In a 6-1 vote Monday, the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District approved a contract for its firefighters which granted them a 5 percent raise and the ability to provide expanded emergency medical care.
Firefighters, who had been working without a contract were negotiating in good faith with the fire district since September 30, 2014. This new contract expires in June 30, 2017.
Under the labor agreement, effective January 1, 2016, salaries for all classifications in the bargaining unit would increase by 5% while the salary differential between each step would be 5%. As part of the agreement, there will be a differential between salary classifications of 10% (fire fighter to fire engineer to fire captain).
The District is also agreeing to pay 5% pay differential to all employees who possess and maintain the criteria for enhanced Emergency Medical Technician.
With limited resources of both firefighters and AMR compounded with a lack of a hospital in East Contra Costa, the contract now allows firefighters to provide additional in field medical care under their contract for patients who are experiencing allergic reactions, airway obstructions, overdoses
Fire Captains Gil Guerrero and Robert Ruddick
Gil Guerrero fire captain and vice president of Local 1230, thanked the Board for the agreement and encouraged them to support it highlighting how thin the District was with Engine 93 (Oakley) running 43-calls in 72-hours.
“We been working without a contract for over a year now and a lot of that had to do with the benefit assessment, prior contract, a parcel tax or getting ready for the benefit assessment and picking up our complete portion of the retirement cost which are extremely expensive and cost a lot of money to our members,” explained Guerrero. ”We thank the district and the board for the agreement presented to us, our members were overwhelmingly in support of the tentative agreement and it goes a long way to improving moral as these guys have been working non-stop and are beat up. We are stretched thin.”
Vince Wells, President of Local 1230, stated that since 2006 they have always had to nickel and dime our way through negotiations and encouraged the fire board to approve the contract.
“We have always had to pit what is deserved to the firefighters versus keeping money for the community to possibly increase services. We hope at this point you support the deal we have on the table,” said Wells. “Since the contract expired in 2014, we have seen the workload increase significantly with just three stations which used to be the work of 8-stations and the community has increased in size. It’s well deserved and these firefighters have stood by this community while working their tails off.”
Chris Conner of Local 3, showed their support for the firefighters encouraging the Board to approve the contract.
Director Stephen Smith stated this contract negotiation was a very careful balancing act between many financial needs of the district.
“We feel this is a fair contract where our firefighters who have given far more than what most firefighters are expected to give while balancing our needs to try to hold up our end of the temporary fix to open the 4th fire station. We really have worked hard to balance these competing interest and done our best to what we can to move this district forward,” said Smith. “Of course everyone is focused on the raise but this continues the progress to a much more standard salary structure. When I started on this board, we only had 1 step salary structure, now we have a more common step structure and this is part of the long term health program as we bring new firefighters on board as we give new firefighters some incentive to stay. It’s a lot more than just dollars.”
Director Joe Young recognized the effort of the firefighters and have worked to the benefit of the district, but stated he could not support the contract because it did not address
“The contract we are discussing tonight makes a respectable attempt to improving the pay structure for the firefighters. It does not create pay equality with the firefighters at CONFIRE which this situation is typical within any industry,” explained Young. “My concern with the contract we are considering tonight addresses compensation; it does not address the uncapped liabilities the district is facing with post retirement, medical benefits and modifications to these benefits general require some form of additional compensation. The union has been unwilling to negotiate regarding benefit cost containment during contract negotiations for this contract and previous contract.”
Young stated he supported the pay increase but could not support the contract because it does not address cost containment prior to hiring new firefighters.
Director Ron Johansen stated he was proud of our firefighters in stepping forward during hard times and sacrificed stating this contract gives them the recognition they deserve.
“We need our firefighters back. We need to show them that we care about them and their families that they do not need to sacrifice another year,” stated Johansen. “Without their support and action this district as far as I am concerned this district will cease to exist in the future. That is a personal belief but one that I think is a reality and one we have to face.”
Director Cheryl Morgan stated she agreed with the directors that the firefighters go above and beyond their call of duty but her concern with this they are not solving any district issues.
“We are not solving any district issues, we are solving firefighter issues and I know that is important, but we are not solving district issues,” explained Morgan. “Given the outreach committee, the board members now know that Supervisor Mary Piepho lied to us; there is no support from the Contra Costa Taxpayers for a potential bond issue in this District. Given that they will not support it, given that we have to go to the public and we have to tell them we are giving the firefighters a raise, I think this district is terminal at this point and we are not going to get a bond issue.”
