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| Did the Pod People get him? |
Rather almost all of that dough will go into the pockets of this City's full-time employees, mostly to prop up their vastly underfunded CalPERS accounts. But don't tell the Mayor that because he will get seriously cranky with you. Nothing is more sacred to John Capoccia than whatever version of reality he happens to be embracing at that moment. Of course, it is up to you to keep track of where he might philosophically be at any given moment. And yes, it's a constantly moving target.
Just for laughs, I thought I would post a flyer today that many of the volunteers who supported John Capoccia in 2012 passed out door to door all over Sierra Madre. Done because they actually believed what he had told them, particularly regarding this city's sky high utility taxes.
Little did these hard-working volunteers know that John had no intention of honoring any of his campaign promises on taxation issues.
Here is that flyer. On it item No. 2 is the big one, though No. 3 is also a hoot.
Since John Capoccia broke his big election promises of 2012, what promises do you think he will go on to break this year? Any on development perhaps? Is he now beholden to "special interests?"
Bradbury's UUT Versus Sierra Madre's UUT
As discussed here yesterday (link), Bradbury City Manager Michelle Keith recently implored the residents of Sierra Madre to vote themselves a 66% utility tax increase this April 12. Something that would return Sierra Madre's UUT rates to 10%, or just about the highest such rate in California. The reasoning behind her appeal was not clearly stated, though it certainly was fraught with emotion.Should Measure UUT pass, below is pretty much what utility taxes will return to once they increase this coming July (link). It comes from a website called MuniServices.com and lists where Sierra Madre's UUT was up until July of 2015.
Now Michelle Keith is pretty much down with sky-high 10% utility rates. Or at least she is for Sierra Madre. In her floridly worded "tweet" Michelle states that this is what it will take to hang on to the purple colored fantasy world she and her equally surreal friends believe in.
However, in the City of Bradbury, where Michelle Keith currently serves as City Manager and therefore runs the place, things are a little different. There you will see that a small city having a low sales tax base can be successfully managed with lower utility taxes. Something that is the exact polar opposite of what Michelle is advocating for Sierra Madre.
Here are Bradbury's utility tax rates (link).
So why is it the city that Michelle Keith runs as City Manager can successfully exist on 5.5% utility taxes, yet in her view Sierra Madre somehow needs to have a 10% UUT or the world will come to a screeching end?
This discrepancy has yet to be rationally explained by Ms. Keith. My guess is it's because Bradbury contracted with the Sheriffs, while Sierra Madre is still paying out the nose for an extremely expensive boutique police department.
Arcadia's April Verlato and Peter Amundson win Pasadena Star News nod
From the editorial:
"There are other issues than the out-of-scale overdevelopment known as mansionization facing Arcadians and Arcadia City Hall — the fiscal danger of losing $7 million a year if Measure A kills the utility tax, for one.
But in this and next month’s municipal election — Arcadians now vote entirely by mail, with ballots due April 12 — the blight of too-big houses on too-small lots is by far the No. 1 concern.
And since the two candidates for two open City Council seats with by far the best records and campaign platforms aimed at reining in mansionization are April Verlato and Peter Amundson, we strongly endorse them in this election."
Link here for the rest of the Star News endorsement.
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