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Vote YES on the first question to RECALL GOVERNOR GAVIN NEWSOM; and
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Category Archives: El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases
Ballot Argument and Rebuttal Against El Segundo Measure A Tax Hikes
by Michael D. Robbins
Director, Public Safety Project, PublicSafetyProject.org
March 14, 2014
The Measure A tax hikes will appear on the ballot for the April 8, 2014 El Segundo General Municipal Election.
Measure A creates four new taxes on residents, nearly doubles five existing business taxes, and creates a new parking tax. Measure A will cost residents and businesses an estimated $6.6 million each year in the first three years. However, all residents will pay the business tax increases that are passed on to them as customers in addition to the four new taxes imposed on residents.
The Measure Tax hikes are permanent. There is no sunset clause (expiration date). It has become clear that most or all of the Measure A tax hikes will go to pay for excessive and unsustainable past and future City employee pay raises and benefits and pension increases – especially for the firefighter and police unions and their managers. Measure A is not intended to help the City engage in responsible spending during a temporary economic downturn. Recessions are temporary, but apparently, wildly excessive and unsustainable City employee union and manager pay raises are permanent.
Measure A was put on the ballot by a vote of the El Segundo City Council. Council Members Suzanne Fuentes and Carl Jacobson requested a sunset clause so the taxes would expire after a few years and the Council would have to come back to the voters for further tax hikes, but they were denied that request by Mayor Bill Fisher and his Council majority including David Atkinson and Marie Fellhauer.
Here are the official Argument Against Measure A and Rebuttal to Argument in Favor of Measure A that appeared in the Sample Ballot and Voter Information Pamphlet mailed out by the El Segundo City Clerk’s office. … Continue reading
Measure ‘A’ – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Richard J. Switz
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
Feels Measure “A” Too Important – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Scott Houston
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
El Segundo Herald Misreports City’s $6.3 Million Property Tax Revenue as $1 Million
by Michael D. Robbins
Director, Public Safety Project, PublicSafetyProject.org
March 8, 2014
The El Segundo Herald, a small town newspaper in Southern California, misreported the City’s $6.3 million annual property tax revenue as “about $1 million”. A correction is in order. Given that gross understatement of property tax revenue, voters may vote for Measure A, a massive tax hike on the April 8, 2014 City election ballot that will cost residents and businesses an estimated $6.6 million each year in its first three years. All residents will pay the business taxes that are passed on to them as customers.
According to the March 6, 2014 Herald article, Council Holds Off on Rec and Parks Fee Decision, by Brian Simon:
“Responding to comments from former Councilmember Mike Robbins about the City’s property tax revenues being at an all-time high, Fisher responded that those dollars still only amount to two percent of the general fund, or about $1 million annually. El Segundo receives 6.2 cents on the dollar for its share of property tax revenues, compared to a County average of about 11 cents.”
That is a strange mistake, given my statements during Public Communications at the March 4, 2014 Council meeting that El Segundo property tax revenue for fiscal year 2012/13 was at a record high of $6.3 million, and that I posted an article with a bar chart showing El Segundo property tax revenue going back to fiscal year 2000/01 at PublicSafetyProject.org, in the article titled, Wrong Time to Raise Taxes and Fees in El Segundo. That article includes a table with the revenue data used to create the bar chart, and a link to the City Hall document from which the data was obtained.
Here’s that bar chart:
It’s worth noting that property values in El Segundo are probably significantly higher than most other cities in Los Angeles County, which helps compensate for the lower percentage of property taxes coming back to El Segundo compared to the average for cities in the county. The fact that property tax revenue is at a record high level shows property taxes are not the cause of Fisher’s budget deficits. Fisher gave big pay raises to City employees … Continue reading
El Segundo Measure A Co-Chair Joe Harding was Against the Tax Hikes Before He was For Them
by Michael D. Robbins
Director, Public Safety Project, PublicSafetyProject.org
March 6, 2014
Joe Harding is one of two co-chairs identified on the “Yes on A for El Segundo’s Future” campaign committee website. Harding is also treasurer of the campaign committee as indicated on the first FPPC 460 campaign finance disclosure filed by the committee with the El Segundo City Clerk.
Harding was against the tax hikes before he was for them. He spoke out strongly against the tax hikes at the August 3, 2010 El Segundo City Council meeting when he was the General Manager of the Hacienda Hotel in El Segundo (HaciendaHotel.com). Now he is campaigning on the opposite side, for the tax hikes which hit hotels especially hard, as an ex-employee of the Hacienda. Here is an excerpt of what Harding said as a Hacienda Hotel employee:
“You must say ‘No’ to the hotel killer tax. … A TOT, and a UUT would hit us twice. That’d be like kicking us when we’re down, and then running us over for good measure. … The City must make unpopular and difficult adjustments to their payroll and expenses. Asking businesses to pick up the bill for the City and its residents in this economy is simply not a fair approach. The Hacienda has been and will remain a stellar business in this community. Help make sure this continues. Leave the TOT where it is. It’s working for us. It’s working for the City. … Thank you.” – Joe Harding, General Manager of the Hacienda Hotel in El Segundo, speaking at the August 3, 2010 El Segundo City Council meeting, before he became an ex-employee of the Hacienda, flip-flopped, and became a co-chair of the Yes on Measure A committee to raise both the TOT and UUT taxes on the Hacienda and all other hotels and businesses in El Segundo, and to impose them on residents.