Morgan stated she would support the raise, but believe the district will now go broke as the public would not support a bond measure after giving the firefighters a raise.
“I do believe this is death now for the district. We are not going to win a bond measure. We are going to go broke. We may be the first District in the State of California who may have to file for bankruptcy.”
Editors Note – the District will never go broke or file for bankruptcy because it receives tax revenue every year. You could potentially have 1-station at some point in the future and have service no one likes, but it will never go broke.
Board President Joel Bryant stated the fourth station will address several vital needs such as the mutual aid imbalance, address the lack of resources, give us more firefighters but
“All the time I’ve been on this board, the directors have always said we will do our very best at the earliest opportunity to try to mitigate some of the inequality of pay. We are going to have inequality of pay, that is just how business is, but our firefighters are doing the job of three or four individuals per person in other districts,” said Bryant. “They are being called out many more times than what would be considered average.”
Bryant further highlighted that if this increase enables the District to hire younger firefighters to help fill the District and retain them for a long period of time then the District does every family a justice by not taking advantage of the opportunity before them.
“This is about keeping our word to the firefighters,” said Bryant. “Even with this increase of salary,w e have required within this contract an increase in responsibility because they will be enhancing their EMT services. With this contract, there will be the potential of life saving procedures that are being done. There are very real lves that can be saved by implementing this contract.”
Bryant highlighted they will now be able to provide drug overdose rescues, allergic reaction reactions that they currently, without the agreement, ECCFPD firefighter do not have the ability nor the training under the current contract to do that. This new one, says they do.
“We are increasing our ability to save lives and help the families of this distinct. We ow that to the families of this district, we owe it to the firefighters because we all live here,” said Bryant. “I 100% support this.”
Director Greg Cooper called the contract a “no brainer” highlighting how underpaid they were but noted that the liabilities will have to be addressed in the next 12-months.
“Regarding the Contra Costa Taxpayers Association, they are not the final say in how the issue turns out, let the voters decide,” said Cooper. “But the reality is we have to take care of the firefighters right now.”
In a 6-1 vote, the Board approved the contract.
How they voted:
Yes: Joel Bryant, Greg Cooper, Ron Johansen Jonathan Michaelson, Cheryl Morgan, Stephen Smith
No: Joe Young
Absent: Bob Kenney, Randy Pope,
29 comments
Shame on you ECT for providing your opinion in the middle of an article. The District will go broke and Joe Young is right along with Cheryl Morgan who should have stuck to her guns and voted NO. I appreciate the two board members for telling the truth while the others are blinded by union bullying.
This district has failed the public yet again and now they want to bill us for calls and then ask us to help fund them for more stations. NO THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Young is the only director that makes sense. While young states that the firefighters should be paid equal to con fire without a dought, the real issue is the 28 million owed to the pensions. The union needs to assist on this issue before any real financial progress can be achieved. More over, this is poor timing to make raises right before another tax increase request. Morgan may be right on this one. I also think it’s very unprofessional to claim any district is immune from bankruptcy. That is just misleading. This is another hit against a possible tax. If the district can never go broke why vote for a tax?
If expenditures are more than income it is broke. The pensions are far more than income alone. It is broke. Bankruptcy can happen and just may.
Editor: The District could indeed file for bankruptcy protection if it becomes insolvent. The District has pension and retiree healthcare costs that exceed the cost of salaries and are projected to increase. These costs continue even as you jokingly say the District goes down to one station. The voters in this district have twice turned down tax increases despite terrifying ads playing on the fears of what a failure to support the tax increases would bring. Now the voters are watching the District grant salary increases without seeking a solution to the pension and retiree healthcare problems. This is a poor start to the third tax campaign. Kudos to Cheryl Morgan for speaking out and Joe Young for voting no.
Ms. Hunt, you are conveniently leaving out a substantial part of the equation, whether to deliberately deceive the readership or through ignorance.
Fears, you claim? You mean the statements of fact that stations would have to close and they since have? Is that what you refer to Ms. Hunt? Or the degradation of outcomes? Such as routine kitchen fires that now burn homes to the ground in Discovery Bay? Or heart attack victims in Bethel Island who have to wait 20 minutes for a first responder and succumb? Those sorts of “fear”, which are actually real life outcomes these days in this District? Is that what you refer to??
