year, he’s been working toward a tax measure since 2012. He even paid for a survey out of his own pocket – but that survey came back negative. So he put his name in the hat for CARD board, and since nobody ran against him, he was appointed. Yes, it’s that easy. 

As board member he has pushed forward this parcel tax, offering one rainbow promise after another, without once admitting that CARD’s real financial problem is the employees don’t pay enough toward their own ridiculous pensions. 

Why would Lando admit that – he is one of the top five living pensioneers in Butte County. Of course it is in his best interest, as well as that of CPOA president Jim Parrott, who co-signed the Argument For Measure A, to make sure CalPERS is funded. 

Lando put $6,000 into this measure, that we know of. CPOA tossed in $1,000. But wow – $50,000 from the Service Employees International Union – which represents full-time employees of CARD? That’s not obvious? Hey, pull your underwear off your face!

Jim Parrott is also Board President of Chico Swim Association. That’s no co-inky-dink, Folks.  These people take these positions so they  can work together to control our community. I don’t care if that sounds like a conspiracy theory, it’s true. CARD is an agency that can raise taxes, that is where Lando’s interest lies – making sure his $150,000/year plus COLA pension is funded by the taxpayers. And Chico Swim Association is nothing more than a satellite of CARD, run by the president of a public employees’ union? If you don’t get that, I don’t know how to explain it. 

Suffice to say, we need to pay more attention to these public agencies and who is running them off the cliff.  Lando and Worley are up in November. Lando originally got his seat because nobody ran against him. That can’t happen again, we need to find some competent candidates to take these people on. It’s only a two year term, with one or two meetings a month. 

Meanwhile, Chico council members Randall Stone, Karl Ory, Sean Morgan and Ann Schwab are also up for re-election in November. Thank Goodness Karl Ory has announced he will not seek re-election – I don’t remember a nastier, more divisive person on council, unless it’s Randall Stone. I wish Stone would throw in the towel, he’s had his shot. So have Morgan and Schwab, for that matter. This is why I voted YES on Measure S in 2018 – some people need to be shown the door by way of term limits. Unfortunately, the measure allows for sitting council members to “start over” – Schwab gets two more terms, despite her many clueless years on council. 

I don’t mind saying, this is a daunting commitment. For one thing, city council seats have gotten expensive, 10’s of thousands to run for a public office that only pays less than $20,000/year. But there is a very nice health insurance package – I’ll have to ask about that, I’m sure those have gone up since I last checked. Of course, there are two, very onerous meetings a month, and you’re on the hook for 4 years. Look at it like community service that insures your entire family for four years, maybe that sounds better. 

At any rate, this is the conversation I want to have over the next few months – get your flashlight, and start looking  for 10 honest people. 

NO on A: Back to the Future! Here’s why CARD isn’t going to fix Shapiro Pool

6 Feb

Here’s a post from 5 years ago about a meeting at which some consultants try to tell the CARD board and staff that aquatic centers never pay for themselves, are used by less than 15% of the public, and would be a permanent burden on the taxpayers. At this point they still could have put $550,000 into Shapiro Pool, but they opted to make a $400,000 payment toward their pension liability and hire more consultants. 

Why CARD isn’t going to fix Shapiro Pool

Two weeks ago CARD had a “public meeting” to start discussion on their proposed aquatic center. They didn’t notice the meeting ahead, so only about 25 people showed up. They were given a short presentation by a couple of consultants and then asked to break into groups and write down their own wants for such a project. They were encouraged to dream big – water slides, 50 foot competitive pool, therapy pool – you name it!

I had attended the committee meeting earlier that day, and had a different kind of report from the consultants. At the committee meeting they made it clear the public would have to agree to a tax, not only to build this thing, but to maintain it in perpetuity. The consultants both made it clear this facility would be used by a very small portion of the public but would have to be supported by every home owner, renter, business owner and citizen of Butte County.

Consultant Lauren Livingston made it clear – if you  try to charge “users” based on the true cost of this thing, they couldn’t pay. But make it too cheap, and everybody would want to use it, and then it would be too small. “These things are not the cash cow people believe they are…” she said.

David Little, who did not attend the committee meeting, wrote an editorial blaming the consultants for pitching this big dream. I wasn’t at the public meeting, I don’t know what went on there. But at the committee meeting, both of those consultants told the committee they needed to plan something the community would use and could afford. But, committee members, especially Haley Cope and Jackie Santos, kept demanding all the bells and whistles. Cope was really insulting, saying in so many words the community doesn’t know anything and shouldn’t be taken very seriously in the decision making process.  She reminded us she was an Olympic medalist, but I don’t know what kind of grasp she has on the constitution.

