Monday, April 02, 2012

Haste, And Assumptions, Make Waste

MEA CULPA, SORT OF
Housekeeping time. In my last post I suggested that the City of Costa Mesa had released email correspondence between City Clerk Julie Folcik and the Registrar of Voters office in Santa Ana regarding deadlines on the submission of Charter information to make the June ballot. Joe Serna's article in the Daily Pilot last Friday HERE, and Sean Greene's article in the Orange County Register HERE, spoke of the exchange and I - and many others too, I come to find out - assumed that the City had released that information. Turns out it was the Registrar's office that released the information. I spoke with Communication Director Bill Lobdell this afternoon who confirmed that The City had NOT provided the information reported by Serna and Greene. He told me they planned to, but the Registrar beat them to it. So, apologies - kind of - to The City for my assumption that they had released the information. I'm still concerned that they WOULD have done so, but the Registrar's office did it first.

ANOTHER VOTE, AN
D MORE...
In my haste to publish information about the upcoming City Council meeting tomorrow I overlooked - again that darn "haste" bites me - an item of extreme importance. I mentioned that the mid-year budget review, previously presented by Finance and Information Technology Director Bobby Young on March 20th, was being presented AGAIN on Tuesday. I gave you the link to it, HERE. I assumed the staff report was "old news", and that the reason for the re-presentation was to - hopefully - get three council members to vote to authorize transfer of funds from the General Fund to the Self Insurance Fund so litigation bills could be paid. Well, that part is true, but there's more...

COUNCIL TO CONSIDER NEW TAXES
At the council meeting on March 20th CEO Tom Hatch was asked by Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer - during his meltdown - to bring back every kind of tax and funding source possible for the council to consider. Well, Young has prepared a long list, which is shown as Attachment #9, HERE, of current and possible future funding sources that the City might consider. Some of them are issues that require a vote of the people. Please take a few minutes and review that list... it will make your stomach curdle. And, it made me chuckle, since the city council pretends to be fiscal conservatives but have actually asked the staff to present them with new TAXES to consider. Here's a list of the 14 areas that the council will consider to either increase the amount or create new taxes:
  • General Obligation Bonds
  • Sales Tax
  • Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT)
  • Business License Tax
  • Solid Waste Franchises Fee - Non Residential
  • Solid Waste Franchises Fee - Residential
  • Green Fees at Golf Course
  • Emergency Medical Services - Resident Paramedic Fee
  • Fire Prevention - Apartment Inspection Fee
  • Fire Prevention - Business Inspection Fee
  • Fire Prevention - Annual Permit Fee
  • Animal License Fee
  • Citywide User Fees
  • Civil Citations
UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS
Of course, new funding sources are necessary IF the council expects the st
aff to present them a budget that covers the costs added in their wish list - the 5 Year Forecast, HERE - that was completed by simply pulling numbers from the air without ANY kind of careful deliberation or even discussion. This should be very interesting. It's that kind of petulant disregard for the needs of the city - and placing personal political priorities ahead of the welfare of our town - from which recall efforts spring...

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2 Comments:

Blogger Joe said...

Here's my suggestion for the city to save time and money while collecting the new taxes and paying its bills:

Just make your check out to "Jones Day."

Thanks Riggy!

4/02/2012 04:26:00 PM  
Blogger Mike H. said...

I wonder if Costa Jones Day-a will now appeal to the Supreme Court...

http://appellatecases.courtinfo.ca.gov/search/case/dockets.cfm?dist=43&doc_id=2009435&doc_no=G046699

4/02/2012 05:19:00 PM  

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