Let’s start with a Legislative Analyst’s Office document, so we make it clear we’re not shooting from the hip with pointless opinion:
http://www.lao.ca.gov/reports/2012/localgov/local-government-bankruptcy-080712.aspx
For a Chapter 9 bankruptcy proceeding there are several tests, including a “Neutral Evaluation Process”.
There is no appetite within the governing body for such reckless and abusive tactics to resolving the fiscal problems. You don’t get to force your will here, especially since you have moved on to North Carolina, is it? Since I suspect you will ignore or refuse to read the link above, let me cite the specific passage for you:
…….the decision to file a Chapter 9 case is fully at the discretion of the locality.
To file a Chapter 9 would require meeting the LEGAL definition of insolvency as outlined in that document. Not your layman’s definition. Again, assuming you won’t or can’t read the document and discuss the facts, I’ll spell it out for you:
……..Be Insolvent. A local government is considered insolvent if it is unable to (1) pay its current obligations or (2) pay obligations that will become due during the next fiscal year.
With more than $11M in annual revenue, the District has more than sufficient revenue to meet it’s annual obligations. If you don’t understand the different between annual obligations and total pension liability then you probably shouldn’t have opened your mouth in the first place. Any deficits can and have been addressed by reductions in head count(station closures).
Sorry, but you won’t find any allowance in the document or the state constitution for you to determine what “adequate” service levels are. The law doesn’t allow such arbitrary definitions from self-appointed watchdogs. You could have your old friend Wendy pitch a few fits at local meetings or perhaps even start a campaign to annoy the living shee-it out of some federal judge who’s name she digs up. But not likely you’ll get anywhere.
So thanks, but no thanks for your lay person’s read of the possibility of this District declaring bankruptcy. Your one-size-fits-all approach to screwing pensioners claiming the Detroit or Stockton examples apply here is off the mark.
You bring nothing to the table with regards to responsible and viable solutions to the problem. You only spread misinformation and expect the solutions to come solely from the backs of hard working public safety employees. Your disgusting tactics, deliberate broad brushing of pension statistics and spreading of falsehoods that have nothing to do with ECCFPD are well known. You should probably slither on back to your retirement home and leave the difficult task of finding fair solutions for the District stakeholders to the adults who understand how to negotiate as honest brokers.
Wicked – since you are hiding behind a fake name – unlike me – your false claims that I have been caught lying bear little weight. I use numbers from the District, not mine, to present facts, And yes, the firefighters union ran a massive campaign to scare voters. I know the Contra Costa Taxpayers Association spent nothing. So apparently those fear tactics did not work with the public.
Kris,
The East Contra Costa Fire Protection District is neither a city nor municipality… they are a special district which means they cannot file for bankruptcy or any sort of protection.
They provide services based on income. If income goes down,so does service. If the income goes up, so does the service. If the District no longer as enough funds coming in, the services would cease to exist. Under that scenario, this pension fear you scare everyone with would still be paid based on taxes collected to the fire district.
Under a cease to exist state, the District would still be “in place” but only to collect funds and pay out debts. No service would be provided yet the public would still pay. Furthermore, at a point in time where the obligations of debt are paid, only then would the District be dissolved and the funds re-allocated, say 30-years.
I would challenge you to spend your time on the school districts and TRA where you have Brentwood for example, paying more to the High School District than its own City. Here is a TRA from one Brentwood City Councilman:
COUNTY GENERAL 13.91947 %
COUNTY LIBRARY 1.63479 %
C C FLOOD CONTROL 0.19182 %
FLOOD CONTROL Z-1 1.82304 %
EAST CO CO FIRE 6.40076 %
CC RES CONSV 0.01774 %
CO CO MOSQUITO ABA 2.54018 %
BYRN B K U CEMTERY 0.58513 %
BART 0.69176 %
BAY AREA AIR MGMNT 0.20166 %
EAST CC IRRIGATION 5.14032 %
CITY OF BRENTWOOD 14.13780 %
BRNTWD RECR & PARK 5.07694 %
NORTH BRENTWD RDA 0.00000 %
LIBERTY HIGH 15.88650 %
BRENTWOOD ELEM 14.22519 %
BYRON ELEMENTARY 0.43272 %
KNIGHTSEN ELEM 0.30874 %
OAKLEY ELEM 4.37299 %
CO SUPT SCHOOLS 1.98181 %
K-12 SCHOOLS ERAF 4.69380 %
CO CO COMM COLLEGE 5.03796 %
COMM COLLEGE ERAF 0.69888 %
TOTAL 100.00000 %
I would like to remind you, you moved across the country, you are not even in this state let alone this county or District yet you wish to comment to serve what purpose? Create chaos!