Cope kept saying this thing would drag in people for “therapy”. The consultant told them no, there are already therapy pools in town, including a new pool at Enloe. And, he added, insurance companies won’t pay for therapy unless it’s done in a “dedicated therapy pool,” meaning they’d have to build a separate facility up to medical code.

Tom Lando, champing at the bit, declared such a facility would bring in hundreds and hundreds of people from our surrounding areas.  Redding has a pool. Durham has a pool. Willows has a pool. Exactly who does he think is going to drive to Chico to pay a membership at our aquatic center?

The entire time, the consultants kept shooting them down, telling them these facilities never pay for themselves, and they’d have to get some sort of commitment out of the taxpayers before they made any real plans. Certain committee members just wouldn’t understand – they want to bait the public with flashy drawings, without telling them about the cost. They kept demanding that the consultant come up with some sort of plans to show the public, and he kept telling them that’s not what he was hired for.  He was hired to find out what kind of center the public is willing to pay for, and like Little also noted – that’s not coming into the public conversation.

So, reading Little’s editorial, I had to write the following letter:

I attended an Aquatic Facility Advisory Committee meeting held before the public meeting October 28 to hear their consultant’s suggestions. 

Dennis Berkshire of Aquatic Design Group and Lauren Livingston of The Sports Management Group made it clear that CARD will need to put a tax measure on the ballot to fund the kind of project AFAC is encouraging. “You can find a bazillion partners who want to use it,” said Livingston, “but none of them bring anything of value.”  Berkshire added we could expect, at best,  “40 – 45 percent annual operating cost recovery” from user fees, the rest would have to be “subsidized” by the taxpayers.  

The cheapest plan I have seen presented so far is $10 million, and the rainbow visions go as high as $28 million.  

Former CARD director and board member Ed Seagle reminded the committee that in 2012 they ran a survey which indicated the public is not willing to be taxed for this project. Since 2012 CARD has spent almost $100,000 on out-of-town consultants, trying to convince the public to pay for an aquatic center which might be used by a projected 15 percent of our population. 

Meanwhile, a local consultant recently reported we can remodel Shapiro Pool for about $550,000. 

Yes, we could have Shapiro better than it was before, for less than $600,000. But we have to remind ourselves what this is really about – it’s about the pension liability CARD has piled up – over $1.7 million –  and how they will pay it.

NO ON A: “Who carries the burden for this tax?”

5 Feb

From a guy I have seen at many meetings, THANKS RANDY!

I received a very nice mailer today indicating major funding from SEIU Union 1021 in support of Measure A, the CARD parcel tax proposal.

Just to encourage you to contemplate the issue, this is a parcel tax, not a tax related to the value or number of residences on a parcel.

The proposal is for a single family home to pay $85 per year plus cpi increases, a 100-unit apartment complex will pay a total of $85 per year also, not 100 times $85.  Again, this is a parcel tax.  Who carries the burden of this tax?

I have been told that the CALPERS annual pension contribution is a major line item for CARD.

— Randy Coy, Chico

NO ON A: Don’t be a tax slave, don’t turn your children into tax slaves

4 Feb

I sent the following letter to the Chico News and Review after I read Melissa Daugherty’s editorial about over compensation and pension deficit in the Chico Police Department. She singles out the cops – unfair, unfair – not only is the city management top-heavy, look at CARD. An agency with 34 full-time employees has racked up almost $3 million in pension deficit. A recreation district manager who makes over $124,000/year plus benefits but pays only 8% of what the agency pays (14%) of her own pension costs. 

The problem all public agencies have in common is that employees don’t pay enough of their own pension/benefits costs, expecting the taxpayers to pick up the tab for 70% – 90% of their highest year’s salary, in retirement. 

Don’t be a tax slave – get your letter in now – NO ON A!

All public agencies have the same spending problem. As Richard Ek reported in 2007,  ever-increasing salaries with little or no contribution from employees toward the cost of over-generous benefits packages have created enormous “liabilities”.  That is, the difference between what employees expect to get in pension, and what they pay into it.

Until recently,  for example, Chico Area Recreation District employees paid nothing toward their pensions, even those making salaries over $100,000/year. Now the General Manager, with a recent salary increase to $124,000/year, only pays 8% of that agency’s cost for a pension of 70% of highest year’s salary. This policy has created a pension deficit of over $2.7 million for an agency with only 34 full-time employees.

Both the city and CARD have proposed tax increases. CARD’s parcel tax,  Measure A, is on the March 3 ballot. They say they need more money to sustain services and infrastructure, but, like City of Chico, they admit to deferring maintenance on facilities for years while paying millions toward their pension deficit.

In 2015, a consultant told CARD he could bring Shapiro Pool up to code for about $550,000. The board paid $400,000 toward their pension liability, and closed Shapiro Pool.

No on Measure A.

