Tag Archives: City of Chico Ca

Holiday must reads: Truth Matters, and here it is!

27 Dec

Mary, Quene and Alicia over at Truth Matters Chico! have been working hard to explain some of the financial calisthenics that go into paying for public government – you know, of the government, by the government, paid for by the people. Here Mary gives us the details of the cost allocation study in grown-up but pretty easy language:

http://truthmatterschico.com/2013/12/23/into-the-weeds-revenues-transfers-and-allocations/

Mary has been going to a lot of trouble to try and put this stuff into readable packages, it is up to all of us to tag along. It’s really not rocket science. If you don’t think you should have to understand this stuff, then put a collar on and go along being a lapdog to the Oppressor.

And then get ready to get really mad. Mary’s next post tell us all those things we have suspected are true. Here she posts a report that was never given because the city employee who was going to give it – Fritz McKinley – mysteriously got the ax the day or so before the council meeting at which he was scheduled to give it. I’ll let Mary explain, I’m too pissed off.

http://truthmatterschico.com/2013/12/24/2nd-floor-staffingfinance-workout-plan/

I also have a couple of e-mails from Sorensen, related to the discussion we’ve been having about the garbage tax, but I got a lot of chores right now, so I’m not going to get all pissed off about that again too. I’ll get to it later.

 

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Finance Committee meeting: Monkeys in suits moving peas under walnut shells

27 Nov

 

Here sits the brain trust of Chico. Be afraid, be very, very afraid.

Here sits the brain trust of Chico. Be afraid, be very, very afraid.  

It was a chipper 38 degrees when I headed Downtown for the monthly Finance Committee meeting, a cold that penetrated two pairs of pants, two shirts and a heavy jacket. It is a trip that would hardly impress my hillbilly relations, but I feel pretty exhilarated when I arrive at  the city building, my face stinging, eyeballs watering, my hands frozen, fumbling with the bike lock.  It’s good to be awake before you wander into one of these meetings.

They have got a lot better since Chris Constantin arrived, I’ll say. It’s a lot to chew over, some of it hard to understand if you don’t have a degree in administration, but it’s all really important in explaining how our town got into the shape it’s in and why we’re not getting out in any big hurry.

Not long after  Constantin came to town, he introduced the nursery words “loosey goosey” into the official fiscal lexicon (I dare you to say that three times, fast!). He was talking about the way this city had grown accustomed to spending money, each department using their own imaginary credit card with no oversight from Jennifer Hennessy, Miss Finance Mis-director. They were just spending as they pleased and handing Hennessy the bill, and she was using her own personal accounting style to stay a hair’s breadth  ahead of the bill collector. Of course many of us had imagined something like that was going on, we screamed and yelled for her to present the monthly accounting, and she said it was too much work. Dave Burkland said she didn’t have to do it. This may never have changed if Toby Schindelbeck hadn’t made issue of it during the last election. Council finally leaned on Hennessy, but she still didn’t give the kind of reports Constantin has been giving.

Hennessy liked to give power point presentations with  bullet lists and cartoons. A little man standing under a raincloud with the caption, “how did we get here?”  Constantin’s reports are dryer and look boring, but contain more meat.  If you look at the agenda, available here:

http://www.chico.ca.us/document_library/minutes_agendas/finance_committee/11-26-13FinanceCommitteeAgendaPacket.pdf

you will see sheet after sheet of figures, monthly revenues and expenditures for each department.  When I think how many times Hennessy just flat refused to produce these reports, I get a headache. At first, I was a little intimidated by these stacks of figures, but I just started reading through. Starting with the reports,  I just peruse through them, writing down words I don’t understand, then google them.

In short, departments continue to spend money “loosey goosey” without oversight, and, Constantin says, “we’re still letting our costs drive our funding instead of letting our funding drive our costs…” 

The problem I have with his statement is the use of the word “costs”. They don’t ever really tell us the true “cost” of anything down there, instead they mean, “price” that they assign stuff, which includes their salaries and benefits. See, this is how 1500 feet of plastic pipe and a couple of hydrants ends up costing $432,000 – they figure in the “overhead” of salaries and benefits of every employee who dotted an ‘i’ on a form having to do with that particular job.

What they talked about for about an hour yesterday was the process by which they transfer money from one fund to another, making it legal to use the money for uses it could not originally be used for. Over at Truth Matters they are discussing the use of sewer funds to fix the streets. Well, you say, they ripped up the streets to fix the sewers, isn’t it appropriate to use the sewer funds to fix them back?  No, sorry. There’s a road improvements fund for that purpose, which is fed through stuff like the gas tax, and all kinds of federal and state grants, etc. Unfortunately,  Jennifer Hennessy told us at one meeting years ago, that money all went to salaries and benefits, including every dime of that gas tax, which was supposed to be restricted to fixing streets. 

I thought the fund raiding would end with Hennessy, but it’s still a matter of everyday business Downtown. Yesterday they discussed “overhead” – salaries and benefits. They discussed the process by which these salaries and benefits are supposed to be charged to the specific project on which an employee is working – like a subdivision. Then the charges would go to the developer who brought the plans in. Let them complain about the salaries. But no, that’s not how it’s happening,  because council decided a few years back to defer developer fees until a project is built out. In other words, these developers come and go from the city building, using city staff like their own private toadies, and PAY NOTHING. That’s why the development fund is like, what, $9 million in deficit? And capital projects is another $3.4 million in the hole – I’m sure on that figure, they bounced that around a few times yesterday. So, they spend a lot of time talking yesterday about where they were supposed to get the money to pay salaries and benefits of those staffers remaining employed. They need about $36 million dollars to cover that. Anybody got any ideas?

Staff is chomping at the bit to start the Hwy 32 widening project, not because CalTRANS will sue us if we don’t – that never even comes up. No, they are desperate for grant money to pay salaries. Does Hwy 32 really need widening? No. But the city needs the money like a hype needs a needle.  Ruben Martinez said it in exactly so many words – “We need to get $36 million in projects done to meet our budget.” 

