VOICE OF THE PEOPLE: Survey Says: “Stop the Bleeding!”

On July 11th the City Council held a Special Meeting that began at 4:30 pm. It was billed as a Workshop to introduce the Results of the Resident Survey for (a) Possible Tax Measure. I arrived late, because I thought it started at 6:00 pm, but I got the gist of the meeting. Do not vote for a $1.5 million dollar utility tax because you have been led to believe that the parks have to be closed and the Senior Center must lose its utility subsidy. If you feel like you are being played, you are right. If you were numbered among the 457 “specially customized” sampling of voters, 54.6% of you said that “Taxes are already too high” or the fiscal emergency is “Due to overspending or poor budgeting”. You also said you were either “undecided” or “would not support a 6% or $1.5 million dollar Utility Tax” by a margin of 57%. Let’s Stop the Bleeding! You should also know that your Council representatives could have requested proposals from consultants who could easily substitute their services for the City Manager ($242,928/yr), City Clerk, ($86,627/yr), Finance ($331,400/yr), Building and Safety ($132,177/yr), Public Works ($146,227/yr), Rental Inspection ($86,343/yr), Enforcement ($142,465/yr), “Non-Departmental?” ($506,144/yr), Maintenance ($101,800/yr), Community/Economic Development ($197,263/yr), and Information Systems ($88,780); but they didn’t. So much for serving the public. I talked to a former City Councilman on Thursday. One thing he learned during his 5 years on the Council was not to blindly follow the recommendations of City Staff. He would rather think for himself.