CITY OF SACRAMENTO PROPOSED UTILITY RATE INCREASES

The City of Sacramento is preparing to raise monthly rates on Garbage and Commingled Recycling Collection Service. The public hearing will be on June 1st, and Director Carl Burton will voice the League’s objection to both the rate increase and the hidden 11% utility tax built into the increase. Single and two family residents would see a 3% increase for cost of operations and maintenance (O&M), and debt payments. Rates for Lawn and Garden Refuse Collection and Street Sweeping Service for single and two family residents would see two different rates, one for the collection charge, and the other for street sweeping. The collection charge would increase 17.51%. The sweeping charge would not be increased. This is an overall increase of 15.22% for O&M and debt payments. Street Sweeping for Multifamily and Nonresidential Parcels would increase $1.19 (66%) for parcels with 3 to 5 residential units, and $1.11 (52%) for parcels with 5 or more units.

• Kill the Death Tax – 60 plus has been in the vanguard of the effort to “Kill the Death Tax” for 11 years; and helped with the current legislation to reduce the death tax that will expire in 2011, and are supporting the President’s effort for a permanent repeal.
• Reform Social Security – (so that it will be around for children and grandchildren). 60 plus supports efforts to “PERSONALIZE” (rather than privatize) Social Security. Present recipients will not be affected, but younger people believe in the second coming of Elvis rather than Social Security being around for them when they reach retirement age. There is no Social Security fund, but rather a bucket of IOU’s. The system cannot be preserved in its present form.
• Reform Medicare & Make Prescription Drugs Affordable to Those who “NEED” Them – 60 Plus has supported bipartisan Breaux-Frist (John Breaux, D-Louisiana and Bill Frist, R-Tennessee) Medicare Reform efforts since 1995, and 60 Plus President Jim Martin was present at the President’s signing of the Medicare Act.

MAYOR FARGO IS BACK WITH HER WHITE ELEPHANT – THE DOWNTOWN ARENA

The Mayor is back with her Taj Mahal for the second time, stooged by the Sacramento Chamber of Commerce. This time it’s a real doozie. Tear down part of the K Street Mall, and dump the Downtown Arena in the hole. Cost–over $500 million and growing. Paid by? Taxpayers of course. The multi-millionaire Sacramento Kings owners’ contribution for the playground for their millionaire players will probably be a promissory note, which they may, or may not pay based on past performance. The Maloofs took on a $73.7 million loan for the Kings’ arena at Arco and now owe over $83 million.

Lets’ review the bidding. Last October, the Sacramento City Council workshop on the Downtown Arena became a comedy hour presentation on what was to have been an analysis of the cost of the Arena. The workshop literally dissolved, and had to be rescheduled. The subject of an advisory vote on the March primary election had been discussed, and the consensus was that there was not enough time, nor information available to make a coherent Measure to put before the voters. The downtown restaurant and business owners met with City officials and voiced opposition to a plan that would saddle them with surcharges (which Councilman Dave Jones accurately called taxes) for 30 years to finance $287 million of an estimated $538 million for the entire project, including the Arena. Mayor Fargo gave up on the advisory vote. The Bee reported that the Maloofs said the City “sabotaged” the Arena and contended that City Manager Bob Thomas and developer Millennia Associates, who would design and build the entire complex, lied to them by first assuring them that the Arena would be a catalyst for downtown redevelopment, and the asserted redevelopment “could-and even should-go ahead without the facility.”

Notwithstanding that The Sacramento Bee predicted: “Another study won’t make the Arena realistic”; the Metro Chamber forged ahead, and came up with the present boondoggle. We can hardly wait to see how they propose to milk the taxpayers and businesses for this one. Should be a replay of the first comedy on this ongoing travesty. If Vaudeville were still alive, the City could take this one on the road!

ANOTHER TAX ON TELEPHONE SERVICE

It’s surprising we can lift the telephone instrument, as it is loaded with taxes hung on by every elected element in the US from the federal level to every city in the nation. And now, for-profit hospitals and emergency doctors in California want in on the act. They are having trouble funding their emergency rooms, and want to subsidize emergency room costs by piggybacking on the state’s 911 tax on telephone service. The 911 tax was created to cover the cost of the establishing and operating 911 communications services throughout the state. The hospitals want to raise the state’s 911 tax for communications by 3%, which, it is estimated, would bring in about $540 million each year, and leave less than one-percent of the increase in the 911 services account. They call their Proposition the “911 Emergency Care Initiative”, and there seems to be no doubt that it will be on the November ballot. The interesting thing is that the major supporters of the Initiative, i.e., the California Healthcare Association, which formed the Coalition to Preserve Emergency Care, which launched the Initiative, have withdrawn their support, and that’s the “rest of the story.” The League is going to watch the progress on this Initiative carefully, to see if it is certified, and if so, will consider a position on the Initiative at the June 17th Board meeting.

NOVEMBER WE WILL VOTE ON TWO GAMBLING PROPOSITIONS

Two Initiatives covering gambling have been certified for November’s ballot. One, sponsored by the Cahuilla Indians of Palm Springs, would remove limits on the kinds of games Indian Casino’s can offer; would remove limits on the number of slot machines and Casinos on tribal land; and would extend the current 20 year contracts with the state to 99 years. In return they would pay the state 8.84% of net profit received, matching the present corporate tax rate. Presently the Indian Casinos pay no taxes, and nothing into the state’s General Fund.