I’ll find the video where you debated Vince Wells and on record several times provided false information and were fear mongering. The goal of the elected and appointed officials is to provide the most service for as little money as possible.
Elected officials serve the greater good and under their oath are supposed to protect the public from foreign terrorist and domestic enemies. As former executive director of the taxpayer association, I hope you realize you fall under the category of domestic enemy of the fire District.
This information brings up more questions than answers. For example, the School District shows .0469 percent in tax ( less than ECCFPD receives ) and the school district has twice as many employees and is within budget. Why?
Secondly you state that the district cannot go bankrupt. It would merely remain in existence to pay off it’s debt with no services provided. This means that the twenty eight million dollars we owe to benefits would remain to be paid off if ECCFPD did not respond to anymore calls. We would be just paying taxes to the debt already owed until paid off with no services. This means if the Fire District stopped services today we would still pay our taxes for the next three years with no services ? Really ? So if the district can’t go bankrupt, tell me why I would want to pay more when the district is unable to fail ?
I await your professional response ECT.
On another subject with Wendy Lack and Kris Hunt both of whom I’ve never met or spoken to. Your comments to them are very unprofessional for a self proclaimed new media source. It really tarnishes the ECT name. I have lost some respect for ECT. I have never seen them respond in such a personal attacking way. We all have an opinion, isn’t that why ECT has this site for the public? I thought a promise was made by ECT to never print personal attacks.
With regards to Wendy Lack & Kris Hunt… our comments are spot on. Keep in mind the context as we are in the ‘comment section’ and not within a post. I am not concerned about the name. In fact, I would argue that those who have felt the verbal assault by those two over the years of lies, mischaracterizations and rabble rousing will probably respect us more for calling it as it is. People are entitled to our opinions yes, which is why their comments were not removed, but purposely providing misinformation and drive bys to the likes those two and the Tax Payers Association has been known to do is not okay. In fact, I would argue that because of their phony organization, many lives have been lost — Mike B.
Jim, I am not sure what school district you are referring to, we are talking about Brentwood as the example
LIBERTY HIGH 15.88650 %
BRENTWOOD ELEM 14.22519 %
CITY OF BRENTWOOD 14.13780 %
EAST CO CO FIRE 6.40076 %
To answer your question the district is not going to go out of service tomorrow… its going to take many years adding much more liability. You will go to 3-stations, down to 2-stations for several years down to a single station for many many more years. It’s not something that will go away.
Thank you Kris for showing this site has political bias when it should remain neutral on such a topic. It seems the district leaders and the union are already setting the stage for failure as it has twice before. Thanks also to C. Morgan and J. Young for their wisdom however little it helped. Fix the underlying problem before throwing more money at it. The Cities should rescind their offer of my taxes. The money would be better served fixing pot holes.
@Failure… former President have the taxpayer association has no agenda and neutral, now that is funny. I can remember many times correcting her misstatements and flat out lies to the public–even providing documentation as proof. Even during a debate with Mr. Wells which was video recorded, she was lying and providing phony information on the record. She was paid to create chaos to prevent more taxes, not have an honest discussion and let the public decide. Isn’t she on the east coast, what is in it for her to comment now after all this time?
Stating the District will not go bankrupt is not an opinion, its a fact.
Vince, let’s cover a few facts:
1 – only new hires to the system will fall under the governor’s new pension rules so it will be years before any effect is seen. Check the District’s cost projections, those costs will continue to rise.
2 – Pension and retiree healthcare costs are major factors in the District budget. In fact, the District’s own numbers show the costs to be rising in the future as was mentioned above.
3- Any financial solution (read “tax”) should actually solve the problem not be based on what the District’s consultants’ poll finds what the public will pay. This was the problem with previous tax ploys as was the ConFIre tax. The amount was not high enough to solve the problem and yet the public rejected them..
