Yuba County Administrator Robert Bendorf and his County Supervisors wanted their cake and eat it too when it came to the Measure K Sale Tax. Their private lobbying, town hall meetings, mailers, social media postings and signage sold the Measure as a Public Safety Special Tax that would be restricted to a special fund.
However, a “special” tax requires a two thirds passage by voters according to Prop 13 and 218 laws. The funds then are legally restricted to in this case public safety. But Measure K’s funds can be used for anything, contrary to what voters were told. Yuba officials wanted to use the sales pitch of a public safety “special” tax to curry the voters’ favor but they did not want to risk failing to reach the two-thirds vote threshold of the “special” tax.
Selling Measure K as a General Fund Tax to be used for anything would have met resistance because people are put-off by the exorbitant entertainment-style salaries of county officials, ‘Cadillac’ pension / health plans and the mismanagement of CalPERS (government employee retirement fund). Voters see rich salaries / pensions and poor quality public services. After paying county personnel, there is little left to go toward improving the county. Most of Measure K’s revenues now will be utilized for the runaway unfunded pension debt.
Some agency leaders were alarmed when learning that Measure K monies could be diverted from public safety. Bendorf assured them that he would take care of it in the fine print of the ordinance. What does that mean?
The funds are restricted or they aren’t. Years ago, a Transit Occupancy Tax on hotels was put to voters with officials saying that the funds would be used to boost tourism in the county. It passed and the funds disappeared into the General Fund black hole.
County-hired attorneys Colantuono, Ruderman, and Harkins are selling a mirage that it was a General Fund Tax in order to preserve the government’s simple majority win. This is a “special tax” pig with lipstick. In a December 16, 2017 email to Supervisor Mike Leahy from Crystal Martin, the county’s hired “snow job queen,” Martin called the future Measure K “Yuba County Law Enforcement Sales Tax.”
That has been the drum beat all along. Sacramento attorneys Bell, McAndrews, and Hiltachk, LLP representing the opposition to K intend to show Judge Stephen Berrier that there has been a bait and switch campaign employed by Yuba County government to deceive voters.
If Judge Berrier decides that the Measure K campaign was legitimate it will undermine Proposition 13 and 218’s protections passed by voters to make it more difficult for a simple majority to raise taxes.
The other travesty is that the county used hundreds of thousands of tax dollars for a media campaign to deceive citizens to vote to tax themselves even more. Why? To shore – up the General Fund pension debt. County officials called this an “educational campaign” to get around being charged for a misuse of public funds.
This is a freedom of speech violation. The spending is against the law but California’s Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), an impotent group with weak enforcement powers, says district attorneys will not prosecute. Prosecutors and even judges have a conflict of interest since they all benefit from the additional revenue.
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Crystal Martin
Date: Sat, Dec 16, 2017 at 2:22 PM
Subject: Dope Damage - Rural Counties Rally
To: Mike Leahy
Mike, I’m putting together a rally at the State Capitol for January 2nd, north steps, 1:30pm-3:30pm.
Since marijuana becomes legal Jan 1, it is a timely attempt to change public perception. Initial themes are:
Environmental damage to rural counties
Seed-to-sale tracking is not in place, so no one knows where their marijuana is grown – warning of illegal chemicals you are smoking
Majority of all marijuana is grown illegally in rural counties --- universal non-compliance in Yuba County
Announcing state of emergency from Yuba county (see attached draft – working on getting this on your Board agenda for 12/28 meeting)
Signs with photos of dead wildlife, trashed land and polluted water
Trying to make this a win-win-win, potential speakers include:
Durfor & Wendell Anderson speaks (helps reaffirm need for Yuba County law enforcement sales tax)
Randy Fletcher speaks
Brent Hastey speaks – on behalf of AQWA (preferred) or YCWA
We’ve also got Calaveras county committed and Randy is working on more (the usual Neilson, Gallagher,
LaMalfa, Garamendi will be, or have already been, notified)