FOREfront--Working for the People of
Volume 2, Issue
1, January 1999
WHAT’S NEXT IN LAWSUIT
AGAINST CITY’S FEES?
The City of
According to the
Jarvis group, charging rate payers more than the city’s cost to provide water,
sewer and collection services, then siphoning off the surplus and depositing it
in the general fund, violates Proposition 218, the Right to Vote on Taxes Act.
Proposition 218 requires that fees for property-related services be limited to
the cost of providing the service and prohibits the use of fee revenue for any
purpose other tan providing the service.
The Answer filed
by the city denies the allegations in the Complaint and states that the
overcharges are justified.
For its next
step in the litigation, the Jarvis group will be conducting discovery (the fact
finding phase) and gathering evidence to prove its claims. It the city’s
responses to Jarvis’ discovery requests show there is little disagreement as to
the facts and that the city and Jarvis simple disagree over the legal
requirements of Proposition 218, then Jarvis will probably seek an early
resolution of the case by filing a motion for summary judgement.
"No man is an island,
entire of its-self . . ." John Donne
YOU PAID HOW
MUCH FOR YOUR JOB?
If you spent $50
to $150 to have some one find you a job, that is not
unreasonable if you earn a living. But, would you spend over $80,000 for a $150
a month job? That is what each of the three winning
Do you think
candidates have a conflict of interest when they pass judgment on projects
their bigger contributors put before them? You decide!
|
Candidate |
Contributor |
Amount |
|
GAMAR* |
Diamond Creek Partners |
$5,075 |
|
|
John Mourier Constr |
5,099 |
|
|
|
5,099 |
|
|
Signature Properties |
1,039 |
|
|
Del Webb Corp |
3,000 |
|
|
Coker |
1,998 |
|
|
Oakville Reserve, LTD |
5,000 |
|
|
|
|
|
RUSH* |
1600 Placer Investors, LP |
6,450 |
|
|
Elliott Homes, Inc |
5,000 |
|
|
John Mourier Constr |
4,900 |
|
|
|
5,099 |
|
|
Del Webb Corp |
5,095 |
|
|
J.R. Conkey Assoc |
1,500 |
|
|
Oakville Reserve, LTD |
5,000 |
|
|
|
|
|
Goodhall* |
John Mourier Constr |
7,903 |
|
|
Oakville Reserve, LTD |
5,000 |
|
|
Elliott Homes, Inc |
5,095 |
|
|
Diamond Creek Part |
5,000 |
|
|
|
5,099 |
|
|
Sares-Regis of |
5,000 |
The City of
Let’s look at
paragraph 5 of the Code: "Attempt to raise funds from the broadest
possible base, not relying on large contributors. I will also keep my
expenditures reasonable, not relying on expensive media campaigns."
Just how do we,
the electorate, hold candidates accountable for this item? The financial
numbers are not final and by election day only one of
the winning candidates had reported as much as $60,000 raised and spent. It is
obvious the electorate can not hold candidates accountable because they don’t
have timely information (most absentee ballots are long in). FORE’s answer: DISTRICT ELECTIONS!
* Money
figures are not complete as candidates must submit a financial statement by
January 31, 1999.
FEBRUARY 15TH
MEETING
Nominations will
be taken at the February 15th meeting for three Board of Directors
members (two-year terms), Chairman, Vice Chairman, Treasurer and Secretary
(one-year terms).
The city
reported fiscal year 98, (July 97-June 98) ended with a whopping $9 million
over general fund expenses. That’s good news since about $5 million is in an
"Economic Reserve"—a rainy day account. The remaining $4
million surplus is a problem. It must be "spent," but only for
reasonable costs for police, fire, parks and general administration or
some taxpayers group will shout "give it back."
The City manager, Al Johnson, proposed about $3 million go into the
"Building Fund" for a new
A member of FORE
suggested the $2.1 million collected by Roseville Electric over the cost of
service be returned to Roseville Electric and applied to its $140 million debt,
not be put in the general fund. The debt would be paid off sooner and mean
lower electric rates in the future.