And Scott Gruendl asked, “How many staffers would we be able to get out of that…”

There it is folks, just what Contantin said earlier, “we’re still letting our costs drive our funding instead of letting our funding drive our costs…”  And by “costs” they really mean, staff salaries and benefits.

There was more to this meeting, I’ll get back to it when I get a chance, but for now here’s how I’d describe our city government – a bunch of monkeys in suits moving peas around under walnuts shells, waiting for more peas to appear out of the clear blue sky. 

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Scott Gruendl and friends in denial over loss of Measure J – still giving away rainbows down at City Hall

9 Nov

With the help of the media, the city of Chico continues to distract us with “Sit/Lie,” while behind closed doors they’re negotiating the employee contracts. Just the other night they handed a bone to the cops – longtime Chico police officer George Laver was promoted from sergeant to lieutenant, a significant pay raise. Days later, the department announced Laver intends to retire soon. He will retire at lieutenant’s salary. This is one form of spiking, and there they do it right in front of us, with the full blessing of our idiot council.

Including Mark Sorensen, who told me personally that Brian Nakamura was hired to wield a big stick with the employees and their unions. But just a couple of weeks ago, Nakamura complained to a full room at a Tea Party meeting that if he tried to make any changes to existing cop or fire contracts, “the city chambers would be packed with people wearing red Chico Fire shirts… ”  The cops and fire bring in big lawyers from out of town, he said, wa wa wa! Sheesh, this big gun assassin I heard so much about is a quivering woos!

They are laying off people Downtown who do work that brings in revenues, and protecting a pack of prized pigs who won’t even pay their own benefits to keep the city from going under. This idiocy needs to stop with the next election.

Scott Gruendl is up in November 2014. Gruendl, Ann Schwab and Mary Goloff, put Measure J, the cell phone tax, on the ballot, and wrote the arguments in favor. They tried to tell us the money would go specifically to police, fire, fixing the streets and maintaining the parks, but instead of putting those specifics into writing they wrote the measure to deposit the receipts in the General Fund, where they could use it any way they wanted. They also lied about the average amount a customer paid in UT, and about what they would be losing if Measure J failed to pass. They wrote the measure to include “all forms of electronic communication now available or those which become available in the future,” with staff deciding what constituted “electronic  communication”, without any input from the public.

Gruendl complained again about the failure of Measure J in an August article in the Enterprise Record. “Two cents actually makes a difference these days,” he complained to the reporter. “We are so cash poor, every dollar counts.“

Then why did they promote a guy who’s going to retire in less than a year? So that he could collect pension at that amount for the rest of his life? Because “we are so cash poor, every dollar counts“?

The reporter continues, “[Gruendl] also noted the measure’s failure has not caused changes in city salaries and benefits that opponents of the cellphone tax had argued for, saying they wanted the city to extract funds in other ways. Changing employee compensation continues to be a challenging and ongoing discussion, Gruendl said.”

I’d like to make double note of that fact. Here he actually seems to be bragging that he ain’t going to knuckle under to the citizens who won a majority decision over his measure, that he just won’t listen. He’s just not going to do his job as our elected representative, he’s just point blank refusing to deliver the will of the people over this special interest group. I’d also like to mention, as an employee of Glenn County, he is a member of the very same special interest group – a member of the public employee unions.

But  neither will I forget the way Mark Sorensen held me off by the forehead when I complained about Nakamura’s salary and terms of his plush contract. Sorensen insisted that Nakamura would prove himself worth the money when he wrestled the employee unions to the table, kicking and screaming, bluster, bluster, bluster.

 Now Nakamura is the one doing the kicking and screaming, or more appropriate, whining and squirming. Wiggling out of his job.  Flaking on his promises to get our employee expenses under control. Why would anybody be surprised? The first thing he did was give himself an out-of-control salary, and a contract guaranteeing a lifetime of paychecks for only four percent of his bloated salary. 

Sorensen is no better himself.  Remember, he’s was the one who wrote the opposing arguments for Measure J. I think Stephanie Taber or even I could have done a much better job, but it fell first to the council member who wanted it, and Sorensen snatched that opportunity, within the narrow time limits given by the clerk’s office, to write a pretty lackluster argument that lacked sincerity. As if anybody would believe that Mark Sorensen and his friends give a rat’s patoot about low income people.  I have never been fully convinced that Sorensen didn’t want J to pass, even while posturing for it’s defeat. I’ll bet he was surprised it lost. If it had won, I’m absolutely certain he’d be standing aside while the revenues were poured into salaries and benefits, including his own $21,000 insurance policy. 

 Gruendl told the Enterprise Record “I don’t think (Measure J) really changes how we bargain and negotiate.”  That seems to be true. They still negotiate these contracts as though they’ve got a money tree out back of City Hall. They don’t get it, they won’t get it – Measure J’s defeat was about more than excessive taxation, it was about what they’re doing with the money. But they ignore the will of the people, they never intended to pay attention.  They’re not up there to serve us, they’re up there to serve themselves and their friends. 

Cellphone tax rebate applications start to slow down

By ASHLEY GEBB-Staff Writer

POSTED Chico Enterprise Record:   08/10/2013 01:19:22 AM PDT

CHICO — Six months have passed since cellphone tax refunds became available to Chico residents, and the city has since issued $9,550 to taxpayers who want their money back.Chico accounting manager Frank Fields said 191 individual refunds had been issued since February to both residences and businesses, for an average of $50.

The city began offering the refunds in the wake of the failure of Measure J. Nearly 54 percent of voters struck down the proposal to update the city’s phone user tax to include modern technology such as cellphones.

All wireless phone companies have stopped collecting the tax on the city’s behalf. The 5 percent phone tax equated to about $2.50 of a monthly $50 bill or $5 of a monthly $100 bill.

The city will continue to issue rebates one year past the date of any cellphone taxes charged to customers but the number of applications is already starting to dwindle. Only eight applications were submitted in July.