Here is a video I made for the April 10, 2012 El Segundo City Council Election that includes Joe Harding’s full speech, starting at about time 3:28 to 5:46, followed by a transcript of his full speech. … Continue reading
El Segundo Firefighters’ Union is Bankrolling the Measure A Campaign to Hike Taxes
by Michael D. Robbins
Director, Public Safety Project, PublicSafetyProject.org
March 6, 2014
The El Segundo Firefighters’ Association (the official name of the firefighters labor union) is bankrolling the “Yes on Measure A” campaign to create four new permanent Utility Users Taxes (UUTs) on residents, nearly double the four existing business UUTs, increase the hotel Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT, or “bed tax”) by 25%, and create a new 10% parking tax.
The “Yes on A for El Segundo’s Future” campaign committee filed its first campaign finance disclosure form, FPPC Form 460 (“Recipient Committee Campaign Statement”), with the El Segundo City Clerk on March 3, 2014. It reports $12,500.00 in total contributions received, including $5,500 monetary contributions and $7,000 in nonmonetary contributions. The committee reported spending $10,266.64. Those are large amounts of campaign money for small-town El Segundo with a population of only about 16,720 residents and about 10,784 registered voters. And that is just the beginning of their campaign!
The two monetary campaign contributions were a $5,000.00 contribution from the El Segundo firefighters Political Action Committee (PAC) and a $500.00 contribution from Sandra Jacobs, the current chairman of the El Segundo Chamber of Commerce, and a former El Segundo Councilmember and Mayor who ran as one of three firefighter and police union sponsored City Council candidates.
Here are the data entries from the Schedule A of the Form 460:
| DATE RECEIVED | CONTRIBUTOR | AMOUNT RECEIVED THIS PERIOD | CUMULATIVE TO DATE CALENDAR YEAR |
| 02/11/2014 | El Segundo Firefighters PAC (#1231824) P.O. BOX 55 El Segundo, CA 90245 |
$5,000.00 | $5,000.00 |
| 02/12/2014 | Sandra Jocobs 402 Hillcrest St. El Segundo, CA 90245 |
$500.00 | $500.00 |
Click HERE to view or download the “Yes on A” tax hikes FPPC Form 460 (536 KB PDF file).
Measure A will be decided by voters in the City of El Segundo, California on Tuesday, April 8, 2014. The El Segundo firefighter and police unions have much to gain in pay raises and increased pensions if Measure A passes. The two unions have a long history of endorsing, contributing money to, and campaigning for the City Council candidates and ballot measures that will put the most money in their paychecks and pensions, and then raise taxes and fees on residents and businesses to pay for it all.
The El Segundo firefighter and police unions have used this racket to ratchet up their total compensation to about $150,000 to more than $330,000 per individual per year.
The average 2009 firefighter annual individual total compensation was $211,000 and the maximum was $342,000 – before multiple large pay raises after 2009. The average 2009 police officer annual individual total compensation was $178,000 and the maximum was $304,000 – before multiple large pay raises after 2009. The firefighter and police managers get big pay raises when their subordinates get pay raises, to avoid “salary compaction”.
Police Chief David Cummings was given a 23% raise for his last year before retirement. As a result, he was paid a total of about $597,000 in 2009, the year he retired, in total Annual Compensation plus his CalPERS pension income while working half-time for 11 weeks as Police Chief after his retirement. His annual CalPERS pension income is now listed as $198,272.04 on the FixPensionsFirst.com web site.
The firefighter and police unions in El Segundo and other California cities have been pushing their city employers down the road towards bankruptcy. The City of Vallejo, California, is just one California city that filed for bankruptcy due to their firefighter and police unions. … Continue reading
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
April 8, 2014 El Segundo General Municipal Election News and Information
Last updated: Friday, May 9, 2014 at 01:45 AM PT.
This page will be updated regularly with links to informative articles about the upcoming April 8, 2014 El Segundo General Municipal Election.
Bookmark this page and review it often for breaking news and information.
(Posts are in priority order, not chronological order; newer posts appear in bold text.)
April 8, 2014 El Segundo General Municipal Election
Ballot Argument and Rebuttal Against El Segundo Measure A Tax Hikes
City of El Segundo 2014 Measure A Tax Hikes – City Attorney’s Impartial Analysis
Recapping the Election – Letter to The Beach Reporter by Michael Robbins
El Segundo Flyer #1: Vote “NO” on Measure A – Eleven Tax Hikes in One Measure!
El Segundo Flyer #3 – Vote “NO” on Measure A, and Against BILL FISHER!
El Segundo City Employee Unions Contributed $17,500 to Measure A Tax Hikes Thus Far
Have the Measure A Supporters Earned Our Trust?
City of El Segundo Can Save $3.3 Million Per Year in Employee Pension Costs
Welcome to the City of El Segundo $100K+ CalPERS Pension Club!