Juanita Sumner, Chico CA

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NO ON MEASURE A: Time to get those letters to the ER before the February 21 deadline

4 Feb

Well, I suppose you got your “Yes on A” flyer.  It’s full of the same lies Chico Area Rec Dist General Manager Ann Willmann was pumping at her “informational” sessions. Well, you may fight fire with fire, but you fight bullshit with a hose. Here’s my hose, mailed off to the Enterprise Record yesterday. 

Measure A proponents claim county property taxes do not keep up with inflation and Chico Area Recreation District needs more taxpayer funding. But, according to CARD’s budget, available at chicorec.com, RDA passthrough funding increased 15% in 2019 and property tax revenues increased 7%, even after the Camp Fire. Meanwhile CARD’s payroll increased 11%, adding to their $2.7 million-plus pension liability.

Proponents list specific projects, but Measure A revenues won’t be dedicated. While the measure says proceeds will be collected in a special account, there’s no guarantee they’ll be used for the projects listed in the measure. From the text of the measure, “The district intends to use funds collected… for those projects listed above”, but here’s the caveat – “unless the board determines in any given year that changes in state or federal funding make doing so infeasible or inadvisable.”

In fact, the General Manager admits Measure A revenues will never be enough to pay for these projects, anyway.  So, CARD proposes using the proceeds to secure a $36 million projects bond that will cost $2 million a year in debt service while only providing $1 million/year for the list of projects they propose.  The result would be millions in new debt, with very little to show for it.

Home and business owners will be on the hook for a lot more than just an $85/year tax. A tax that increases every year with inflation, never sunsets, and is still not enough to pay for the rainbow, lollipop and sunshine promises.

NO on A.

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Thanks Dave for this great printable “NO on Measure A” flyer

2 Feb

VOTE NO ON MEASURE A

CARD’s PERMANENT, PERPETUALLY INCREASING NEW TAX

Why Should You Vote No On Measure A?

• There is No Guarantee How the Money Will Be Spent
The measure contains a long list of goals and projects but no dollar amounts or completion
dates are assigned to anything. Even more of the general fund money that should already go to
these goals and projects can be made available for unsustainable pensions, benefits and raises.

• CARD Will Take on Tens of Millions of Dollars in New and EXPENSIVE Debt
The media reported that if the tax passes CARD will establish a $36 million dollar project fund
costing $2 million annually in debt service while only making $1 million annually available for
projects. THAT’S CRAZY! No wonder CARD didn’t mention the fund in the ballot measure.

• The Tax Automatically Goes Up EVERY Year
Indexed to the CPI the tax is perpetually increasing. Imagine if we have 1970’s style inflation
when the CPI went up nearly 15% in a single year! Even with relatively low inflation the
compounding effect over time will be significant. This is unfair to those on fixed incomes such
as seniors and others whose incomes do not keep pace with inflation.

• The Tax is PERMANENT Despite What CARD Says
CARD deceitfully says the tax will be in effect until “ended by voters.” Do you think CARD
will ever put a repeal on the ballot? Of course NOT! It will require professional signature
gathers to collect in excess of 12,000 signatures to get a repeal on the ballot and that will cost
thousands of dollars. Who is going to pay for that? No one! You will NEVER get a chance to
repeal this tax.

• The Tax is REGRESSIVE
All properties taxed the same regardless of value. Those least able to afford it are hurt the most.

• Benefits Specials Interests Who Have Raised Over $60,000 For Passage

• CARD’s Revenue Has Been Growing for Years – Up 43% since 2013

• So CARD Has a Spending Problem, not a Revenue Problem
Money that should have been spent for maintenance, new facilities and programs has been spent by CARD on massive unfunded liabilities made up chiefly of unrealistic pension and other post employment benefit promises. Existing funding can’t keep up with the growth of these
unsustainable liabilities hence the Measure A tax and tens of millions in new debt.

INSTEAD OF A PERMANENT, PERPETUALLY INCREASING, REGRESSIVE TAX AND TENS
OF MILLIONS OF NEW DEBT DEMAND CARD REFORM ITS UNFUNDED LIABILITIES!
HOLD CARD ACCOUNTABLE AND VOTE NO ON MEASURE A! DON’T BURDEN YOUR
CHILDREN WITH CARD’S DEBT! GO TO

http://CHICOTAXES.HOME.BLOG

TO GET THIS FLYER AND DISTRIBUTE IT TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW! THANK YOU!

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Thanks Joe Azzarito for a great letter to the editor! NO ON A!

31 Jan

From yesterday’s Chico News and Review:

As a member of Sons and Daughters of Italy Vincenzo Bellini Lodge 2519, I believe playing bocce ball is an important activity for Italians. At a Chico Area Recreation and Park District meeting, the topic of adding courts to a local park was discussed. Measure A, foisted on Chico by CARD, could provide this but at what cost?! The parcel tax, to be on our March 3 primary, is not the solution.

