502 replies to this topic

[maestro]

Chad:

 

I suggest you read the documents. Yes, indeed, Res. 9441 adds $100,000 to the existing on-call contracts with three consultants for inspection and testing services (and I would note that the resolution is not clear as to whether each one gets a $100,000 increase, or the total is $100,000).

 

So, this has very little, if anything, to do with lining the pockets of private developers.  And even if you consider the entire HD lighting and landscaping project as a gift to developers (a major stretch), then the total amount is $700,000 plus maybe a third of $110,000, not $2 MILLION as maestro suggests.

 

 

Chad,

 

Tony is a prime beneficiary of city contracts to outside engineering companies.  

 

That aside, he's attempting to hide real spending on land to be developed by a past city official & his family (as soon as they get some public money to buy city land).     The Ord. is AN ADD- ON, and it is an ADD-ON to spending our money to benefit private development.   

 

 

IN THE REAL WORLD, it is great to hear so many forum attendees recognizing incumbents for precisely what they are.    

                                           NO INCUMBENTS  !!

[supermom]

 

 

Chad,

 

Tony is a prime beneficiary of city contracts to outside engineering companies.  

 

That aside, he's attempting to hide real spending on land to be developed by a past city official & his family (as soon as they get some public money to buy city land).     The Ord. is AN ADD- ON, and it is an ADD-ON to spending our money to benefit private development.   

 

 

IN THE REAL WORLD, it is great to hear so many forum attendees recognizing incumbents for precisely what they are.    

                                           NO INCUMBENTS  !!

So you are saying that Tony and other developers stand to pocket 100K each plus a third of $110K and he argues that is not 2M? Well, he's right! Its not. But pretty close to it. 

 

So what do they do for that? Lay a sidewalk down? Throw some random grass seeds in the roadway medians? What do you do with $700k 

[supermom]

Thank you, Steve, for the brief summary and the opportunity to add to it.  My conclusion was rather short, but in my opening statement I mentioned that my plan includes using some of the hotel tax and sales tax revenue that tourists and visitors leave to use for incentives.  Those incentives would be used to attract water conservation companies with their jobs, products, and processes to Folsom.  I also included energy conservation companies in my opening statement. Residents would then be given the option to incorporate water conservation ideas into their homes.  I am for smart growth south of 50 as the water filters in.  My plan addresses the needs of our budget while waiting for rain - reducing the necessity to begin construction anytime too soon.  I also questioned whether multi-million dollar businesses would locate south of 50 without knowing they have a totally reliable water source.

Sandra, are those jobs going to replace the jobs at San Juan Water or competitively counter them? Because, Im not really seeing a need for the jobs you are describing. They are already in the frameworks of the water systems for Folsom and San Juan.  They merely need to be tweaked to enhance better conservation if that is what you are looking for.

 

Im also not sure it is wise to keep increasing taxation from the same sources. 

Is there another model you could use for a taxation base if your first mode is outvoted? Or will you just give up - in office- once it is outvoted by other members?

[Sandra Lunceford]

My plan is to use tourism dollars to create incentives to attract water conservation and sustainable energy businesses, their products, and processes.  The jobs are those associated with new business, not replacing anyone.  This is a plan for job diversification.

 

I am not increasing taxes..... I am generating revenue from tourists that stay in hotels and purchase at our stores.  THere are no increases in taxes....just increases in tax revenue.

[SCA]

Did anyone catch the debate today on television? I missed it but am going to watch it tomorrow. Here's the schedule of when it will be replayed.

http://www.sacmetroc...stCalendar.aspx

[Sandra Lunceford]

Just in case you missed the televised debate.  I've attached a link to the city's budget.  Please see Pages IV-104-106.  

 

These are pages from Folsom's Fiscal Year 2014 Police Department Operating Budget.  The pages show 8 police positions vacant this year compared to Fiscal Year 2009-2010.  The numbers vary between our approved number of 54 Police Officers in 2009 and our current 46 Police Officers .  While Steve Miklos reported that these 8 positions were "taken care of", you will also find on page IV-104 that 3 additional police officer positions were funded by grant money that expired on August 31, 2014.  There are also a few more upcoming police retirements.

