No "TOT" Increase - Elections Cloud Judgment

GUTLESS "RECEIVE AND FILE"
Tuesday night the Costa Mesa City Council voted unanimously to simply "receive and file" Linda Dixon's request and accompanying staff report requesting that an increase in the Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) be placed on the November ballot. That means no further action will be taken on this subject this time around - again. That motion was made by Allan Mansoor and seconded by Eric Bever.

BYRON NAILS IT - AGAIN
Byron de Arakal, in his column today on this subject, really nailed it. You can read it HERE.


BRIEF RE-HASH
I won't go into the details of this issue - I covered it in my previous entry and many people chose to provide their comments on it - except to observe that the staff presentation was a shorthand version of the discussion held at the Study Session last week. I doubt that audience members not previously privy to the details of this subject would have understood what this was all about from tonight's presentation.

THE MAJORITY IGNORES THE PROFESSIONALS - AGAIN
Once again, the majority on the City Council have chosen to ignore the wise counsel of their senior city staff, including City Manager Allan Roeder and Finance Director Marc Puckett, on an issue that will have a long-term impact on the future of our city. Roeder and Puckett and their staffs have, for decades, effectively played a shell game with the city's finances, using the Fund Balance from the previous year's budget to balance the new one. Don't get me wrong - that's not a criticism, it's a statement of admiration. It's hard for me to imagine a municipal budget being more effectively managed.

DECLINING REVENUES REQUIRE ACTION
However, with the decline in sales tax revenue and the uncertainty of the property tax revenue stream because of the current worsening loan crisis, it is clear from all indicators that those two segments of our municipal revenue stream will fall well short of their budgeted levels. The two segments combined make up 70% of our municipal revenue stream.

TOT INCREASE WOULD HAVE EASED THE IMPACT
The proposal by Dixon, which was heartily supported by Roeder and his staff, to place before the voters a modest increase in the TOT in November would have - if approved - dovetailed nicely in the spring with the anticipated decline in revenues. The TOT is a tax felt only by visitors to our city and ours is currently the lowest in the county.

POLITICS FIRST
When it was clear that the Bever-led majority was not about to approve placing a TOT increase on the ballot, nor were they interested in tinkering with the business license fees, Katrina Foley and Dixon voted with the majority to blow off this plan. It is an election year, after all... I find it very curious that the city council had such low regard for the opinions of the voters that they wouldn't trust them to make a wise decision on this tax increase in November, so they just refused to place the question before them.

CHICKENS COME HOME TO ROOST IN THE SPRING
Next spring, as the city begins preparing it's next budget, the chickens will come home to roost. It will be very interesting to see what kind of a waltz our elected leaders do to shrug off the responsibility for the difficult financial times ahead. I'll remind you of their vote tonight when the time is appropriate. As Allan Roeder reminded the council tonight, when revenues fail to materialize it won't be a matter of simply tightening the municipal belt - that's the way he and the staff run our city in the normal course of doing business. No, it will mean deciding which services and improvements will not get done. When unfilled potholes begin occurring on your street, remember this vote.

Revelations And Frustrations in Costa Mesa Nation

The Costa Mesa City Council meeting on Tuesday, August 7, 2007 was yet another interesting adventure. I'm not sure what was up with the mayor, but it seemed like every time I looked up at the picture on my television screen he was absent. Every once in awhile he would pop up and dash off the dais like he was trying to make the council meeting an aerobic event.

During the public comments segment an interesting event occurred. One speaker - a regular attendee before the council who resembles my theoretical character, Your Neighbor - who uses his three minutes to provide direction to the council, made a couple of very telling comments. First, he told us that he is able to recognize gang members on sight, and described some of the physical attributes on which he bases his opinion. It sure sounded like racial profiling to me. Now, if this guy can actually identify gang members from among other members of the community on sight I think we need to draft him into the Gang Enforcement Detail of the Costa Mesa Police Department to facilitate the eradication of gangs from our city. Since he's been a frequent loud critic of gangs and a strident advocate for safety of our residents, I'm sure he would acquiesce and perform this public service for the safety of all Costa Mesa residents.

This same fellow also mentioned, in the same context of the gang problem, that he has been a frequent visitor to crime scenes in our city, and that he has also taken his family with him to these locations. This only affirms the mental image I've had of him, squatting in his bunker in Mesa North, listening to his police scanner, ready to dash out to view some violent event in our city. It's my understanding that he has at least one small child - the one endangered by marauding soccer players in Paularino Park - so I find myself wondering just what kind of a parent would drag a small child to a bloody crime scene. Good Grief! This certainly confirms some of my opinions of this man.

As most have already learned by reading the Daily Pilot coverage, here, the question of placing of the fireworks issue and a 2% increase in the Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) on the November 2008 ballot were both laid to rest by the Mansoor majority. I found it interesting that they would choose to forbid the voters of this city the opportunity to express their view on these two issues at the ballot box. A 2% increase in the TOT would mean an additional $2 million in revenue to the city - money pitched into our coffers like coins tossed into a wishing well by visitors just passing through. That lack of foresight represents a lot of public safety staff members not hired and a lot of potholes not being repaired. I suppose, if enough voters were interested, either item could be placed on the ballot by the initiative process. That might be interesting.

Among the other items mentioned during the meeting was the possibility of resurrecting a parade in conjunction with the annual Fish Fry at Lion's Park. Councilwomen Katrina Foley and Wendy Leece are scheduled to meet with the City Manager and former councilman Mike Scheafer to discuss it.

Oh, yes. As predicted, the fellow mentioned early in this posting was all over Tony Dodero for his commentary published in the Daily Pilot Wednesday. It sure does seem that he's become our young jailer/mayor's biggest supporter. Maybe it's because the mayor seems to jump every time this guy snaps his fingers.