Tag Archives: April 8 2014 El Segundo General Municipal Election

Frustration – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Richard J. Switz

Posted on March 22, 2014 by Mike

Frustration

Make no mistake; my ideology is conservative, and I experience frustration daily about runaway spending at the national level. However, this situation needn’t necessarily apply to residents having a 90245 zip code. Currently there is a lot of community unhappiness about the cost of doing business in El Segundo…else, why is Measure ‘A’ on the ballot? Our elected officials must be held responsible, since only they have authority to tax and spend in our town.

Candidates Fuentes and Dugan are both skilled practitioners of modern management and leadership principles used by local major corporations. Such skills are sorely needed to help right the ship, since we are clearly on an unsustainable fiscal path using current practices. Efficient management and leadership provide the key to improvement, combined with a lot of tough love to effect the changes.

Drastic improvements won’t happen overnight. After all, we have experienced nearly two decades of government wherein our representatives seem more concerned about pleasing outside interests and providing employee perks rather than serving the needs and wishes of our voters. Otherwise, how does one explain granting $150K salaries for mid-level managers and shuttering City Hall every Friday … Continue reading →

Posted in California, Economy and Economics, El Segundo, El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo Herald Letters, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Elections, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Letters to the Editor, Politics, Tax Policy and Issues | Tagged April 8 2014 El Segundo General Municipal Election, City of El Segundo, El Segundo Herald, election, Letter to the Editor, Richard J. Switz, unions | Comments Off

A Correction is In Order – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Mike Robbins

Posted on March 20, 2014 by Mike

A Correction is In Order

The 3/6/14 Herald article, “Council Holds Off on Rec and Parks Fee Decision”, contained misinformation. City property tax revenue is more than $6 million – not about $1 million as the author misinterpreted from Mayor Fisher’s obfuscation.

The property tax revenue numbers I cited at the 3/4/14 Council meeting are from official City of El Segundo public record documents and are presumably correct. Based on those documents, I stated during the meeting that El Segundo property tax revenue for fiscal year 2012/13 was more than $6.3 million, is at a record high for at least since FY 2000/01, is 46% and about $2 million higher than FY 2000/01, has had an average annual increase of 3.6% and more than $166,000 per year, and has increased in 9 of the last 13 fiscal years.

See the article, “Wrong Time to Raise Taxes and Fees in El Segundo”, at PublicSafetyProject.org. In includes a bar chart showing property tax revenue from FY 2000/01 through 2012/13, the data for that chart, and a link to the City public record document that is the source of that data.

Fisher wants voters to believe property tax revenue is to blame, not big pay raises. … Continue reading →

Posted in California, El Segundo, El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo Herald Letters, El Segundo News, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Elections, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Letters to the Editor, Political Corruption, Politics, Tax Policy and Issues | Tagged April 8 2014 El Segundo General Municipal Election, Bill Fisher, City of El Segundo, defense contractors, El Segundo, El Segundo Herald, Hotel Transient Occupancy Tax, income tax, Letter to the Editor, mayor, Mike Robbins, property tax, revenue, taxes, TOT, Transient Occupancy Tax | Comments Off

Measure ‘A’ – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Richard J. Switz

Posted on March 14, 2014 by Mike

Measure ‘A’

While reviewing my sample ballot, Measure ‘A’ reminded me of an old carpenter helpers’ comment, to wit: “I’ve cut this board off twice, and it is still too short!”

Measure ‘A’ proponents say our tax structure for businesses is lower than neighboring cities… isn’t that the way it should be if we intend to attract new business? I’m befuddled to hear Council candidates tout a need for new business on the one hand, while at the same time strongly support measures for increasing taxes on the other.

Measure ‘A’ has the strong flavor of a Council wanting additional revenue, although supportive comments are weak to justify the need. Councils’ resolution mentions a fraction of the added revenue might be set aside for City projects, although this is a far cry from a Council commitment explaining how funds would be used; resolutions have no enforceable mechanism. Readers are urged to continue reading their ballot carefully to learn of several additional flaws in the proposition.

Speaking of surrounding cities I was surprised to learn, based on a simple Google search the stark difference between our current budget and that of Manhattan Beach. A rough comparison shows our budget is approximately twice that of Manhattan Beach, even though they likely have twice our population.

