“NO” on P – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Marianne Fong

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Mike

The following letter to the editor was published in the El Segundo Herald newspaper (HeraldPublications.com) on Thursday, February 16, 2012 in the Letters section on pages 2 and 10. The El Segundo Herald has a strict 250-word limit, including the title.

“NO” on P

The firefighters’ union has financed a propaganda poll with many false claims to deceive voters into voting for Measure P. The pollsters falsely claimed firefighters are paid $100,000 annually.

The firefighters had average total annual compensation of $211,000 (maximum was $342,000), and average annual pension contributions paid by the taxpayers of $42,000 (maximum was $80,000). These figures don’t include Fire Chief Kevin Smith, who had total annual compensation of $358,000 including total annual pension contributions paid by the taxpayers of $84,000.

If Measure P passes, El Segundo will no longer have a Fire Department. L.A. County will provide our fire and paramedic services at a reduced level, without ambulances. The El Segundo firefighters will become county employees, but will keep their higher El Segundo salaries. Chief Smith will be demoted to a captain, but will keep his El Segundo Fire Chief’s salary.

El Segundo taxpayers will be forced to pay the full cost of their astronomical and unsustainable salaries to L.A. County, but will have no control to reduce the salaries to competitive and sustainable levels.

The firefighters receive guaranteed multimillion dollar pensions at 55 at taxpayer expense, and earlier if they falsely claim a “disability” retirement. About 55% of El Segundo firefighter retirees claimed disability retirements over the last ten years, making half their pension income free from federal and state taxes.

The firefighters don’t care about the financial problems they created for us, because only one of them lives here. Vote “No” on Measure P!

Marianne Fong

Posted in El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo Herald Letters, El Segundo News, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Firefighter Union Corruption, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Letters to the Editor, Measure P - Firefighters Union Initiative | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on “NO” on P – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Marianne Fong

Save Our City – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Michael D. Robbins

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Mike

The following letter to the editor was published in the El Segundo Herald newspaper (HeraldPublications.com) on Thursday, February 16, 2012 in the Letters section on page 2. The El Segundo Herald has a strict 250-word limit, including the title.

SAVE OUR CITY

The El Segundo firefighter and police unions are putting our city at risk for their Royal Family sized paychecks and pensions. At the Feb. 7 City Council meeting, City Manager Doug Willmore explained how City Hall will be sold and leased back for twenty years, as collateral for a $10.3 million loan to pay for street resurfacing, other routine infrastructure maintenance and capital improvements.

El Segundo used to be a pay-as-you-go city, paying for infrastructure maintenance and capital improvements with General Fund revenues. But that was before the safety unions became very active in City Council campaigns, hired their own bosses, and ratcheted up their salaries, benefits, and pensions to ridiculous and unsustainable levels.

Under this risky scheme, the City will waste $5.2 million in interest and loan “issuance” fees. And if all goes well for twenty years, we are supposed to get our City Hall back.

This shows how the firefighter and police unions have been bleeding our city treasury dry, by spending many thousands of dollars to help elect Eric Busch, Bill Fisher, and other candidates they endorsed and supported, only to get many millions of additional tax dollars each year. It is the gift that keeps on giving. Where else can you get a thousand-to-one return on your investment?

The firefighter union put Measure P on the ballot to lock in their gains at the residents’ expense – in lives and money. Please vote “NO” on P, and elect candidates not tied to city unions.

Michael D. Robbins

Posted in Doug Willmore's Great Chevron Shakedown, El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo Herald Letters, El Segundo News, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Firefighter Union Corruption, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Letters to the Editor, Measure P - Firefighters Union Initiative, Police Union Corruption | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Save Our City – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Michael D. Robbins

Email from Carol Wingate to entire City Council re Doug Willmore

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Mike

From: Carol Wingate [cwingate@socal.rr.com]
Sent: Friday, February 10, 2012 5:05 PM
To: *ALL CITY COUNCIL
Subject: Doug Willmore

Mr. Willmore was hired by the council to improve the financial picture of El Segundo. With
fresh eyes and an outside perspective he followed directions. This process uncovered some
unwelcome facts that seem to be hard for the established political entities to accept. If,
as it appears, Mr. Willmore was fired for doing his job; the City Council might reexamine
their hearts to discover if their loyalties lie with the citizens of El Segundo or
Chevron.
I anticipate your response.

Sincerely,
Carol Wingate

Sent from my iPhone

Notes by Michael D. Robbins:

There were many good cause reasons to fire El Segundo City Manager Doug Willmore. However, he was fired without stating any of the good cause reasons, to reduce the City’s exposure to frivolous litigation. Even so, Doug Willmore filed frivolous lawsuits against the City of El Segundo (i.e., the City’s taxpayers), and personally against each of the three City Council members who did their duty and voted to fire him – Carl Jacobson, Suzanne Fuentes, and Don Brann.