“At this point, somebody could claim back through August of last year,” Fields said. “The one year window is sort of closing every month that goes by. Somebody might have August through January-February. Next month, it will be September through January-February.”

As for the volume of rebate requests, it wasn’t something the city could anticipate, Fields said.

“I don’t know if there was a way to predict what kind of response we would get,” he said. “We had no preconceived ideas about how many refunds we would issue.”

The refund money comes out of the general fund, which is also experiencing the impact of the overall tax loss.

The last three months have been the best indicator of the impact the loss of Measure J will have because only small amounts of tax have been paid to the city, Fields said. Compared to the previous year, the lost cellphone revenue tallies $217,000.

If multiplied to represent the entire year, the loss looks to be about $870,000.

“That’s general fund revenue that’s no longer available to pay for general city services,” he said.

The loss of revenue related to Measure J was noted during the June budget study session, as councilors cut $4.8 million from the 2013-14 budget.

Councilor Scott Gruendl said he remains disappointed by the measure’s failure, especially as the magnitude of the city’s financial situation continues to be realized.

“Two cents actually makes a difference these days,” he said. “We are so cash poor, every dollar counts.”

He also noted the measure’s failure has not caused changes in city salaries and benefits that opponents of the cellphone tax had argued for, saying they wanted the city to extract funds in other ways. Changing employee compensation continues to be a challenging and ongoing discussion, Gruendl said.

“I don’t think (Measure J) really changes how we bargain and negotiate,” he said.

Recently, while walking through Bidwell Park in an area now shuttered to citizens because of budget-related park closures, resident Siobhan O’Neil said she sees a direct link between the city’s cuts and the failure of Measure J.

‘You get what you pay for and what you don’t pay for,” she told the Enterprise-Record. “For pennies a month, we gave up a source of revenue to help with services in an economy that’s still struggling.'”

To obtain a refund, residents must provide documentation, including their cellphone bill and proof the bill was paid. Applications are available online and at City Hall’s Finance Department counter.

Fields acknowledged some people have complained about the amount of necessary documentation but said there is no other option.

“We have to have documentation to show that it was paid,” he said. “Unfortunately, those are usually phone bills. There is no way to bypass that part of the process.”

Since November, any phone tax revenue that has come in has been placed in an account earmarked for refunds. As of Monday, about $286,450 had accumulated.

Whatever remains after the one-year mark of not receiving any cellphone tax revenue will go into the general fund, likely in spring 2014.

Reach Ashley Gebb at 896-7768, agebb@chicoer.com or on Twitter @AshleyGebb.

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Chico is “leaking” – retail sales are down due to traveling consumers and online shoppers, Chamber CEO tries to shame us into charity shopping

12 Oct

Months ago the city of Chico, Downtown Chico Business Asses, and Tri-Counties Bank ran a retail survey, which was available on the city website, asking consumers about their shopping habits. I participated – I said Chico does not have what I want, and when they do, it’s way more expensive than I can find it in other towns or online. I waited for the results, and I’m still waiting. 

I’ve asked at meeting after meeting, I’ve sent e-mails, but I’ve been put off again and again. Now Chamber CEO Katie Simmons has announced the workshops that will focus on the survey, telling local businesses how they can cash in on our thoughts, but still no survey results available to the public. The workshops are free, and I’ve been told they’re open to the public, but Simmons is not publicizing them to the public. 

I sent an e-mail to Simmons and Economic Development $taffer $hawn Tillman, including Mark Sorensen for shits and giggles, and asked them one more time when the results of that survey will be available to the public. I reminded them that Tillman had already admitted quite a few hours of $taff time went into that survey. We’ll see if I get an answer – Sorensen still hasn’t answered me regarding the employee contracts.   He’s no better than the “liberals” – disagree with him on something, ask him a question he doesn’t like, or make an observation he’d admittedly rather ignore, and you will get the back of his hand, just like Scott Gruendl, his erstwhile rival and now apparent paramour.

Meanwhile, Simmons did an interview with “business” reporter Laura Urpsilly.   I had to laugh – you try to tell people something, but they don’t believe it until they hear it coming out of their own mouth!

Years ago, former Chamber CEO Jim Goodwin left the chamber to take the city manager position in Live Oak, a town that is flowing over with agri-money and has no fancy bullshit spending machine to blow it out their asses. Their latest “state of the city” reports that Live Oak is just Dandy!   In  fact, I think they could make it off the sales tax from that Penny Candy store – people come from freaking MILES. 

Before he left, Goodwin came before the Economic Development committee – including Goloff and Gruendl – and  gave a very damning report of Chico’s retail future. He said, little towns around here are finally getting their own economies – their own grocery stores, their own WALMART!  For many years, Chico had enjoyed being a retail hub for these towns, and Goodwin was trying to tell us, that hayride is over.  He also mentioned online shopping, but didn’t have any statistics.  Wow, that was a gobstopper of a report,  I never forgot it. But Katie Simmons and our current council act like they never heard it. 

Little Katie had to find it out for herself. According to Urpsilly, “Simmons noted the economic development team that looked over the results was ‘shocked’ at the online shopping information, including that a large percentage of shoppers go online for almost everything except groceries.

She said the ‘leakage’ — what is spent outside Chico — was also stunning.”

Simmons just won’t get it. She tries to tell us that where we shop is some kind of charity we owe to our community, we’re not supposed to be smart  consumers and save money for our families, we’re supposed to prop up businesses that can’t  compete, and pay higher prices to generate more sales tax to feed $taff.

Simmons points out percentages about local shopping and the economy.

‘If you choose Chico for shopping, that is a locally owned business, 68 cents of every dollar stays in the community. Even when you shop with a business that’s within the city limits but not locally owned, 43 cents stays in the community.

When consumers shop online or out of the area, the community loses those dollars.’

‘It’s important to think where and how we spend our money,’ said Simmons, pointing out that the higher quality of life that Chicoans enjoy mean more city services.

