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Tag Archives: Transient Occupancy Tax
Mike Robbins’ Public Communications at the May 3, 2016 El Segundo City Council Meeting
First, I want to thank outgoing Mayor Pro Tem Carl Jacobson for his many decades of service to the City and the citizens of El Segundo, as Mayor, as Mayor Pro Tem, as Councilmember, on the Planning Commission, and in other capacities.
I had the privilege of serving on City Council with Carl Jacobson as mayor. We agreed on most issues, but when we disagreed, I always knew he was honest, intelligent, competent, and doing what he believed was in the best interest of the City and the citizens of El Segundo.
Second, I would like to congratulate the newly elected City Council Members, Don Brann, Carol Pirsztuk, and Drew Boyles. The City Council election turned out the way I believe will be best for our City. I am disappointed with the passage of Measure B, the 50 percent increase in the Hotel Transient Occupancy Tax.
I hope that increase in City tax revenue will not trigger a clause in the union contracts to give automatic additional COLA pay raises to the City employees. Such a clause existed in the previous union contracts. …
Any change in the way the mayor and mayor pro tem are elected should be based on what is best for the citizens of El Segundo, and should be put before the voters of El Segundo. All of the pros and cons of such a change should be carefully considered before putting the question before the voters. … Continue reading
Posted in California, El Segundo, El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo Hotel Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT), El Segundo Measure B TOT Tax Hike, El Segundo News, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Elections, Firefighter Union Corruption, Police Union Corruption, Political Corruption, Politics, Tax Policy and Issues, Union Corruption
Tagged April 2016 El Segundo General Municipal Election, Bill Fisher, Carl Jacobson, Carol Pirsztuk, city council, city council meeting, City of El Segundo, Dave Atkinson, David Atkinson, Don Brann, Drew Boyles, El Segundo, El Segundo 2016 Measure B Tax Hike, El Segundo Measure B, El Segundo Police Officers Association, El Segundo Police Officers Union, election, ESFA, ESPOA, fire union, firefighters union, Marie Fellhauer, mayor, Mayor Bill Fisher, mayor pro tem, Measure B, Michael D. Robbins, Mike Robbins, police union, public communications, rotating mayor, tax, Transient Occupancy Tax
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Additional Arguments Against Measure B – El Segundo’s 50 Percent TOT Tax Hike
Here are the Additional Arguments Against Measure B, El Segundo’s 50 Percent TOT Tax Hike from 8% to 12%, on the April 12, 2016 El Segundo General Municipal Election ballot. These arguments are in addition to the Sample Ballot Argument … Continue reading
Posted in California, Economy and Economics, El Segundo, El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo Hotel Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT), El Segundo Measure B TOT Tax Hike, El Segundo News, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Elections, Politics, Tax Policy and Issues
Tagged April 2016 El Segundo General Municipal Election, City of El Segundo, El Segundo, El Segundo 2016 Measure B Tax Hike, El Segundo Measure B, Hotel Transient Occupancy Tax, Measure B, SCIF, tax hikes, TOT, Transient Occupancy Tax
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Gouging Hotels – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Kip Haggerty
Gouging Hotels
To my dismay, I see the City Council has come back to us yet again with the immoral proposition of gouging hotel customers for the crime of not being us. The argument in favor is based on the bromide “every one else is doing it.” Anything higher than the sales tax rate is just plain wrong and I hope we have the collective wisdom to vote it down again. Instead of gouging visitors, we could always vote out the incumbents to keep any one from accumulating two terms and their associated health insurance for life benefit. This could save substantial funds for lifetime health care insurance of “retired” council members.
– Kip Haggerty
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Posted in California, Economy and Economics, El Segundo, El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo Herald Letters, El Segundo Hotel Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT), El Segundo Measure B TOT Tax Hike, El Segundo News, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Elections, Fraud Waste and Abuse, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Letters to the Editor, Politics, Tax Policy and Issues
Tagged April 2016 El Segundo General Municipal Election, City of El Segundo, El Segundo, El Segundo Herald, El Segundo Measure B, Hotel Transient Occupancy Tax, Kip Haggerty, Letter to the Editor, Letter to the El Segundo Herald, Measure B, tax hikes, TOT, Transient Occupancy Tax
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The Notorious Measure B – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Edward Ryan
The Notorious Measure B
By now the USPS has brought us all a slick, full-color mailing which tells us to vote approval for the notorious Measure B. What a surprise: it is paid for by the cops’ and firemen’s PAC’s. Once again I urge my fellow residents to vote “No” and reject the 50% increase in the obnoxious TOT. We don’t need more taxes, we need fiscal responsibility. See you at the polls.
