Picking the pocket of the Public

Jerome StocksJerome Stocks 6 Comments

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Encinitas is a city of about 63,000 friendly people. It has a healthy balanced budget and healthy reserve funds. It also has among the best credit ratings of any municipality in California. I take pride in whatever small amount my 12 years of City Council service contributed toward its fiscal stability.

The new city council has decided it has more “wants” than it has money to spend on them. Frankly, as a living, breathing human being, who is not Bill Gates, I can’t imagine many people or organizations that don’t. Be that as it may, the new city council majority wants to try to increase local sales tax in Encinitas, and they are behaving much like a child jumping up and down demanding more allowance so they can have candy, McDonalds and the movies instead of budgeting and setting spending priorities.

Placing a proposed tax increase on a ballot would require four out of five council members to agree to do so. The council majority of Kranz, Shaffer, and Barth only have three votes in favor, but they voted to move forward with a $100,000+  study to see if the issue (which I repeat, won’t make the ballot due to a stated lack of a fourth vote) would be popular with the voters. Really?

This is the same group which refuses to entertain purchase offers for City owned surplus property worth millions of dollars and is very discouraging to new businesses that want to open, which would generate millions of dollars in jobs and tax revenue!

But they propose direct consumer taxation. Really?

This was a regular agenda item and yet nobody from the Encinitas Chamber of Commerce weighed in, nor the Encinitas Taxpayers Association, not the San Diego County Taxpayers Association, nor the New Encinitas Business Network, nor the Encinitas Hospitality Association, nor the Lincoln Club, nor the DEMA (Downtown Encinitas Mainstreet Association, heavily loaded with retail merchants). Where the heck are the watchdogs in this town? Nobody cares if Encinitas charges our consumers more than they would pay for the same item in Carlsbad or Solana Beach? Really?

Unbelievable.

Kudos to Deputy Mayor Mark Muir and Council Member Kristin Gaspar who stated cogent opposition and voted “NO” on this bad idea moving forward.

Encinitas must have changed a lot in the past couple years if the citizens of Encinitas don’t react loudly to this baseless and needless attempted assault on our pocketbooks!

Read about it in the U-T

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Comments 6

  1. Really I have to dispute that Encinitas is a town of 63,000 friendly people. I would put the figure more in the neighborhood of 40,000 friendly people, 10,000 generally pleasant people, 8,000 tolerable people, and 5,000 jerks. Give or a few of each category.

  2. And kudos to Stocks for voting for pay/pension increases.Kudos to Muir for his $178,000 per year pension!

  3. Post
    Author

    D. Morton, point well taken 😉
    PAUL THERRIO, Don’t forget Stocks’ votes to reduce pensions and deny wage increases as well.
    He did both and deserves credit for both!

    And, Mr. Muir didn’t set his wages or pension level. He just spent 30 years or so working to save lives and preserve property in our community. Shame on him!
    I’m certain PAUL THERRIO lives a life of much greater merit for much less money. Thank you PAUL for all you probably do!

  4. Jerome, You come off like an immature punk. I’ve worked in the private sector my whole life. I’ve never seen a CEO making more money than Muir’s pension. I certainly don’t have any anomosity towards him, he’s a very nice guy, however if that pension amount doesn’t piss you off as a tax payer you are a liar or another pig at the trough.

  5. Paul Therrio,
    If you’ve actually worked in the private sector and not seen a CEO making more than $178,000 per year, you are living and working in a very low wage sector of our economy. Strive for better, friend.

    You object to the wage scale for first responders? Awesome, get yourself and like minded friends together, qualify, get the jobs, and volunteer your work for 1/2 price.

    We’ll all be very proud of you!
    Short of that you just come off as sad, petty, and jealous.

  6. Jerome,

    There is a huge difference between a $178,000 salary and a $178,000 pension.

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