Also, what I’m hearing from this bitch, is that same old crap about “local businesses.” I’ll tell you what Katie, WalMart is a local business – they are located in my town, and employ my neighbors, who spend money in our local economy.   I’m so sorry, I can’t afford to shop Downtown, which seems to be the focus of this effort.  Like I said in the survey, there are few stores Downtown that cater to the working class family.  My husband, who was raised in Chico, will tell you, Downtown has become “the U District”.  And, Tillman made remarks that the survey indicated they are not “taking full advantage of the student population.”   I’m predicting Downtown will become even more unfriendly to Chicoans as Downtown businesses stretch and contort to provide whatever the students want. I’m guessing, more of the same – BOOZE AND LOUD MUSIC! 

Shopping is not a charity – a smart consumer, especially these days, shops to save money, not to prop up poorly managed businesses.   Simmons is going to have to tell businesses to be smarter – carry goods people want to buy at reasonable prices instead of trying to shove high-priced crap on us. You want more consumers Downtown? Put a grocery store Downtown, some reasonable kid’s clothing retailers and shoe stores, and more family-style restaurants instead of these spendy “bistros” where they treat you like a buffoon for bringing your kids. 

And Simmons might also want to have a talk with whoever it is trying to plant the “sales tax increase” bug in people’s asses.  I can’t believe any intelligent person would even mention a sales tax increase right now. 

Right now, I’m going out of my way to shop outside Chico because Matt Olson and whoever are running around trying to get a sales tax increase on the city ballot. I didn’t have to buy a car in Oroville – but I’m so glad I did.   Wittmeier screwed us out of $980 on our unused “extended” warranty, and I will never do business with them again,  or recommend them to anybody else. Finance officer and owner of Santos Paving,  Jackie Santos, personally told us that money would be refunded in the event “something happened,” all except for a $35 service charge!  Jackie, you are a Jersey whore with a mouth full of cat crap. Next time I see your husband George I’m going to tell him all the stuff you said about him – how he’s “one dead Portagee” if he steps out of line with you, etc. I guess you thought that impressed us, but we bought the extended warranty because we didn’t realize our car would be incapacitated before we were able to use any of it. Thanks for a good lesson – don’t trust Jersey whores.

And here’s something else funny – no ha ha – Wittmeier charged us over $3,000 for that extended warranty, Oroville Ford only wants $1400, and we bought a more expensive car. When we questioned this, the Wittmeier people essentially answered, we can do what we want.  I’m guessing that $980 went right into Santos’ pocket, to be spent on grease paint and acrylic claws. 

I learned something about that  from reading celebrity gossip – I read an interview with Goldie Hawn’s ex-husband Bill Hudson. He was talking about Hollywood stars and divas, but it applies to everybody – when you pay somebody a bunch of money, they think they’re important. When you give them a high position, they think they’re powerful. In Hollywood he says, nobody argues with them, questions them, or tells them to Fuck Off. That’s the way it’s become in Chico – the $taffers, all these overpaid divas, just think their shit doesn’t stink! They are doing whatever they want Downtown, and we’re just supposed to pay for it without question.  Katie Simmons is just another public $taffer – she gets the biggest chunk of Community Block Grant Funding – and she’s mouthing the same bullshit – “You citizens need to give us more money!” She just stands there with her hand out, like she’s some kind of royalty or something. 

Go to hell Katie.  Today I’ll be planning my Christmas shopping trip to Redding and Anderson, and in the past two weeks I’ve ordered over $100 in household goods online – everyday junk like soap and cooking aids. And, one of my favorite online sites – Lucky Vitamin – has added a whole bunch of food products.   Just keep pushing it Katie, and I won’t be doing ANY shopping in Chico anymore.  And I’m not alone.

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Oroville is an interesting town

3 Oct

Some of you may know my husband and I just bought a new car  – in OROVILLE!  Oroville Ford was really nice. Although I was treated nicely and professionally at Wittmeier, I would say, Oroville Ford was the best car buying experience we’ve ever had. My husband agrees. 

I try to watch other towns around Chico – not just for the price of gas and groceries, but also their political scene. What other town nearby is having the same kind of problems as Chico? I mean, I’m asking, chime in folks.

I remember Oroville having a fuss over their rec district, going through a lot of money, some accusations were made about a district director using their influence inappropriately. But I don’t recall Oroville making any recent announcements about  being on the rocks.

I just casually met their new city manager – Randy Murphy – when he stood up to offer the only constructive suggestions at the recent CARD aquatic center meeting. Murphy suggested an aquatic center should be a regional effort, with other cities and the county helping out. Murphy was not even thanked for that suggestion, CARD staff just waited for him to stop talking so they could go on exhorting the audience to support those amendments that lower the voter threshold for bond measures.

A letter writer in yesterday’s Enterprise Record says Murphy only makes $127,000 salary as manager of Oroville, comparing that to Brian Nakamura’s salary as Chico City Manager.  I wondered what kind of benefits package Murphy gets so I looked at the city of Oroville website:

http://www.cityoforoville.org/index.aspx?page=1

Nice website. You’ll find the labor agreements at the Human Resources page, which you will find under “City Services” at the top of the main page. I didn’t read those yet, you know me – I was immediately distracted by the “Minutes and Agendas” button to the right. I had to look, and sure enough, O-ville has their minutes posted through September 17, 2013. I’m just saying.

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At last we’re talking nuts and bolts on employee contracts – ER does a story on vacation and sick day accrual

28 Sep

I was pleasantly surprised to see Ashley Gebb’s story on city employees’ accrued sick and vacation days turning into massive payments at lay-off time. Wow, at last the media is paying attention to these insane city contracts. 

http://www.chicoer.com/news/ci_24196124/layoffs-come-price-tag

Gebbs explains  how employees accrue unused vacation and sick days, and then get paid for all these unused days when they leave.  Think about that – they already  got paid for those days. This system allows an employee to get paid twice for one work day.  Chris Constantin makes it sound onerous – these people aren’t getting vacations!  Hey, that’s their choice, and it works out pretty good for them if you ask me.  Gebb’s reports that this round of layoffs cost over $80,000 in vacation and sick leave payments. 