The City
manager’s rational was that if these moneys are not put in the Civic Center
Kitty, then the Council would have to "go to the voters" for
approval. Unsaid was that going to the voters means convincing voters there is
a—need. When
Look how all
this relates to an
Loosing the utility
income would probably result in cuts being made in such services as police,
fire, libraries or youth programs and $1 million alone pays for 14 police
officers on the street.
One fire station
operates for $1 million. The
DID YOU EXPECT
HIM TO SAY, "we have $4 million more than what is needed for police, fire,
parks and general administration, and losing that $1 million might delay
construction of the
FORE admits its
priority is to ease traffic problems and lower utility rates, not another
government building. Especially, when spending tax dollars without voter
approval for such a structure.
THAT’S YOUR
MONEY IN THE
OVER
DEVELOPMENT – THE TREND IN GROWTH
No one needs to
tell you about the population growth in
It appears the
city wants to allow over development by squeezing in more than what is
reasonable. According to the city when justifying a project, there is "no
significant increase in traffic" from the project. That really is a
short-term effect. The long-term effect is traffic nightmares on our under
engineered and inadequate capacity road systems.
The same can be
said about flooding in
Traffic is the
same. Add the NO SIGNIFICANT INCREASES together. Yes! You see it and experience
the increasing traffic problems daily.
FORE is
adamantly opposed to increasing LAND-USE density.
DISTRICT
ELECTIONS FOR CITY COUNCIL
Harry Crabb, in 1989, proposed having district elections when
The population
level, while a compelling reason for such elections, has become overshadowed by
HUGE CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS needed to win a city wide election.
In 1991, Fred
Jackson raised and spent over $64,000 to win a seat. In 1996, Harry Crabb raised and spent over $70,000 in a three-man race for
two seats. The 1998 city council race was for three seats. The three winners,
Claudia Gamar, Earl Rush and Dan Goodhall
raised and spent over $80,000 each. Jim Gray and Jeff Atteberry
raised and spent over $50,000 each. Al Saraceni AND
John Cantlay raised and spent less than $6,000 and
$1,000 respectively. They both lost, as did Atteberry
and Gray. MONEY TALKS!
Candidates will
tell you, without money their messages can not get to voters. Door-to-door
campaigning, with little money for one-page xeroxed
flyers and lawn signs, is TOUGH. There are over 12,000 homes/apartments and few
people are home weekdays.
Compelling
reasons for elections by district: MONEY and LACK OF PERSONAL CONTACT.
Elections would
get back to the small-town
Responses to FORE’s Newsletters. Responses to the
newsletter are not all laudatory. Some people don’t
want to be bothered or say you can’t do anything any way. The majority says right on, or keep up the good work, or you
keep the city honest, or other encouraging remarks.
We want to share
with you the following which shows only one of the many deep concerns most
people have. It is a typewritten note to FORE, dated Nov 24, 98: It says,
"Dear People: While you are looking at the people’s right to vote on
taxes, and suing the City in the process, why isn’t the $1.18 per month
Roseville City Tax on my monthly telephone bill included? I do not recall ever
having voted on such a tax. What right has the City to levy such a tax?"
There is no signature, just a typed: "A Concerned Tax Payer." (FORE
asked the city to repel the 5% Utility Users Tax. The city declined. The next
step is a ballot initiative to repeal the tax).
FORE’s Transportation Committee. The committee has two
major projects. The first is to find a way to get light rail (the preferred
term is commuter rail) from
The second
project is to get barriers at railroad crossings that vehicles can not cross
until the train passes. (Such barriers are already in other cities). The new
crossings make it so the trains do not have to sound their horns or whistles.
The project is a noise abatement and safety issue.
Copyright 1999 FORE,
WORKING FOR THE PEOPLE OF
FORE,
916-783-9891 or 916-783-7632 FAX 916-783-9349
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