 

When I called the City of Folsom Finance Department and specifically asked how much money did the City spend on the Johnny Cash Bike Trail, I was told $270,000.  I mentioned the $270,000 the City spent for the Johnny Cash Bike Trail Bridge and asked, "Where are the officers?" 

 

 

I showed Councilman Miklos the documentation that he refused to look at and also informed him of the expiration of the grant.  He told me that all of the police positions were  "taken care of".  If that is the case, why doesn't it show up in the budget in the first place?  Where did the money come from for all these positions?  

 

Attached is a link to the city's budget.

 

https://www.folsom.c...px?BlobID=20072

 

 

[supermom]

My plan is to use tourism dollars to create incentives to attract water conservation and sustainable energy businesses, their products, and processes.  The jobs are those associated with new business, not replacing anyone.  This is a plan for job diversification.

 

I am not increasing taxes..... I am generating revenue from tourists that stay in hotels and purchase at our stores.  THere are no increases in taxes....just increases in tax revenue.

Ok, im interested in how you would attract those businesses and job diversification into Folsom. I am also aware that Folsom does already tax the hotels and inns with a local residence fee. Are you going to pull those fees from whatever target they are currently being used for?

Dont think im being negative-- Im just a very curious person. Well. that and feeling a bit jilted by our current non-communicative city council.

 

which leads to another interesting idea I would like to see happen at city hall--

 

Start using tweet or Facebook or the city website to allow discussions about changes so that the city residents KNOW that the city council is listening to their concerns. Right now, it seems that the only concerns ever heard, discussed and decisions made on (often behind closed doors without residents wishes being acknowledged)- are for large corporations- public offices usual maintenance and sadly--- city contracts which we never see posted prior to the city council making a final decision on. Those contracts should be linked to the HRO funding - site so we can see them next to budget plans.

 

I would like to see the emergency fees for fire trucks and ambulances rescinded. Residents already pay taxes for those programs and maintenance.

 

I would also like to see the city managers 10 year recovery plan for the great depression we are coming out of.

[supermom]

 

Just in case you missed the televised debate.  I've attached a link to the city's budget.  Please see Pages IV-104-106.  

 

These are pages from Folsom's Fiscal Year 2014 Police Department Operating Budget.  The pages show 8 police positions vacant this year compared to Fiscal Year 2009-2010.  The numbers vary between our approved number of 54 Police Officers in 2009 and our current 46 Police Officers .  While Steve Miklos reported that these 8 positions were "taken care of", you will also find on page IV-104 that 3 additional police officer positions were funded by grant money that expired on August 31, 2014.  There are also a few more upcoming police retirements.

 

When I called the City of Folsom Finance Department and specifically asked how much money did the City spend on the Johnny Cash Bike Trail, I was told $270,000.  I mentioned the $270,000 the City spent for the Johnny Cash Bike Trail Bridge and asked, "Where are the officers?" 

 

 

I showed Councilman Miklos the documentation that he refused to look at and also informed him of the expiration of the grant.  He told me that all of the police positions were  "taken care of".  If that is the case, why doesn't it show up in the budget in the first place?  Where did the money come from for all these positions?  

 

Attached is a link to the city's budget.

 

https://www.folsom.c...px?BlobID=20072

 

 

 

I wonder if your information is accurate. The last time I heard # being thrown around we had 89 full time sworn officers- including office staff.

 

Anyway, here is a link : http://www.theiacp.o...tion-Ratios.pdf

 

 

Show most commonly held police beliefs on ration of police to population that is current. 

 

a Quick google shows that the 2013 estimation for population in Folsom is a little more than 79,000.

 

I realize that many of the officers positions in Folsom are not in patrol or even detectives. I think they also count office staff and maybe even the 911 dispatchers in that 89 count (the last number I heard for Folsom). 