What Gebbs doesn’t mention is, those contracts are  being hashed over right now, to  be negotiated in December. It’s never too early to write to council and let them know just what you don’t like about the employee contracts. You can see those here:

http://www.chico.ca.us/human_resources_and_risk_management/labor_agreements_home.asp

I will bring copies of contracts to the next Chico Taxpayer’s meeting so we can discuss a list of items we can forward to council. The next CTA meeting is postponed to the Second Sunday in October, the 13th. 

 

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City another $700,000 in the hole? wow – that’s about exactly what they appropriated for the new management salaries!

16 Sep

I just get insulted when the newspaper tries to cover for the government, the way the ER has been covering for our city council and $taff lately. I hate to be a reactionary, but I’m human, I react.

This morning, as if it’s a SURPRISE!, we hear that the city is $700,000 farther in the hole than Chris Constantin has recently reported.   Where could it have gone! Stolen by those Measure J opponents? No, that was the $900,000 they bitched about six months ago, this is apparently a new missing amount.

Well, I don’t have my calculator handy, but I’d say, it’s just about exactly the amount that Nakamura has appropriated – and that’s the appropriate word here – to pay the salary increases he gave to himself and his department heads when he “reorganized” the city. 

I feel reorganized – don’t you? I mean, my pockets are EMPTY! That was one hell of a reorganization – some political philosophizers  would call it, a redistribution of wealth. See, Nakamura redistributed money from certain funds into the General Fund, and then he used that money to pay the new salaries. That’s what we call a Lando.

Excuse me if I don’t understand why they are so surprised when those funds they pilfered have come up short. Duh, silly me! I’m not playing the game.  You’ve heard of the Emperor Has No Clothes game, where you pretend a naked man is suited up in the finest outfit you have ever seen. Well, in this game, we pretend we have a lot of money, when we really don’t. If you are the first one to shriek, “STOP SPENDING MONEY, WE DON’T HAVE ANY!” you are OUT! 

Chico City Council to hear fund deficit is significantly higher than anticipated

By ASHLEY GEBB-Staff Writer

POSTED:   Enterprise Record 09/16/2013 12:07:56 AM PDT

 
Click photo to enlarge

Sean MorganAll Chico E-R photos are available
 

CHICO — The Chico City Council will hear Tuesday that the capital projects fund deficit has unexpectedly grown by $700,000.Finance staff previously estimated that Fund 400 would have a negative balance of $2.5 million at the end of this fiscal year. Instead it’s now estimated to carry a $3.2 million deficit.

To prevent additional deficit, the fund’s current structural imbalance must be corrected.

Councilor Sean Morgan said he was angry upon first hearing the news.

“It’s like, how do we continue to find that we are further and further in the hole?” Morgan said. “My next question is, how does this happen?”

Fund 400 pays for major programs, buildings and facilities, and major equipment, and also operates as a holding fund for project administrative costs, according to the city staff report. Direct and indirect costs accumulate in the fund and are later allocated to the source by which they are funded.

The fund’s negative balance began in fiscal year 2011-12 and has been partially attributed to elimination of redevelopment agency-funded projects, and the number of projects that can fund overhead costs.

Over the years, as project funding shrank, indirect costs remained the same, causing $3.2 million in indirect costs to accumulate.

As staff developed the 2013-14 budget, $25 million in unexpended projects remained for the prior fiscal year. Because those projects were not completed and indirect costs were not reduced, the fund’s deficit grew, the staff report states.

“The good news is this should be the last surprise,” Morgan said. “The bad news is the budget we just passed in June — there is $700,000 not accounted for.”

Councilor Randall Stone said he too was frustrated by the news, but it wasn’t surprising. Councilors and staff have understood for a while that numerous funds have problems.

“We knew that given the nature of what has gone on for the last 10 years, the potential for something like this was very high,” he said.

The impacts still will be devastating, Stone said.

Anticipated revenue and savings benefits from elsewhere will not be able to compensate, making deeper cuts necessary.

And small areas the city has worked to preserve, such as the $20,000 to $28,000 it costs to keep Caper Acres open, will come under closer scrutiny.

“All of these little things that didn’t seem like much to many people were tremendous in being able to achieve our goals,” he said. “That gets eviscerated with an $800,000 debt.”

Whether concessions or more layoffs, there is no easy fix, Morgan said.

“I am only one council member but I will scream from the rooftops that we cannot afford to cut public safety any more for any reason. It’s going to have to come from somewhere else,” he said.

Challenges ahead are substantial, Stone said.

“You feel like that kid with his finger in the dike and seeing major cracks and holes developing,” he said. “We are not securing it. The hole just got much larger.”

Fund 400 remains the city’s second-largest deficit fund, after the private development fund, which itself is $9.4 million in the red. Combined with the airport and capital grants funds, they add up to more than $14 million in deficits.

Also Tuesday, the City Council will be asked to authorize recruitment for a vacant senior maintenance worker position, and hiring for the new economic development manager and a city engineer positions. Funding has been budgeted for all three.

The agenda also includes consideration and approval of work plans for the Architectural Review and Historic Preservation Board, the Arts Commission, the Airport Commission, the Bidwell Park and Playground Commission, and the Planning Commission.

PUBLIC MEETING

Chico City Council

6:30 p.m. Tuesday

Council Chambers

421 Main St.

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Yes, the clerk certainly does pick and choose what she puts in the reports and minutes

12 Sep

I hate to be a pest, in fact, I won’t tolerate a pest. Yesterday I found rat turds on my garbage can, so my husband went out and bought me a trap! It’s that time of year, everybody’s foraging – but I don’t put up with rats that close to my house.

