City Council's Tax Appetite
Pacifica
has lost its way. City Council just doesn't get it. More taxes, however
prettied up and marketed, are not the answer. Tax Measure R on the
November 2 ballot is another in a long line of misguided tax schemes and
actually leads the way for another $6 million in new taxes within 14
months.
California
unemployment is over 12%. Property values have fallen. Home sales have
dropped. People are struggling to make ends meet. Personal income is
flat. People are rightfully very anxious about the future. A recession
is not the time to pick the public's pocket.
Here is a critical part of the official ballot statement for Tax Measure R signed by the entire City Council in August 2010:
"Pacifica continues
to spend
more than it receives"
Well,
City Council wasn't kidding when they admit to spending more than they
receive. It's been going on for years, and certainly made worse by the
recession. Just exactly what is the point they are trying to get
across with a statement like that? Don't forget, two of the incumbents
think they have done such a good job of spending more than they get that
they are asking us to re-elect them!
These
same 2 have been part of the process of approving salaries and benefits
that Council isn't able to fund. Not a ringing endorsement of fiscal
responsibility! Salary and benefits are a huge part of our budget, as
they are in other municipalities. A large difference is the ability to
pay those costs. We can't afford what has been negotiated by our council
over the past 12 years.
For
the past ten years, Council has been piling up the debt. The total
city indebtedness is north of $125,000,000. That's $6,250 per voter.
Employee
pension debt alone from years prior to 2009 is $32 million, being paid
by the taxpayers. That isn't taking into account the ongoing pension
debt piling up today again.
The
City Council advertises their economic plan. Council figures this plan
will generate $6 million over five years. Take a moment to look at this
plan found here:.
It's
all of three pages. It contains no due dates for any objective. No
revenue expectations are attached to any part of the plan. The committee
that produced this holds monthly meetings. No meeting minutes are
available to gauge progress. No list of committee members is on the city
website, and the parameters or financial background to participate in
this process are unknown.
In
short, our supposed roadmap out of this Council generated mess is a
casual vague plan lacking due dates and revenue targets. The plan is so
lacking in detail it would get you flunked out of your high school term
paper class. It holds the council to no accountability standards. Give
us your money and trust us says Council. You think that's right?
Unfortunately,
City Council has taken us for this ride before. In 2004, Council
convinced the voters to approve a five year fire assessment tax to
support Pacifica fire services. Many people expected an economic plan to
be developed while the five year tax was in place to fully support fire
services. Wrong. Council immediately laid off three firefighters. No
economic plan was developed during the five year tax. Council broke
faith.
Over
the horizon, in 2011, is the first leg of $6 million in new taxes---a
$4 million public safety property tax assessment. This tax is rigged by
City Council to get around Prop 13 and will require only a majority
vote, not 2/3. Adding insult to injury, only property owners will be
allowed to vote. If you are a voter and do not own property, you cannot
vote. If you are a renter, you cannot vote. If two spouses are on the
title of the house, only one gets to vote. If you own multiple
properties in town, you get multiple votes, one for each property. If
you are an out-of-town landlord or are an out-of-town corporation (Bank
of America anyone?) and own property in Pacifica, you get to vote.
In
conclusion, vote No on Tax Measure R in November. The Pacifica Chamber
of Commerce authored the argument against this tax. Not a single hotel
manager thinks this tax helps Pacifica hotels in a very tough economy.
Even San Francisco is rejected new taxes and fees, demolishing the
Pacifica Council's argument: well everyone else is raising taxes. Measure R just whets the appetite of City council for more taxes next year, taxes
that disproportionally keeps renters, minorities, younger people
without houses from voting at all and allows out-of-town corporations to
vote. The
economic plan the City touts is of no value. Council broke faith by
laying off firefighters in 2004 after the five year tax was approved.
We deserve a better, leaner city budget that addresses the tough issues Council has ignored for years.
Jim Wagner & Mark Stechbart
Submitted by Jim Wagner
18 comments:
Sign me up Jim. Pacificans need to demand these outrageous wages and benefits be cut a lot more. This is where all our money is going. Wage cuts across the board, no more free health care and they must contribute most of the money to their pension. We need to renegotiate all union contracts. If the unions don't like it we'll impose the new working conditions. There's plenty of highly qualified people unemployed that would love a steady job.
Hutch, what is wrong with you? City Council has already told us they've cut 91 billion dollars in city salaries and benefits. It was in Patch. Patch. Seeing the error of their ways, the city has also made 2D Todd city manager and 1D Tod, city finance director. Jim and Mark are running the mobile city soup kitchen (try their tomatoe bisque)and Kathy operates the new library located in her garage. Drop some books off, would ya? Cops? You need to conquer your fears, Hutch. Cops are out. Fire Dept? We bailed! No more employees so no need for human resources but not to worry because Annie landed on her feet and has replaced Mirkirimi as SF Sheriff. And Mirkirimi is spending his days unarmed and playing golf at Sharp Park with Kam who's fresh out of the Federal Witness Protection Program but doesn't know it. That Obama, what a funny guy. Anyway, Hutch, where's your trust, dude? They said they made the cuts and Pacifica is just fine. And they thank you for your last freakin' dime. Going to use it to build a park on Pedro Point.