– Edward Ryan Continue reading
Posted in California, El Segundo, El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo Herald Letters, El Segundo Hotel Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT), El Segundo News, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Elections, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Firefighter Union Corruption, Fraud Waste and Abuse, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Letters to the Editor, Police Union Corruption, Political Corruption, Politics, Tax Policy and Issues, Union Corruption
Tagged April 2016 El Segundo City Election, City of El Segundo, Edward Ryan, El Segundo Firefighters, El Segundo Firefighters Association, El Segundo Firefighters Union, El Segundo Police Officers, El Segundo Police Officers Association, El Segundo Police Officers Union, ESPOA, fire union, firefigfhters union, firefighters association, firefighters union, firefighters union corruption, Hotel Transient Occupancy Tax, hotels, Letter to the Editor, Letter to the El Segundo Herald, Measure B, police association, police officers association, police officers union, police union, police union corruption, tax hikes, TOT, Transient Occupancy Tax, union corruption, unions
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TOT aka Anti-Visitor Tax? – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Edward Ryan
TOT aka Anti-Visitor Tax?
The transient occupancy tax (TOT) might be called the anti-visitor tax and is a nasty although widespread trend. It is now proposed to raise El Segundo’s TOT by 50% with the tired argument that it won’t cost us permanent residents anything, just make those outsiders pay. Of course, we will likely be hit with another city’s TOT, promoted by the same churlish reasoning, whenever we travel. So the net effect is a tax against anyone who doesn’t just sit at home. If surrounding cities have a higher TOT, fine, but we are proud of our safe and pleasant city and should only encourage more travelers to witness it. It is especially true because the proximity of LAX brings many foreign visitors into the neighborhood and they may well leave with a positive opinion of the United States if they experience El Segundo. Probably those visitors patronize our local businesses more than some of our cheapskate residents. And they must pay the high local sales tax. I urge my fellow citizens to reject the proposed increase. Within our city limits is a refinery operated by a corporation one of the world’s ten largest, if not in the top five, with enormous profits; we needn’t cast about for revenue sources.
– Edward Ryan
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Posted in El Segundo Hotel Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT)
Tagged April 2016 El Segundo General Municipal Election, City of El Segundo, Edward Ryan, El Segundo Measure B, Hotel, hotels, Letter to the Editor, Letter to the El Segundo Herald, tax hikes, TOT, Transient Occupancy Tax
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A Correction is In Order – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Mike Robbins
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
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Wrong Time to Raise Taxes and Fees in El Segundo
by Michael D. Robbins
Director, Public Safety Project, PublicSafetyProject.org
March 3, 2014
Updated and expanded March 6, 2014.
This is the wrong time to raise taxes and fees on residents and businesses in El Segundo, for multiple reasons.
First, the existing three-year City employee union contracts are expiring later this year, and the City Council will negotiate new union contracts later this year after the April 8, 2014 City election. Raising taxes and fees before then will greatly weaken the City Council’s bargaining position with the unions, especially the politically active and extremely aggressive firefighter and police unions, which are the primary cause of the City’s financial problems.
Second, Mayor Bill Fisher and Councilmembers David Atkinson and Marie Fellhauer have claimed that the City’s financial problems are largely due to El Segundo receiving a lower percentage of the property taxes generated from property in the City than other cities in California receive.
That claim is false for multiple reasons.
The percentage of total property tax revenue generated in El Segundo that the City receives has not changed in many years, and the last time it changed, it went up due to the extraordinary efforts of Mayor Carl Jacobson. In fact, although El Segundo gets about 6.2% of the property tax revenues generated by property in the city, compared to the average of 11% for all 88 cities in Los Angeles County, El Segundo property values are much higher than the values in many other cities. The higher property values in El Segundo help compensate for the lower than average percent of property tax revenue allocated to the City of El Segundo.
But most striking is the fact that the City is receiving the highest amount of property tax revenues it has received in any year since fiscal year 2000/2001, and probably in the City’s entire history, as shown by the bar chart below. The FY 2012/2013 property tax revenue is at a record high of $6,332,163 – up by 46% and $1,994,509 above FY 2000/2001 property tax revenue. Property tax revenue has increased in 9 of the last 13 fiscal years, with an average yearly increase of 3.6% and $166,209.
Mayor Fisher and Councilmembers Atkinson and Fellhauer have repeatedly berated El Segundo residents for not paying enough property taxes. City residents paid about $20,770,813 in property taxes in FY 2012/2013, which is about 20.9% of the total, of which $1,287,790 came back to the City (about 6.2%). The 20.9% figure is not surprising given that only about 25% of the city’s land area is residential property and about 75% is industrial and commercial … Continue reading
Posted in Economy and Economics, El Segundo, El Segundo News, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Elections, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Firefighter Union Corruption, Fraud Waste and Abuse, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Police Union Corruption, Political Corruption, Politics, Tax Policy and Issues, Union Corruption
Tagged California, City of El Segundo, El Segundo 2014 Measure A Tax Hikes, Hotel, property tax, revenue, tax, Transient Occupancy Tax
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