The second Initiative, sponsored by racetrack and card room owners in southern California and the Bay area, would require Indian Casinos to pay 25% of their net profit to a special state fund. The tribes would have 90 days to agree, and if any of the tribes refused, there would be 16 new non Indian Casinos authorized, 5 at racetracks and 11 at card rooms with a composite of 30,000 slot machines. The Initiative proposes that 33% of the gambling revenues from non Indian Casinos be provided to a special state fund and states: “This measure would have the following major fiscal effect: Increased revenues of likely over $1 billion annually from new gambling revenues. The revenues would be used primarily for additional firefighting, police and child protective services.” Because the Initiative requires a set percentage of the money to go to police and fire services, Sacramento Sheriff Lou Blanas and Los Angeles Sheriff Lee Baca have become front men for the Initiative.

Governor Schwarzenegger is also in the game, hoping to renegotiate exiting gambling contracts with the tribes to obtain more money for the state. His approach is to let Indian tribes expand their gambling, but only on existing sites. He stated, “They can expand gaming activity, but we don’t want it all over the place.”

OTHER PROPOSITIONS FOR NEXT NOVEMBER’S ELECTION

Allegedly, 17 Propositions have been, or are being certified for the November ballot. Some were discussed above. Another is a Mental Health Measure, which would put a one-percent income tax surcharge on those earning one-million or more a year to provide for its funding. Another would increase taxes on commercial properties, earmarking the proceeds for preschools and teachers salaries. And yet another, formed by a coalition of taxpayers, automobile dealers, business groups, and civil justice reform supporters make up Californians to Stop Shakedown Lawsuits, which has submitted sufficient signatures to qualify a Proposition that would end the shakedown by lawyers threatening to file suit against small business owners. In the scheme, lawyers seek settlement from threatened small businesses that pay to avoid the higher cost of fighting the lawsuits.

The other Propositions will gain publicity as they qualify.

MEMBERSHIP RECRUITMENT

Our Members constitute the League’s strength, and traditionally new Members are recruited by our present Members to enlarge our base. Our Office Manager, Susan Ferrell is sensitive to this effort as is witnessed by her special plea to Members on Page 2.

Taxpayers are to be assaulted as never before for additional money from every level of government in the form of fees, assessments, rates, and taxes. Locally, the Taxpayers League is the only recognized and organized defender of the County and its Cities’ taxpayers capable of putting up a viable defense. Over our 43 years, we have successfully defeated many attempts to raise taxes, rates, fees, and assessments in the County of Sacramento. Such battles are expensive. And those we are engaged in now, and new attacks to be faced, are frightful. Members must remember that the League is composed of dedicated volunteers who battle not only on Member’s behalf, but also on behalf of people who virtually cannot help themselves forestall the onslaught. To be successful we need more Members working to strengthen the League by recruiting friends and associates as League Members.

LETTERS TO THE LEAGUE

We seek “Letters to the League” from Members concerning projects and issues on which we are working, along with recommendations on those we should look at. Letters may be edited and republished in any format, primarily in the interest of available space. Send letters, faxes, or e-mail to the Sacramento County Taxpayers League. Our e-mail is sactaxleague@prodigy.net; our telephone number is (916) 921-5991. Our fax number is (916) 567-1279. And our address is:
Sacramento County Taxpayers League
1804 Tribute Road, Suite 207
Sacramento, CA 95815.

Memorial Day honors those that gave their lives in defense of our United States, and so it should be. I’ve said before, and I repeat, for me it’s a day I never look forward to. Memories of those I served with in Italy during World War II are too vivid, and those we lost too painful, to make the day at all pleasant. And now I believe I am the last of my Ordnance unit still alive, as the others seemed to have passed on, the last being Sergeant Herbie Schepps, who died last year in Florida.

However there was one hero of WW II, that befriended me, and whom passed away in 1975, which I will always remember. He was Wendall Fertig, superintendent of the largest iron mine in the Philippines when the war broke out. A reserve Lt. Colonel, he was recalled to active duty, and when Major General Sharp surrendered in May 1942, Wendall was with a Corps of Engineers Captain and a Navy Chief in the central hills of Mindanao. Refusing to surrender, the three fought on, leading thousands of Filipinos in a seemingly hopeless war against the Japanese. And when the Americans returned to Mindanao 3 years later they found Fertig virtually in control of one of the world’s largest islands, commanding an army of 35,000 men, and at the head of a civil government with its own post office, law courts, currency, factories, and hospitals.

At the Colorado School of Mines, when in Mine’s ROTC program 1948-50, our Professor of Military Science and Tactics was Colonel Wendall Fertig. In the ROTC I got to know the Colonel and his wife Mary well, and was designated by him as a Distinguished Military Graduate, which resulted in my being offered a Regular Army Commission as an Ordnance Officer, in lieu of a Reserve Commission in the Corps of Engineers. I was a Junior at the time, and had I accepted I would have gone into the army immediately. My wife and I had dinner at Wendall and Mary’s home, and I asked for his advice. Notwithstanding his selection of me, he recommended I complete school, and accept the Corps’ Commission that summer with the rest of the cadets. I did so, was commissioned in June 1950, and graduated in 1951 as a Geological Engineer.

In 1956, I returned to Mines from Venezuela for additional courses in Petroleum Engineering, and worked as a consultant Geologist for Ball Associates in Denver. I shared an office with Wendall Fertig, whom had retired from the army, and was Ball’s Chief Mining consultant. We spent many hours together, Wendall telling me many stories about the Philippine American “guerrilleros” who fought under him. He was working on a book about his adventures in the war, which John Keats later authored in 1963 as a best seller under the title “They Fought Alone”.

I tell this story as I learned the book would become a movie, starring Brad Pitt. I hope to see this movie, as I’m curious to see how close Pitt can emulate my instructor and friend, Wendall Fertig, a valiant American hero who would not surrender.

Joe Sullivan

Executive Director

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