Doug Willmore did not follow the direction of a majority of El Segundo City Council members, but instead catered to and followed direction from Mayor Eric Busch on important issues. His habitual lying to City Council members made it difficult if not impossible for them to trust him. His failure to follow direction, his poor negotiation results, and his written offers to the City employee unions with apparently unauthorized terms unnecessarily cost the City many millions of additional tax dollars per year.

References:

The Firing of El Segundo City Manager Doug Willmore – Part 1, by Michael D. Robbins
http://publicsafetyproject.org/blog/2012/03/18/the-firing-of-el-segundo-city-manager-doug-willmore-part-1/

The Firing of El Segundo City Manager Doug Willmore – Part 2
http://publicsafetyproject.org/blog/2012/03/18/the-firing-of-el-segundo-city-manager-doug-willmore-part-2/

Are Chevron’s Taxes Too High?, by Michael D. Robbins
http://publicsafetyproject.org/blog/2012/03/16/are-chevrons-taxes-too-high/

Posted in El Segundo Chevron Public Records Act Request | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Email from Carol Wingate to entire City Council re Doug Willmore

El Segundo making Chevron’s taxes too high – Letter to the Beach Reporter by Michael D. Robbins

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Mike

The following letter to the editor was published in the Beach Reporter newspaper (TBRnews.com) on Thursday, January 26, 2012 in the Letters section. The Beach Reporter has a strict 250-word limit.

El Segundo making Chevron’s taxes too high

The city manager’s Chevron Shakedown must stop, including efforts to extort large “gifts” of money under threat of a $10 million annual tax hike. The city will suffer long-term damage to its reputation as a good city to locate a business.

Doug Willmore used false premises to construct a deceptive one-sided analysis for the Chevron property, rather than a true cost-versus-benefits analysis. It is unfair and dishonest to compare tax revenues generated per acre by the Chevron refinery with that of other local businesses. Land use in other South Bay cities is mostly residential and not three-quarters commercial/industrial as in El Segundo.

In his one-sided analysis, Willmore ignored the cost for the city to provide and maintain infrastructure and services for residents and businesses that would otherwise exist on the massive Chevron refinery property.

If the refinery never existed, that land would be mostly residential and some commercial. Tax revenues would be much less, and the city would have to provide and maintain infrastructure and services for twice as many residents at great expense that Willmore failed to include in his seriously flawed and biased analysis.

Willmore excluded some Chevron tax revenues. And he increased the number of acres and reduced the calculated tax revenue per acre by failing to account for the area of all the public streets, alleys, parks, and schools that would otherwise exist on the Chevron property.

If an accurate analysis shows Chevron is paying excessive taxes, will the city council reduce Chevron’s taxes and apologize?

Michael D. Robbins
El Segundo

Michael D. Robbins

Note: Although this letter to the editor is a short 250 words, it does a good job towards refuting the news media propaganda hatchet jobs against Chevron and Councilman Carl Jacobson by KCET SoCal Connected producer Karen Fochet (March 2, 2012 TV show, “Small Town Big Oil”) and L.A. Times writer Jeff Gottlieb. This letter pre-dated the KCET hatchet job by more than a month.

(This note was not part of the letter.)

Posted in Beach Reporter Letters, Doug Willmore's Great Chevron Shakedown, El Segundo News, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Letters to the Editor | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on El Segundo making Chevron’s taxes too high – Letter to the Beach Reporter by Michael D. Robbins

Measure P Costs More For Less – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Michael D. Robbins

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Mike

The following letter to the editor was published in the El Segundo Herald newspaper (HeraldPublications.com) on Thursday, January 19, 2012 in the Letters section on page 2. The El Segundo Herald has a strict 250-word limit, including the title.

Measure P Costs More For Less

Voters must reject Measure P this April, or we will lose our local fire department, including firefighters, apparatus, and equipment; and we’ll pay more for less emergency services.

Measure P is not a merger of City and County fire departments, but a liquidation of the City fire department and a complete takeover by L.A. County. If Measure P passes, fire and paramedic services will be greatly reduced. El Segundo will permanently lose its three paramedic ambulances, because L.A. County does not operate paramedic ambulances, and El Segundo will lose its legal grandfathered status to operate them.

Residents will be forced to use and pay out-of-town ambulance companies, significantly increasing hospital transport times and costs in money and lives.

Measure P dramatically cuts services but increases costs to the City and residents. It forces El Segundo to contract with L.A. County for emergency services, without any option to reject onerous contract terms and costs dictated by the County. The result will be a one-sided adhesion contract, benefiting the County at El Segundo’s expense, for a statutory minimum of ten years.

The El Segundo firefighters will be transferred to become County employees, without any reduction in their massive salaries, even though they will be paid far more than existing County firefighters. El Segundo will be forced to pay for their salaries, benefits, and pensions without any control over those costs. And the firefighters will not be accountable to any City official. They will report to a remote County fire chief in Gardena.