 

When we take apart the numbers by number suspended for duty (not that there are any on any given duration) - possible 6 week family leave (again, not that there are any) or other things like long court trials, daily patrol duties at speed court, etc---- Well, its just not included in this model. I think it should be. 

[supermom]

ok I looked at the city budget. there are 103 police possible to assign to folsom. of that 97.5 positions are filled. 

 

So what they did, over the last several years was let a bunch of their very experienced, very well paid senior cops retire. They then hired younger, more inexperienced cops at a more frugal salary. 

 

Now they are saying they need new cars. I agree with that. I think the radio system they are requesting is a necessity, since the whole county is transitioning to it.

 

I think they should give their janitor a raise. $30,000 to go into the jail cells and clean up drunk punk just ain't a competitive salary.

 

I would like to see added back into the budget: the mechanic, crime analyst, and the crime map specialist. I would also like to see the police dogs brought back on duty. 

[Sandra Lunceford]

I'm just speaking about the line item identified as Police Officers.  I uploaded the page from the budget onto my website:  http://www.sandralun...4/10/police.pdf.  It shows the varying numbers of Police Officers in FY2009-2010 and FY 2013-2014, but the result shows 8 short between 2009 and 2013.  I believe we increased population by about 2000 people between those years.  Also on my webpage SandraLunceford.com, you can see another page of the budget that identifies 3 policemen that were paid via a grant that no longer exists.  Some of these Policemen were replaced with new folks. I'd just like to see the numbers to support how all these positions were filled, including a few more that are up for retirement.  Especially in light that they needed a grant to fund 3 of them in the first place.

 

So to your former questions:  1) when we increase tourism, we generate more hotel tax revenue and sales tax revenue.  A percentage of the excess of hotel tax over and above the current target would be used for incentives that help attract the new sustainable energy and water conservation companies to Folsom.  

 

In any case, I think the numbers show we are short a few policemen.  

[Sandra Lunceford]

What I failed to clarify when I brought up the trails and the police officer numbers was that during the planning process - public safety did not appear to be priority.  I was not pointing out that we were unsafe, but that as evidenced by the budget documents - public safety numbers were relatively low and trail numbers were high.  We definitely need a holistic approach.  Whether developing homes, trails, parks, whatever - our community's safety should come first!

[supermom]

Sandra, the city is playing with numbers and routing officers where they need them, for boots on the ground and for paper trails. An Example:

A friend of mine was a Sgt in the FPD. He had his 20 in, he was fit and healthy. Budgets were coming out and people were griping. The city was threatening the cops with lay offs unless they unloaded some of their benefits, took less overtime hours (public safety suffers when you dont have a cop for an emergency)..and a few other things like giving up dogs, cops at schools, and sending cops to cop schools for advanced training. 

 

So they offered a deal. Everyone knows the first cops to be laid off are the young ones. The most fit and least amount of money invested in training, with the least amount tenure in the union.There were X number of cops who could retire, if they chose to. If W number number chose to retire then they could save 3 or 5 cops from the axe. 

So the older cops said well, we are getting pushed into retirement not by management but by the sad faces of the families of our young cops. So they retired. The city used that money to increase how many more times the city re-tarred the roads and cut the young cops, anyway.   Next year....oh heck... Im sure you got this...

 

 

So, we lost the young cops. The cop union and the citizens demanded more jobs opened as the economy appeared to be getting healthy again. So, the city hired more young cops and dropped the number of emergency vehicles in the city and then taxed the city for the use of emergency vehicles. 

 

---wait- what happened in the interim- you ask? Well, detectives became patrol offices. Conveniently demoted to traffic in time for the annual review of boots in the field. What happened to the investigations the city has for personal id theft, and things like that? They shrug it off and tell you to report it to the bank. So, has the quality of living gone down since we got rid of our experienced detectives in favor of numbers of boots in the field (patrol officers)? Well, hey, the city planning manager, the finance committee and the chief will prolly tell you that it is the best economical plan they can find. Was that really an honest answer or evading a question? You choose.