4-The kind of pensions that the public sector gets are virtually non-existent in the private sector because they proved to be too costly. Small businesses generally don’t even offer a 401K so, Vince, many people have to fund 100% of their pensions..
5-The private sector has not been granting people raises either because of the economy and Social Security recipients did not get a COLA either. They might find it tough to pay for tax increases.
Finally, Vince, my focus is on the honest disclosure of costs, not the firefighters. Public safety is an essential function of government. If the public is willing to vote for a tax that actually solves the District’s problems then go for it.
Your problem, Ms. Hunt, is the constant use of rhetoric without any specifics. Nowhere has anyone connected with the taxpayer group come clean with explaining what “solving the pension problem” means in simple English.
Those of us who have watched your antics can read between the lines. You want to stiff the pensioners, plain and simple. You never acknowledge changes that have been made and reductions in unfunded liability that has been realized. You can’t. Because it would undermine your sham messaging.
Do you even know what the trendline for pension liability is for ECCFPD? Or are you once again lumping all fire districts together in CoCo County? Then added to the deception by quoting extreme examples of pension spiking fire chiefs who retired in San Ramon as somehow the norm for fire districts as a whole.
The District doesn’t control healthcare costs. The healthcare industry does. Why does this come as a surprise to you?
As for your bogus claims on compensation. I can point you to several Silicon Valley companies where starting pay is $125k, signing bonuses are generous and 401k match is the norm for many. You see how easy it is to cherry pick the facts?
Your antics and misinformation are a direct threat to the public’s safety in East Contra Costa and a direct threat to the well being of my family. I have no patience for your foolishness or your lies.
Welcome back Kris Hunt
We have missed you very much!
Since the 2012 parcel tax proposal ( Measure S) and the 2014 benefit assessment there has been significant changes to firefighter pensions. Governor Brown changed the retirement age for firefighters to 57 instead of 50 and changed the formula in which determines their final salary significantly.These changes will significantly reduce pension costs in the future. On top of this CCCERA who is the retirement system that the ECCFPD is under, has made many changes as well. All of these have lowered the retirement costs and will create future reductions in costs as well. The costs are going down!
Unfortunately Kris Hunt and crew, will not be happy until they strip public employees of any gauranteed retirement. They feel that because the private sector’s retirements are not gauranteed, public employees retirements shouldn’t be either. I am not sure why this is the fight they have taken instead of aligning with us to assure that all working people’s retirements are secure. Who do they represent? Business owners who profit on the back s of their employees or the working people of this country? Seems to be counter productive. Unions are the ones who changed working conditions for everyone in the nation. Limited hours, work weeks, safe work environments, safety equipment, sick and vacation leave.. etc, etc…. We are the bad guys?
I am a firefighter and I represent the firefighters within my Local. We place our lives on the line on a regular basis, and make a difference when it comes to life or death, damage to property, or the environment and stand on the front lines of our community. How much should we be paid for this? I wish some of you single focused bloggers would announce your career choices and benefit packages for us to scutinize, question, and devalue as has happened here in East County.
You have 3 stations with 3 firefighters each. The District is 250 square miles in size, you have over 110, 000 residents depending on the time of day. The recommended number is 1 firefighter for every 1000. You have 9 per day! If that is good enough then that is fine. We are going to continue to insist that the firefighters who provide the services in this community are paid accordingly. I don’t know a private employee with a specific set of skills that wouldn’t demand the same. (unless by private employee you mean Taco Bell, Burger King, or Wallmart etc…)j. These private jobs require a minimum wage.
As far as all the scare tactics used by the anti- public service folks, beware. Bankruptcy? This is a fire district. Not a city department or a county department. They receive money for one service. fire and emergency response. 85% of the budget goes to paying personnel, the rest goes to maintaining stations and equipment to provide those services. They have no other obligations, bonds, parks, police, or other services. If they loose money, they close stations. They will always be able to pay their bills. Unlike what Ms Hunt said; all costs for retirements will be going down due to the changes mentioned in the beginning of this post.
Please do your homework as you read these blogs and continue to place your community at risk by not assuring an adequate response to emergencies in your community. Your AT&T home alert system, your Life Alert alarm, and your ability to dial 911 at the touch of a button are useless without the response capabilities of your fire department. They are all reliant on our services.