CARD gives lip service to what the public wants or thinks it needs. The recreation department, like all forms of government, feeds itself first of any and all funds, then cries wolf when it comes to everyone else.

They’ll tell you: We need more money to do stuff for you! We promise to keep our word and spend only on you. From the news comes word of potential revenue—most of it will go for debt service. That’s loan interest, folks! They are in hock up to their ears in pension deficits. It is easy to see why they always need more; they can’t pass up an expense for themselves and, therefore, they are broke, were it not for this proposed biased, ever-increasing, perpetual tax borne by homeowners and businesses.

Remember no on A.

Joe Azzarito

Chico

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Harm Reduction? That would be funny if it weren’t such a tragedy

31 Jan

https://www.eterritorial.com/76-local-news/yuba-sutter-news/16350-movie-star-arrested-for-residential-burglary

Shaun Weiss in booking mug, left, and as a child actor in “The Mighty Ducks,” right.  This man is now only 39 years old. 

I hate to jump on this poor guy, but wanted to show the effects that drugs, booze and a life on the street have had on this person. 

I see people like him around Chico, and I always wonder – how does this happen? Of course that is a rhetorical question – I know how it happens. It’s not a disease that you can catch innocently from a mosquito, it’s not mental illness, it’s drug and alcohol addiction.

Of course this man has made his own decisions, but there is a culture that encourages his behavior – including the North Valley Harm Reduction Coalition,  Safe Space, and other agencies that want to offer no barrier shelters and other for-transients-only services in our town. Do these “well-meaning” idiots realize that they are just enabling drug and alcohol users to continue on a self- and society- destructive life path? 

I went to the needle exchange that NVHRC holds in the park and talked to the mostly young people that are handing out the needles. They are without any medical training – oh, I suppose they’ve been taught how to administer NARCON, just like tiny school children used to be taught how to crawl under their desks in the event of a nuclear attack.

They have no clue what they are doing, they’ve been told they are doing the right thing. 

No, look at the picture above – that’s what they’re doing.

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How to write a letter to the editor

29 Jan

I’m working on my election letter to the Enterprise Record. My English 1A professor called this a “thought flow”

  • Chico Area Recreation District Measure A is a parcel tax 
  • This tax will start at $85/year, per parcel, but will increase annually with the Cost of Living Index (roughly 2% currently, this number goes up every year)
  • This tax has no sunset date
  • This tax will be administered equally between giant corporate properties and small residences. In other words, you will pay the same tax on your Chapmantown crapper that Ken Grossman pays for all that bling over on 20th Street.
  • You will also pay the same tax as giant apartment houses full of 100’s of people – renters probably won’t even notice it, but homeowners will.
  • CARD gets about $5 million a year in tax revenues, including a little over a million in “RDA passthrough” and another $3 million from county prop tax receipts, and then another $200,000 in neighborhood assessments collected from homeowners and park development funds from developer fees. 
  • what is RDA Passthrough? CARD manager Ann Willmann  tries to deny that this is tax money. The Redevelopment Act was set up in 1945, mostly to fund schools. It is funded from the annual increase in your property taxes.  From a study conducted by Sonoma County schools a few years ago – “Simply put, tax increment is the annual increase in property tax revenues in a redevelopment project area above a base year amount.”  They put that money in a fund and divvy it out to various public agencies. How can she say that’s not tax money? 
  • CARD only gets about $3.6 million from program fees and facility rentals.
  • CARD spends over $5 million on salaries and benefits. 
  • CARD spends less than $2 million on “services and supplies”. That figure includes everything from maintenance costs to supplies for office parties. 
  • CARD also makes “side payments” toward the pension deficit out of a “Pension Stabilization Trust”. The trust is funded with money from the General Fund. 
  • The 2017-18 budget shows the Capital Projects fund is $340,376 in the negative. 
  • While this parcel tax will not go into the General Fund, it will free up all the General Fund for paying the pensions. f

The above amounts to over 400 words, but yeah, it can be cut down to 250 pretty easily, I’ll work on that later. The first thing I will do is eliminate repetition, then use contractions for stuff like “it is” – that actually really cuts down a letter, saying “it’s”, etc. Then I will look for unnecessary words. 

Later we’ll have some fun with math – here’s a word problem – what percentage of CARD revenues go to salaries and benefits? Just regular payroll – I have not had time to add up all their “side fund payments” to CalPERS, but I know they’ve put over a $1 million into the Pension Stabilization Trust in just the last year. 

Feel free to use these points in your letter to the editor – you can look at the 2017-18 CARD budget for yourself here:

Click to access 2017-18+Budget+-+Version+2.pdf

POST SCRIPT: A very important point I left out:

  • CARD employees pay only 5.5 – 8% of the agency cost of their pensions – that’s next time!

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