Michael D. Robbins

Posted in El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo Herald Letters, El Segundo News, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Firefighter Union Corruption, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Letters to the Editor, Measure P - Firefighters Union Initiative | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Measure P Costs More For Less – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Michael D. Robbins

City Council Rescinds Tax Hike Proposal – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Arthur Christopher Schaper

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Mike

The following letter to the editor was published in the El Segundo Herald newspaper (HeraldPublications.com) on Thursday, January 5, 2012 in the Letters section on page 2. The El Segundo Herald has a strict 250-word limit, including the title.

City Council Rescinds Tax Hike Proposal

The El Segundo City Council has finally seen the light, the light of limited government that does not pawn off expenses on successful corporations.

The Council may not have yet mustered the political skill to curtail the outrageous pension liabilities that threaten to bankrupt the peaceful community south of LAX, but at least they have rescinded the option of floating a foolish tax hike that would harm a local and very national business in the city’s backyard.

Instead of trying to raise revenue, the El Segundo City Council needs to cut spending, cut entitlements, and cut any other unnecessary fiscal outlays. Like many, I respect the role of public safety officers, but local representatives, who receive a stipend to serve their communities, must step up and cast votes that represent the needs of the current community and future inhabitants, not just placate powerful public unions.

I look forward to seeing more people living and thriving in the South Bay, including El Segundo, where wealth and prosperity are not an impediment to any, including those who create and invest it. I just hope that the voters there and throughout the region will pay attention and hold their local leaders accountable to support business, foster thrift, and limit local government to defraying the costs of the bare essentials needed for a city to run smoothly.

Arthur Christopher Schaper

Posted in Doug Willmore's Great Chevron Shakedown, El Segundo Herald Letters, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Letters to the Editor | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on City Council Rescinds Tax Hike Proposal – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Arthur Christopher Schaper

Proposed Chevron Tax Increase – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Michael Dugan

Posted on January 12, 2012 by Mike

The following letter to the editor was published in the El Segundo Herald newspaper (HeraldPublications.com) on Thursday, January 12, 2012 in the Letters section on page 2. The El Segundo Herald has a strict 250-word limit, including the title.

Proposed Chevron Tax Increase

The cooperation between business and community is one of our city’s greatest assets. Businesses not only generate most of our city tax revenues, they also provide generous support to our schools and charities. The coexistence of community and business is a sensitive relationship and, like any good relationship, requires work.

In previous years the relationship between city and business was built on fairness, openness and trust. I’m not sure that relationship exists today. The current leadership in our city appears to have a different approach. The proposed 1,000 percent acreage tax increase to Chevron is an example where the city appears to have a shoot first and ask questions later approach to working with business.

The story behind the proposed tax increase told by City Manager Doug Willmore is an interesting study. He has taken Chevron, the number one tax revenue generator in the city, and spun his analysis to show that Chevron is under paying taxes relative to other businesses. He even went as far as to say that other businesses in El Segundo are subsidizing Chevron. Not only is this unfair, it’s unbelievable. And how he got the mayor and two other council members to agree with him is worrisome.

We need to stop this misguided effort before it creates more damage. If the city seeks increased tax revenues from businesses, let’s do it the right way.

Let’s provide the type of leadership that values fairness, openness and trust and continue a cooperative relationship between business and community.

Michael Dugan

Posted in Doug Willmore's Great Chevron Shakedown, El Segundo, El Segundo Herald Letters, Letters to the Editor | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Proposed Chevron Tax Increase – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Michael Dugan

Tax Increase Could Be Potential Blank Check – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Floyd Carr

Posted on January 12, 2012 by Mike

The following letter to the editor was published in the El Segundo Herald newspaper (HeraldPublications.com) on Thursday, January 12, 2012 in the Letters section on page 2. The El Segundo Herald has a strict 250-word limit, including the title.

Tax Increase Could Be Potential Blank Check

As a lifelong resident and former mayor of El Segundo, I find the recent City Council decision to pursue a ballot measure to increase taxes on “refineries” extremely troubling, for a number of reasons.

First, the process was utterly lacking in transparency, in that the City Manager’s analysis and subsequent last-minute agendizing of the proposal was apparently initiated without all the Councilmembers’ knowledge.

Second, Chevron the sole target of the proposed tax increase was not informed until after the fact and had no opportunity to provide input or data that might have enhanced the City Manager’s understanding and assessment of the substantial combined revenues the company already provides the city.

Third, no input was solicited from citizens, relevant City committees, key community organizations or Chevron itself.

Fourth, the revenues from a general tax would go not for specific infrastructure projects, as implied, but to the City’s general fund. In other words, should the Council proceed with putting this tax before voters it will be based on conclusions reached in a vacuum, in the privacy of the City Manager’s office. It could provide this and future Councils with a virtual blank check that could be spent on anything they wish, such as higher salaries and pension benefits for city employees. And the Council is attempting to rush the whole thing through in less than a month’s time. This is not only irresponsible; it’s disrespectful to voters and taxpayers, and to our city’s oldest business.

The people of El Segundo deserve better.

Floyd Carr

Posted in Doug Willmore's Great Chevron Shakedown, El Segundo, El Segundo Herald Letters, Letters to the Editor | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Tax Increase Could Be Potential Blank Check – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Floyd Carr