Yes, I hate to be a pest – mostly because, people will only put up with a pest for so long. I’ve always known I’ve been walking on thin rice paper Downtown, trying to get information out of employees who may or may not like what I’m doing. I’ve had city staffers walk up to me out of nowhere and hand me documents – one woman said, “if anybody asks you where you got this, you don’t remember…” I’ve had them come up and tell me things, call me on my private phone, approach me at my kid’s games,  to tell me things aren’t good Downtown. This has been happening for a good five or six years, ever since I started to criticize the pay scale and the benefits. 

When I needed something from the clerk’s office, I’d ask for it. I’d tell them I didn’t want to be a bother, no hurry, etc. Debbie Presson was always almost too friendly, too cheerful, but I appreciated her cooperativeness. I remember when my neighbors and I had an appeal up before the city, we were told, we had to get it in within “calendar” days, not working days. It was Christmas time, and they counted both Christmas Eve and Christmas in the 15 days we had to turn in our appeal.  Debbie Presson was really nice – when my husband needed help with something, she told him, she’d be down there on Saturday morning, give her a call and she’d meet him at the door downstairs. That bothered me – at the time, I didn’t want her to go to the trouble, now I wonder, was she on overtime? And why can’t she do her job during the 9-5 M-F week? So, I figured – my mom liked to go to her office for the peace and quiet, maybe that’s what Debbie was doing. 

Knowing we pay dearly for Presson’s time, I’ve kept my requests to a dull roar.  But always Presson indicated to me that I could call her or e-mail her office anytime I needed anything! We had personal conversations I won’t repeat here. I started to get too comfortable with this woman because she was so kissy-nice all the time. 

You know me, I can’t swing with a good thing, I always have to shoot a hole in the dinghy. I started to find out, Presson has a lot of discretion. Discretionary rules always bother the hell out of me. Discretionary rules often set up a system by which “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.” And sometimes I don’t want my back scratched, and I sure as hell don’t like scratching somebody else’s back. Yeeeeecccchhhhh!  I don’t play those games, I always get thrown out for bitching about stuff.

Below here I have the exchange I’ve been mentioning between myself and Debbie Presson, from December of last year, regarding incorrect minutes from the November finance committee meeting.  One thing I will point out – last year she had those minutes up within a month of the committee meeting in question, that’s why I asked her why she’d left out a whole conversation between me and Hennessy regarding the employee’s share.  

Then she says they will be discussing my questions regarding minutes at the January 2 2013 council meeting – I don’t remember it, and she only posted the minutes for that meeting a few days ago. According to the minutes, my letter was read to council and no action was taken. You have to get up there and call these people out physically if you want something – gee, I guess I had better things to do the day after New Years than go Downtown and try to Matt Dillon some legal propriety out of these idiots Downtown.

This is why I’m getting to the end of my patience with Debbie Presson and $taff and the talking heads we call our “elected representatives” – they play games, they jack me around, they are shysters.

In December of last year, having attended a Finance Committee meeting during which I asked detailed questions about the city retirement system and was given erroneous answers by the Finance Director, I read the report from that meeting and noticed that while another question I’d asked had been included in the report, they’d left the conversation about the pension system completely out, not one word.  So, I felt this was important enough to mention, I wrote the following e-mail to Presson and the council:

 

>>> juanita sumner  12/12/2012 6:49 AM >>>

Hi Debbie, Council members, 

 

I was just going over the minutes for  the Finance Committee meeting I attended earlier this month. I see that one question I asked, about the cost of certain consultant reports, was included in the minutes, but not the question I asked regarding what the city pays toward the “employee share” of pension premiums. Jennifer Hennessy stated at that time, “about $7 million.” Later she sent me an e-mail correction – the actual figure was closer to $10.1 million.

 

I wonder why my question and Hennessy’s answer are not included in the minutes? I asked this question during the discussion regarding the loss of Measure J. I was trying to point out, that while the city is complaining about losing $900,000 on a failed tax measure, they spend millions paying THE EMPLOYEE SHARE of pension costs, in addition to the employer share. Our city’s financial problems would be solved if the contracts were rewritten so that the employee pays their own share. Why isn’t this option coming up in the discussion? 

 

I also notice, the police advisory board gets verbatim minutes. I wonder, why aren’t all the committee meetings, including the ad hoc meetings, recorded verbatim? 

 

I’d like this letter to be attached to the next city council agenda as a “communication.” 

 

I’d also like to thank Fritz McKinley for answering my flood notice question. 

 

Thank you for your anticipated cooperation, Juanita Sumner

 

Presson answered right away to let me know she’d received the e-mail:

 

Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2012 17:34:27 -0800
From: dpresson@ci.chico.ca.us
Subject: Re: letter to council
To: juanita sumner

Hi Juanita….
 
I have received your email and I wanted you to know that I will check into the minutes as well as place your letter on the January 2, 2013 meeting under Reports and Communications.  I will however be in touch with you as soon as possible.
 
Have a great evening!
 

Debbie

When I didn’t hear anything or see any change in the minutes a week later, I wrote back, wondering if she needed proof – Mark Sorensen was the one who e-mailed me to tell me Hennessy had given me the wrong information. By this time, the whole employee share thing was getting pretty clear, and I felt like I was being pushed back in my attempts to bring it to public attention:

 >>> juanita sumner 12/19/2012 8:28 AM >>>

Hi again Debbie,

 

I wonder if you’d like me to forward you the e-mail discussion I had with Mark Sorensen and Jennifer Hennessy regarding the question I asked that was omitted from the minutes of the meeting? I’m sure Scott Gruendl and Mary Flynn also heard my question and Hennessy’s answer. 

 

My question and Ms. Hennessy’s answer (answers?) need to be part of the public record. I’m just wondering, why do the minutes mention the one question I asked, but not the other?  The record needs to be complete. This is another reason people don’t participate. I rode my bike through the park to that meeting, at 7:45 in the morning, just to ask that question, and it’s important to me that the question and the answer are part of the official record. Is it a waste of my time to attend these meetings? A waste of time for the public to pay attention? 

