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| The Civility Party's initial reaction |
It probably goes without saying, anyone who finds fact and logic threatening might wish to leave now. Please do so in an orderly fashion.
Like I did with yesterday's exegesis, we'll be taking the No On Measure UUT statement paragraph by paragraph. This way we can all discuss the reasoning involved as the argument of today's authors unfolds. Which is a complicated way of saying that I get to give you my opinions.
Here is how this goes:
Vote NO on Measure UUT. The tax increase is not necessary to maintain current revenue or service levels in the City thanks to existing revenue increases already built in. Authors of this Utility User's Tax (UUT) increase measure will tell you that more tax money is needed. This is clearly false given that the City finished the 2012 - 2013 fiscal year with over $870,000.00 in unassigned General Fund reserves.
I would enjoy telling you that at my house we had $870,000.00 in unassigned funds last year. Money that we had to devote a considerable amount of time trying to figure out how to, um, assign. However, that wasn't actually the case. We did have a little extra cash, which we used to buy four tickets to an Anaheim Ducks hockey game. Had a good time, too. The kids hope we'll do it again soon.
Property tax revenue (income) continues to increase. In the 6 months ending December 15, 2013, over 80 properties were sold in Sierra Madre. Conservatively, the resulting estimated increase in property tax income will be an additional $50,000 per YEAR. Property tax income will also continue to increase as more homes sell for higher prices.
I suspect that City Hall already knows this, and rather than bring it to our attention they hoped nobody would notice. After all, a big chunk of these funds could be used to pay for their retirements. Who would want to mess with that?
Income from the current UUT Law continues to increase as utility bills continue to go up. With large water rate increases scheduled for February and July 2014, the City will collect MORE monthly income at the proposed water UUT rate of 7% than it collected at the 9% rate BEFORE the large water rate increase went into effect.
I suspect the City knows this as well, but again decided to keep it QT. Of course, in the case of water related taxation much of that money could be used to undo some of the considerable damage being caused by the disastrous 2003 Water Bond situation. You know, the one where we paid only the interest on a $6 million dollar loan, thereby ringing up an additional $9 million dollars in debt? Debt that has done us absolutely no good whatsoever?
While I'm sure the Bank of New York is happy about this, City Hall might actually be sorry this happened. Since they haven't said yet we're not sure. But you're going to have to pay for it anyway.
Don't be fooled! Starting in July 2015, Measure UUT will INCREASE your base UUT to a 10% rate from the 8% rate voters approved in 2008 on all utilities (except water and sewer). That's a 25% increase!
The four members of the City Council favoring Measure UUT would rather you forget that you voted yourself some utility tax relief in 2012. Instead they'd prefer you remember the vote you cast eight years ago that increased your utility taxes. Think of it as a kind of kangaroo memory effect.
Do you expect a 25% increase in your income in 2015? Of course not. Given the large revenue increases already in effect, you can be sure the City will see increased income far beyond anything you or I will see. Vote NO on Measure UUT.
Amen to that.
Our Prop 218 Water Rate Protest Ballot Countdown is now available!
The Prop 218 Countdown can be found in the upper right hand corner of this page, complete with friendly colored letters and planned frequent updates. And the reason it's there is because I think this is some pretty good news. That we're at 559 water rate increase protest ballots coming out of the hectic Christmas and New Year's break is impressive.
As those brave souls who worked to pull off our near Prop 218 Miracle the last time around can tell you, it was only until the final 10 days that things really started to take off. The majority of the protest ballots we managed to get in 2010 came in at the very end of that Prop 218 "process." I suspect that will happen this time as well.
Call me a starry eyed optimist, but this strong start tells me that we might actually win this thing. We are now ahead of where we were last time. Call your neighbors and let them know 559 people have already filled out ballots protesting the water rate hike. It is a lot of folks. Then ask them what in the blue blazes is holding them back.
It certainly can't be that they want to pay $300 water bills.
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