 

Where is that money going? They certainly did the very same thing to the Parks and Rec Dept and the Folsom Fire Department. Lets not forget about the Library and her embarrassingly empty shelves.

 

Wait there is more:  OK, so the cops are required to cover a certain amount of police on the streets on a daily basis- using a three shift model. I believe they actually use a 3.5 shift model but lets keep it clean. So after you take out all the people who wont be on patrol due to rank, investigations, etc- you have 46 cops in Folsom between 3 shifts. The ABC Federal Grant was a (3?) year grant for (3?) cops. That's a pretty big deal because the city does about 5 alcohol sweeps in businesses a year and probably about that many traffic traps. The rest of the time those cops are being used as patrol cops. With a recommendation of 79 cops for a city of Folsom's size, we are actually doing okay. Number wise. However, when you compare populations and police ratios, we are having a lot more burglaries a year than we should be having.  Sure- violent crimes are not startling- but the burglary numbers are because ti tells bad guys that we just don't have enough manpower to handle day to day traffic stuff and send someone out to finger print and track down burglars. I don't like the idea that bad guys have gotten that idea and have started hitting Folsom so hard this year. We need a consistent number of smack downs to get those levels down to an acceptable number, as far as im concerned.So, maybe the model being used to rationalize police to population is not effective in our town due to the problems of prison early release, or the number of bad guys who see soft targets in Folsom, or the fact that we need to offer a better solution for bad guys transporting themselves to other counties more easily (don't knock that idea- a lot of counties back east use it). 

 

Whatever. Am I saying that we should be concerned about an immediate threat to our safety due to lack of police availability? No. But i do think there is a direct causality between effective policing and effective resources. We seem to be in shorter supply of one for several years and I think it is causing a regression in service in the other.

 

 

While your ideas on taxing cities is innovative, the city and county already have this in place. So, when you say you aren't creating more taxes then I have to respond, maybe- maybe not. But higher taxes for non-resident use of a hotel will increase the price of the hotel. Due to the availability in short distance of hotels in Rancho Cordova; That means they will be dining closer to their hotels- in Rancho Cordova. I caution on the over-taxation of the hotels.

[ducky]

I was gobsmacked by Kerri Howell's disrespectful attitude tonight. She rolled her eyes, talked behind the candidates, inferred that topics were too complicated for voters to understand, argued with a Folsomite in the audience and told him that he if he didn't like the traffic on his street he should move to a gated community, and refused to join the other candidates and those in the audience in a selfie at the end. All of her comments were based in the past. She also said "I" more tonight than all the other candidates together. Very bothersome.

 

On a more positive note, Chad's visions for Folsom of the future were inspiring, Roger's energy is exciting. Sandra was knowledgable and Jennifer passionate. I hope that we get at least one of them on the council with this election.

 

Thanks for relaying this, cw68.  Very enlightening.

[cw68]

 
Thanks for relaying this, cw68.  Very enlightening.

You're welcome.

I just watched the League of Women Voters candidate forum. Same candidate also said, "My home number is in the book. If you're the last person on the planet that doesn't have my cell number, it's..." Really? A little self-important and rude? How about not ripping on someone whose vote you are courting? Apparently, I'm the last person on Earth.

Steve Miklos also (IMO) was outright rude, while also exposing his complete lack of knowledge about social media. "For those who don't think we have social media, we do. In addition to on-line (what do you mean by this, Mr Miklos? What is 'on-line?' I think of Vince Vaughn in The Intern and his "on the line"), we have FB and an electronic newsletter (that's not social media). We can't make you read it, we can't force you to participate." How unfriendly and unapproachable of you.

[Sandra Lunceford]

Supermom, Please be assured, I am not suggesting increasing taxes on hotels.  I will maintain the current system.  I am only saying that through creative marketing we increase tourism.  As tourist visits increase revenue increases.   

 

I very much appreciate the insight that you shared about police.  Thank you very much.