 

I’ll be at the next Finance Committee meeting, I’d like some kind of resolution to this problem by then  – thanks, Juanita Sumner

Presson answered me that day. She mentions council’s 2001 decision regarding “‘action only’ minutes, with some summary when needed.”  Well, I think what has become apparent in this conversation, is that Presson and her staff are either incompetent to provide proper “summaries” or they are willingly distorting the record. You decide. 

 

Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2012 19:56:57 -0800
From: dpresson@ci.chico.ca.us
CC: bnakamura@ci.chico.ca.us; DBrinkle@ci.chico.ca.us; KMasters@ci.chico.ca.us
Subject: RE: letter to council regarding minutes
To: juanita sumner

Hello Juanita.

I have researched your questions regarding the discussions that occurred at the 11/27/12 Finance Committee Report (minutes) and found that the report does not reflect all of your comments regarding employee share of pension and benefit costs and subsequent responses by staff. That report is currently under review and once the report is amended, we will provide the Council with the report, with a copy to you as well. Please note, it is always our intent to provide a thorough report from these meetings. The reports however, are typically in summary format. Council’s formal action in 2001 was to direct staff to provide “action only” minutes, with some summary when needed. That motion carried 7-0. 

On a side note, but still related to this topic…. City Manager Nakamura sent you an email following that November Finance Committee meeting which included two attachments pertaining to safety and miscellaneous costs as well as an overview of the range of healthcare benefits that employees can chose from and for which they pay a share of the costs. Would you mind confirming if you did or didn’t receive this information? We would like to make sure he has your correct email address.

As I had mentioned in my 12/12/12 email, your email will be included on the January 2, 2013 agenda under Reports and Communications. At that time, I will be able to address regulations regarding the types of minutes required. Hope that helps. 

I wish for you and your family a wonderful holiday and will see you on January 2, 2013.

Sincerely,

Debbie 

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Yeah, the park is still closed

6 Sep

I was on my way to the Economic Development committee meeting last week, late afternoon, and as I exited the park onto Vallombrosa Way,  getting off my bike to thread my way through a group of fat-assed park walkers standing directly in the gateway, a woman arrived at the locked gate in her car and just sat there, staring.

 

“Why is this closed?” she demanded.

 

The other women, all of who seemed to have small credenzas taped onto their behinds, just stared back. I took my opportunity. “It’s closed because they spent all the park money on their $48 million unfunded pension liability…” Before I could finish that, she had shook her head and driven away. I don’t know if I was giving her too much info, or whether it truly disgusted her, but she left.   We’ll see what kind of outrage that sparks. 

 

How soon we forget.  Caper Acres Volunteers will be having a meeting on Monday at the Faith Lutheran Church on East First, 6:30 pm. They met last week with park management, Dan Efseaf and Ruben Martinez, as well as Lise Smith Peters, the volunteer coordinator, and we’ll see if there’s any fingerprints on their foreheads. I think they were told they could either join the regular Park Volunteers, or they could form a non-profit. Abigail Lopez seems pretty determined, but if I were her, I’d take a harder line with $taff, and join me at City Hall to picket the contract talks. We’ll see.

 

I asked Dan Efseaf about the park donation fund, he gave me the number of that fund so I could look it up. This is not a task to take lightly – drink seven cups of coffee and load your pockets with bread crumbs to leave you a little trail by which to get yourself out. I haven’t done it yet. But you may remember, when I looked into the Downtown Parking fund, I found they use over half of that to pay salaries and benefits, mostly for workers who don’t have anything to do with Downtown Parking. They pay for an entire police position out of that fund, over $100,000, and no, that cop is not “dedicated” to Downtown. He could very well be sleeping off a good beating over behind the Christian Science Reading Room on Palmetto. 

 

Oh yeah, we get some quality for these salaries, don’t we?

 

At last week’s Park Commission meeting, Efseaf mentioned repairs and maintenance needed at Caper Acres. Apparently, this is their excuse for closing Caper Acres – it’s “badly in need of repair,” and they don’t have the money to do it. Really? But they had the money to raise Efseaf’s salary by $20,000? And pay all but 4% of his pension? 

 

Efseaf lists some specific projects in his e-mail below, and makes vague references to more repairs. No cost estimates? What the hell does this guy do all day? Any workman could give you a cost estimate, come on Mr. $93,000 a year! Hey, I got an idea – why don’t they contact the contractors and other public volunteer organizations who did the Nico Project, who re-built the Crooked House from the foundation up, who rebuilt the tree house slide, etc. Local contractors like the Ritchie Brothers. I’m wondering if those people, given past experience, would work with city staff again. 

 

Dealing with our city staff is like dealing with a Repo Man – you have to be alert, all eyes and ears, and quick on the grab. “What’s right” doesn’t have anything to do with it – you have to be persistent, and you can’t ever be rude or the slightest bit belligerent, no matter how they treat you,  or they’ll use it as an excuse to cut you off.  It’s not a game for them, it’s a matter of money. They’re pretty damned ruthless, don’t forget who you’re dealing with. Egg stealers.

 

The entire park is a disaster. They’re trying to squeeze us, and they’ll do anything. They say they don’t have the staff to open the gates for us, but yesterday a giant garbage truck was trolling through the park. This used to be done by a guy or two guys in a city truck – you have to walk in and manually remove the bag. There’s no use to have a big garbage truck in there, and Nakamura himself has said these truck damage city streets, so what’s he doing sending them in there, with the park closed four days out of seven, to collect garbage sacks? 

 

This is mismanagement, pure and simple. And taking a salary for NOT doing your job is embezzlement as far as I’m concerned. 