I hope this letter motivates you to demand that our elected officials do a better job … Continue reading →

Posted in California, El Segundo, El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo Herald Letters, El Segundo News, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Elections, Letters to the Editor, Measure A - 5 New Taxes and 6 Tax Inceases, Politics, Tax Policy and Issues | Tagged April 8 2014 El Segundo General Municipal Election, El Segundo, El Segundo 2014 Measure A Tax Hikes, El Segundo Herald, Letter to the Editor, Manhattan Beach, Measure A, Richard J. Switz, taxes | Comments Off

Feels Measure “A” Too Important – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Scott Houston

Posted on March 13, 2014 by Mike

NOTE:

This letter to the El Segundo Herald newspaper is proof that Scott Houston supported the ELEVEN tax hikes in Measure A on the April 8, 2014 El Segundo General Municipal Electionu ballot.

Feels Measure “A” Too Important – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Scott Houston

I wanted to stay quiet. But this conversation is too important not to participate in, speak up and urge every El Segundo voter to support Measure A. We’ve been down this road before and, once again, our City finds itself in a precarious financial situation. Even with the additional revenues gained from the Chevron tax settlement agreement, our City will be running significant deficits of nearly $6 million for the foreseeable future if we do not address our structural deficit. That is why I am supporting Measure A.

Our City Council has worked diligently to maintain our services with less. And our City employees have borne the brunt of cuts due to our financial state – in fact, there are now about 20% fewer employees at City Hall struggling to provide the same levels of service we are accustomed to. Something has to give. We cannot continue cutting our way out and decimating the community we love.

While not a panacea, I believe Measure A is a major step forward in the right direction to finally address our city’s ongoing budget crisis. Let’s work together as a community to give our next Council the resources needed to balance our city budget. Please vote Yes on Measure A on April 8.

– Scott Houston

NOTE BY MICHAEL D. ROBBINS:

The City of El Segundo’s taxpayers are probably paying about $8 million per year in excess compensation to the city’s firefighter and police “association” (union) members and their managers. That is a great sum of money for small-town El Segundo. The firefighter and police unions ratcheted up their total compensation (salaries, benefits, and employer-paid pension contributions) to wildly excessive and unsustainable levels by endorsing, contributing money to, and campaigning for the City Council candidates who would give them the largest pay, benefits, and pension increases, and raise taxes to pay for it all.

That is why El Segundo firefighters (and those of many other California cities) are paid about $150,000 to more than $330,000 in total compensation each per year. When the firefighter and police union members get large unjustifiable compensation increases, their managers get even larger increases to avoid “salary compaction”.

Scott Houston is a firefighter and police union puppet. He supports them and they support him. Houston supports Measure A on the April 8, 2014 El Segundo city election ballot to pay for past and future excessive and unsustainable firefighter and police union pay raises and the resulting pension increases. The current firefighter and police union contracts expire on September 30, 2014, and the City Council will negotiate new labor contracts with the unions later this year.

If the voters reject Measure A, the firefighter and police unions will have to give back some of the excessive increases they received as rewards supporting the campaigns of City Council candidates. There is a conflict of interest when government employee unions campaign to elect their own bosses who will negotiate with them and decide their pay raises and pension increases in secret meetings.

Scott Houston ran for El Segundo City Council twice – in April 2010 and April 2012. Each time the El Segundo Police Officers Association (union) gave him their endorsement, a huge cash campaign contribution, independent campaign expenditures, and additional campaign support. Houston lost both elections due to strong grassroots campaigns against him.

Scott Houston supported Measure P, the firefighter union’s initiative (4/10/12 election), which was defeated by 90.1 percent of El Segundo voters. It would have disbanded our local fire department and transferred our fire and paramedic services, and firefighters, to the Los Angeles County Fire Department for inferior services. It would have eliminated 31 percent of our on-duty firefighters, two paramedic squads and all three paramedic transport ambulances, doubling hospital transport times. But it would have protected the firefighters from much-needed pay cuts. … Continue reading →

Posted in California, Economy and Economics, El Segundo, El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo Herald Letters, El Segundo News, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Elections, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Firefighter Union Corruption, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Letters to the Editor, Measure A - 5 New Taxes and 6 Tax Inceases, Measure P - Firefighters Union Initiative, Police Union Corruption, Political Corruption, Politics, Tax Policy and Issues, Union Corruption, Videos | Tagged April 8 2014 El Segundo General Municipal Election, corruption, El Segundo, El Segundo Firefighters Association, El Segundo Herald, El Segundo Police Officers Association, ESFA, ESPOA, firefighters union, Measure A, police union, Scott Houston, taxes, Videos | Comments Off

Alert for the Tuesday, April 8, 2014 City of El Segundo General Municipal Election

Posted on March 3, 2014 by Mike

EL SEGUNDO CITY ELECTION:
Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Vote “NO” on Measure A Tax Hikes.

Vote for Suzanne Fuentes and Mike Dugan.

All El Segundo residents should visit the Election Information index page regularly, preferably daily, until the April 8, 2014 El Segundo city election.

Continue reading →