Oh okay sorry I asked. I should know not to question the supreme council. Shame on all you. Our city told us they already made cuts. 91 billion as Anonny pointed out. How dare we question that. No please don't show us any proof. I believe you. I''m sorry if I hurt your feelings city of Pacifica.
As this drama plays out, let's all remember how we got here. Hmmmmm, we don't seem to have the capability to remember! Seems our ecology is not our economy. Wasn't that Mayor Sue's brilliant concept. Or as Mayor Julie would like to say "let's have another sustainability report". Or Mayor Vreelanator liked to dream "That bronze plaque would look good with my name on it. Let's build a trail, Taj Mahal city hall, bio-diesel plant, something! Give me a plaque, statue, something because I'm the great and powerful, JIM". Or how about Mayor Pete, "shit, another meeting". Dream team. How in the world could we ever get to this point!
I believe we got her in the traditional way. We voted for these people or in too many cases, failed to vote.
Don't blame me I voted for the other guy.
The democrats favorite daddy and financier George Soros, who also is heavily invested in the collapse of America, says, "“I am not here to cheer you up. The situation is about as serious and difficult as I’ve experienced in my career,” Soros told Newsweek. “We are facing an extremely difficult time, comparable in many ways to the 1930s, the Great Depression. We are facing now a general retrenchment in the developed world, which threatens to put us in a decade of more stagnation, or worse. The best-case scenario is a deflationary environment. The worst-case scenario is a collapse of the financial system.”
Read more here:http://www.theblaze.com/stories/soros-warns-of-riots-brutal-clampdowns-possible-total-economic-collapse/
Any politician who is complicit in purposefully bankrupting an american city needs to be FIRED. Any politician who is complicit and purposefully pits americans against americans, starting class warfare needs to be FIRED.
Asking pacificans to take a survey and pick what they would like to see cut is pretty much saying ,'I can't do my job, please help me' or 'you are all fools and are playing a part in starting a civil war' These public servants have a agenda and it is not good for you or your children and future grandchildren. They are purposefully bankrupting our city's and towns. They are purposefully hoping to start a civil war, getting us to fight each other so more laws could be written to keep us in our place. WAKE UP!
We may not like the pay and pension benefits of our neighbors, but they are still our neighbor, husband, wife, daughter and son and you voted for it. We must find another way of doing business and future cuts have to happen, BIG CUTS. It is the unions that are holding us all hostage over these cuts, they are playing a role too, they are just too stupid to realize it. The big big bosses know damn well what they are doing. EVERYONE MUST SACRIFICE, not just the majority of the private citizens (who are not getting their pay from the tax payer) but the citizen who gets their pay , either it be welfare or a public employee paycheck, from the tax payer needs to sacrifice also. The pension account monies were stolen and now there is no money for future retirees. So you wanna raise taxes and cut services to the poor? You are complicit in purposefully starting a civil war. And, I believe you know it.
This is a great you tube video of a Judge Judy Episode. If you haven't seen it you must. It will help you realize what part of the problem is in the coming future.
http://revolutionarypolitics.tv/video/viewVideo.php?video_id=15915
"End-of-the-world" is coming. Oh, I forgot jobs are picking-up.
No thanks to the elected officials including our president. It is the american people in the private industries that are creating the jobs. Looks like we really don't need them at all. Time to put them on as part-time employees.
So our city council pretty much hurried up and negotiated union contracts with only minimal cuts all the while knowing that the city was in this heap of economic crap?
Then they say 'here are the only options you have, less services, less money for the underprivileged, and no we already negotiated contract cuts sorry"
Does something almost seem illegal about this or is it just me?
And the City is still in negotiations with at least a couple of unions. Can they now ask for more give backs now that they know the budgetary problems?
Hutch, I sure hope so. And might I add that it is wonderful to see that the city manager has overcome his previously publicly stated embarassment about going back to the unions for more cuts. People forget who they work for and who pays the salaries, including theirs.
If the money isn't going to be there to pay these contracted salaries then somebody better renegotiate something. And remember to mention bankruptcy everytime the conversation stalls. Ugly as it would be it is the only thing that would really wipeout these horrendous, pre-crash contracts. Unless the city and council face the inevitable truth about Pacifica's future.
I think the City Council is too close to the people they are negotiating against. Crap, they ARE the people they're negotiating against.
In the normal world "the company" fights tooth and nail against the union. In the world of government you have elected politicians who count on union votes calling the shots.
This is how we end up with crazy salaries and benefits for public sector unions.
We must hire the toughest anti union lawyer then place a citizen committee who will be hard on the unions in charge of negotiations.
Wow, not a PEEP in the Tribune this week about this. Just like the old days.
When are they going to grow a pair and start doing their job of policing government.
We're being railroaded here and our newspaper says squat.
Come on Elaine.
Hutch has a pair...
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