 

Park manager Dan Efseaf’s e-mail answers to my questions posted below:

Ms. Sumner,

My contact information is below.  Here are some brief answers to your questions, let me know if you need anything else:
1)  What is that fund number?
I believe the fund number is 050-000-46001/xxxxx-000-3990, where the x’s represent the cost centers (one for Caper Acres, Park Improvements, Infrastructure, intern, trails and vegetation management).  This is also our 7th year participating in the Annie B’s Community Drive and they will accept donations on the City’s behalf at http://nvcf.org/index.php?q=donate&list=c31. Each donation will receive a partial match.
2) …specific “infrastructural needs” and “projects” at Caper Acres, and I would like to know exactly what infrastructural projects he’s talking about, and I wonder if I could get a cost estimate on those projects/repairs.
Caper Acres has many infrastructure needs (the roof to the restroom leaks, the wood footings to Locksley castle are rotting (or have been removed), Bunker Hill requires considerable maintenance to meet playground standards, fencing, irrigation, etc.). 
We do not have a cost estimate right now; however, the Caper Acres Master Management Plan that I mentioned will kick off this fall.  After obtaining input from the community the plan will assess and prioritize needs.  The plan will provide a cost estimate for each feature or repair.  The plan will be completed in 2014, but input will start this late fall (probably with one of the Committees).
 

Sincerely,

Daniel Efseaff | Park and Natural Resource Manager

Public Works Department | City of Chico

 

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Just how should parking revenues be spent?

28 Aug

Yesterday I hauled out of here at 7:45, and I mean hauled ass.  I can never get out of here in the morning, always have to go back for something, bike lock, ink pen, notebook, whatever. Just getting out my driveway can take me 20 minutes. If I’m lucky I don’t get halfway up the street and then realize I’m still wearing my pajama top.

I made the 8:00 Finance Committee meeting at about 8:04, having achieved flight somewhere under the freeway overpass, screeching into my chair just as Brian Nakamura and some other $taffers were taking their seats, and  Mark Sorensen was calling the meeting to order.

I had gone down there to ask some questions about the parking fund.  I find these meetings are the best time to ask questions, as long as they are relatively on topic. I must say, despite my feelings about their obese salaries, Chris Constantin and Frank Fields seem competent and are cooperative.  They give me an answer when I ask. The only part I have to figure out is, which question to ask.

Yesterday I wanted to know, what salaries are paid out of Downtown parking revenues, or Fund 853. I saw in the reports that fund takes in a little over a million a year – that’s just coin from Downtown parking meters – Whoa Nelly!

I also saw, half that fund goes to salaries and benefits, and I wondered – that can’t be just the parking meter crew. No, it’s not. Mark Sorensen mentioned, they take $120,000 for a cop, and no, he’s not assigned Downtown.

Well, I must say, that’s questionable. And that was the topic – just what should the city be able to do with the parking revenues. Fields, speaking on behalf of Constantin who is out of town til Sept 9, wants direction on that. It’s not his job to set policy, he’s just there to give us the facts. The fact is, we’ve been spending money “loosey goosey” (yes, that term has made it’s way permanently into the finance lexicon), and the Finance Department is asking council to put some limits on various funds, make some rules about spending.

Oh my geeshy sakes, isn’t that just Rocket Science! 

I know, we’ve heard this before, months ago. It’s not staff’s fault here, Constantin has been asking for direction, telling council they need to come up with new budget policies. Council has been moving like sap in Winter. I keep going to these meetings, months apart, and hearing the same conversation.  At one meeting, Constantin said departments had all been spending money without Finance Department oversight, and then just handing the bills to the Finance Department. Also, historically, whatever a department spent became their budget for the next year, encouraging departments to spend more to get more.  This is called “rollover,” and Fields says that while it’s really not a good way to run your finances, it’s “become the norm in government, I’m not sure why…”

Well, Frank is being too nice here. I know why, cause I remember an article in Tim Bousquet’s paper, years ago, about a lady named Jan who worked at the college. She said her boss had bought an enormous, gorgeous teak desk one year with what otherwise would have  become a “budget surplus,” meaning, their budget would have been cut. Rather than take a budget cut, this man bought himself a grandiose desk, at the taxpayers’ expense. This has become “the norm” in government.

And don’t forget, budget surpluses can also be taken as bonus by the department head – watch that episode of the office, where Staff is divided over buying new chairs or a new copy machine, and Michael “solves” the argument by taking the surplus as a bonus and buying himself a pimp jacket.

I have to get to work around my house now, I’ll pick this up later. 

Later:  Since I last posted, I have got a bunch of figures from Frank Fields, regarding the parking fund (853) but I haven’t had a chance to look them over. I also got some figures for the park fund (050) and wow, that’s a can of worms. I will get back after I’ve read over those documents – today  I am working out of town.

Later Later: Well, the documents Frank was so nice to provide me didn’t tell me anything really new – just kind of answered my suspicions.  Nor did he give me a document that I can cut and paste or figure out how to post in any way for you – I’ll work on it. Suffice to say, yes, they pay too many salaries out of the parking fund, salaries that, I’m sorry, have NOTHING to  do with providing anybody parking. 

What stunk about this meeting was, they have had the same discussion in front of me several times now, over months – and years previous with Hennessy – but nothing changes.  Staff certainly seems willing to have new rules for spending money – they don’t want to take the blame for the mess we’re in, they want to make sure we all know they are at the behest of council. So, the problem – the head of this stinking fish – is COUNCIL.

Furthermore, I’m blaming the two who told us they’d bring “fiscal conservatism” to this council – Sorensen and Morgan.   These two, especially Morgan, who is an ass, are doing nothing but fiddling our money away. They both signed another set of contracts agreeing to pay the employee’s share. With Morgan completed embedded at Chico PD (he brags constantly about going on frequent “ride-alongs” with his personal friend CPOA president Peter Durfee), I don’t see this changing anytime soon. We will continue to pay whatever the cops hold their hand out for as long as Morgan has anything to say about it.   Sorensen is way too friendly with the Chamber crowd. We’ll never get our financial house in order with Sorensen and Morgan handing out our taxes to their friends.

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