El Segundo Herald Misreports City’s $6.3 Million Property Tax Revenue as $1 Million
El Segundo Firefighters’ Union is Bankrolling the Measure A Campaign to Hike Taxes
El Segundo Measure A Co-Chair Joe Harding was Against the Tax Hikes Before He was For Them
Wrong Time to Raise Taxes and Fees in El Segundo
Which El Segundo City Employee was Paid Nearly $600,000 in His Last Year?
2009-2010 City of El Segundo Separations due to Budgetary Reasons Mostly Early Retirements
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
April 15 Council Meeting – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Mike Robbins
Post-election Council meeting – Letter to The Beach Reporter by Michael Robbins
Council pay procedures – Letter to The Beach Reporter by Marianne Fong
Fellhauer is a Union Puppet – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Marianne Fong
Can We Save Mayberry? – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Marc Rener
Recapping the Election – Letter to The Beach Reporter by Michael Robbins
Fire Union Bankrolling “Yes on A” Campaign – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Marianne Fong
No on Measure A – Letter to The Beach Reporter by Michael Robbins
Not happy with Measure A – Letter to The Beach Reporter by Marianne Fong
No on Measure A – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Mike Robbins
Something Fishy About Measure A – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Marianne Fong
NO ON “A” – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Art Lavalle
A Correction is In Order – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Mike Robbins
No on Measure A – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Helen Armstrong
Frustration – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Richard J. Switz
Measure ‘A’ – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Richard J. Switz
Continue reading
Video – El Segundo City Payroll Gone Mad, featuring Charles Payne and Mike Robbins on Fox Business Network
El Segundo City Payroll Gone Mad, featuring Charles Payne and Mike Robbins on Fox Business Network
El Segundo City Payroll Gone Mad, featuring Charles Payne and Mike Robbins on Fox-T1155
This video features a segment from the Fox Business Network Varney & Co. show that was broadcast on August 17, 2010. The segment is an interview of former El Segundo City Councilman Mike Robbins about the wildly excessive and unsustainable city employee salaries, especially those for the firefighter and police employees.
Note that all the salary figures quoted in the Fox interview are Total Earnings only, and DO NOT include the cost of benefits and CalPERS pension contributions. The much larger Total Compensation figures, which DO include benefits and pension contributions, are available from Mike Robbins at PublicSafetyProject.org.
This video is in part an answer to the totally discredited KCET SoCal Connected propaganda video by producer Karen Foshay titled, “Small Town, Big Oil” produced by Karen Foshay. That KCET video dishonestly and unfairly attacked Chevron and the very honorable City Councilman Carl Jacobson in a very classical news media hatchet-job.
Note that the Fox show was broadcast long before the KCET SoCal Connected propaganda video. The KCET video was based almost entirely on false statements made by fired El Segundo city manager Doug Willmore, whom I have learned is very likely a pathological liar and an unreliable person to use as a basis for any news report or video. In fact, I am quite certain that that Willmore’s habitual lying was one of multiple good cause reasons for which he was fired. The KCET video was also based in part on statements made by an out-of-town, anti-oil political activist that nobody in town has heard of before.
The Fox interview helps explain why the fire and police unions endorse candidates for City Council, and contribute thousands of dollars in cash, campaign mailers, and other campaign support to their approved candidates. The police and fire unions endorse and campaign for the candidates who will give them the biggest pay raises, no matter how excessive and unsustainable, and who will raise your taxes and fees to pay for it.
The fire and police unions are the primary cause of our financial problems in El Segundo, not Chevron, as the fire and police unions want us to believe.
Chevron is a taxpayer, and the fire and police unions are tax takers. Chevron pays plenty of taxes, and the fire and police unions take plenty of taxes – about $8 Million extra per year in wildly excessive and unsustainable salaries, benefits, and pensions. The city does not pay to provide city infrastructure and services on the massive 951-acre Chevron property that it pays a fortune to provide and maintain in the residential and other commercial and industrial areas of the city. In fact, for that reason Chevron’s taxes may actually be too high.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: … Continue reading
City Manger’s Misconduct – Letter to the Beach Reporter by Michael D. Robbins
City Manger’s Misconduct
New evidence of fired City Manager Doug Willmore’s misconduct was revealed with the latest public records release of city documents and emails (available at ElSegundo.org and PublicSafetyProject.org).
Willmore politicized City Hall. His secretary, Mickie Tagle, used city-paid time and public resources to do political opposition research against Chevron and against residents who criticized Willmore’s efforts to shakedown Chevron for an additional $10 million per year in taxes. One email showed she even tried to dig up dirt on me! Finance Director Deborah Cullen was also enthusiastically involved in Willmore’s shakedown efforts.
The emails show Willmore was doing Mayor Eric Busch’s bidding, taking direction from Busch in his attempt to extort more money from Chevron, without a majority of Council members even knowing about it. The city manager is legally required to take direction only from a majority vote or consensus of the City Council. Busch and Willmore targeted Chevron because they “can’t move” their refinery, and because of environmental politics.
The emails also show the fire and police unions have been behind this push to raise taxes to pay for their wildly excessive and unsustainable compensation and pensions. … Continue reading