Many of the bloggers who throw the pension issue out there are deliberately being misleading. The district pays their obligated portion and the firefighters pay theirs. Just like the matching system in the private sector when it comes to your 401K. They know that past pension agreements cannot be changed and only those of the future can. They have been changed significantly. Ask them what else could be done? The East Contra Costa Fire Protection District as formed in 2002. You only have 30 firefighters currently on the payroll. The District has been lumped in with the District next door when it comes to the unfunded liability amount they pay. Ask the county why they lumped this district in when they have less then 20 people retired in the system. Your focus on the current firefighters is misdirected and shameful.
[email protected] for facts.
The union has done an excellent job of over negotiating this district into a perpetual twenty million dollar debt hole with only thirty employees that will never be filled. The books will show red ink forever. For the facts go to CC Times public employee unfunded liabilities and public employee wages.
Thank you, Director Cheryl Morgan, for speaking the truth. Doing so takes courage in such a emotionally-charged, politicized situation.
There’s no reason to expect voters will view the current situation any differently than in prior elections.
Wendy,
You do not live in the District nor pay taxes to the District and as far as I know, no longer are with the taxpayers association. Do us all a favor, go find some other cause to destroy with your lies and misinformation.
ECT has decided to drop any semblance of professionalism and throw journalistic integrity aside with the commen made in the story and comment section here.
It doesn’t matter where someone lives if they have an opinion on an issue. The entire blog or website or whatever this is is cheapened b an editor that comment with personal attacks.
ECT, if you can win this argument on its merits, put aside the childish sniping.
Keep in mind the context… we are in the comment section, not within an article.
With regards to Wendy Lack & Kris Hunt… our comments are spot on. Keep in mind the context as we are in the ‘comment section’ and not within a post. I am not concerned about the name. In fact, I would argue that those who have felt the verbal assault by those two over the years of lies, mischaracterizations and rabble rousing will probably respect us more for calling it as it is. People are entitled to our opinions yes, which is why their comments were not removed, but purposely providing misinformation and drive bys to the likes those two and the Tax Payers Association has been known to do is not okay. In fact, I would argue that because of their phony organization, many lives have been lost — Mike B.
ECT, do you have a list of the lives that were lost by Kris Hunt voicing her opinion? Names? Dates?
You accused someone of being complisent in the deaths of a number of people. Don’t you need to be able to back up an accusation like that?
If you don’t have a list of casualties then shouldn’t you apologize to your readers and Ms Hunt?
@Back it up,
Words have consequences and she and her former organization cost both CONFIRE & ECCFPD trust with the public = 3 failed measures = loss of station & firefighters = worst service and people have died. Its not that complicated.
feel free to email me and we can discuss it [email protected]
Mike B
Mike B /ECT, words do have consequences. How many people did Ms Hunt kill?
How many lives have been lost Mike?
ECT Crossing the Line: I hope he provides 10 the deal toll, 2) the rationale as to how I could possibly be responsible for the deaths since I did not spend any money in either of the elections and was not involved at all in the last one, 3) show the massive number of examples of misconduct by Wendy Lack and myself he claims we have produced that justifies the vitriolic responses he has produced, and 4) what the hold I have over people that I can sway them with my supposed lies – I might want to run for office in Contra Costa soon and I would find that information useful.
Ms. Hunt, so you claim you don’t have any impact on the outcomes unless you spend money? Is that your assertion?
Do you go through all of life pretending there are not consequences for your actions or words? That alone would be a total disqualifier for you to run for any public office.
When a person in cardiac arrest has to wait 20 mins for for first responder, in part because you advocated for defeating a ballot measure that would have provided additional resources and reduced that response time, then yes you have some ownership.
But keep posting. Your own words will be your downfall.
If you are unclear about how longer response times result in loss of life try talking to the people answering the calls. It’s not that difficult to learn the truth. You could put yourself on the path to becoming a more informed individual.
Wicked (who is willing to sling insults and accusations without revealing his/her name, H
Here I was thinking I was Dorothy in this scenario. Clearly I am the Great Oz able to direct the voting public even when I had absolutely no involvement whatsoever in the last election. You guys need to realize it is your rhetoric and the cost of the District that is driving the votes, not me. You keep pushing the same agenda and expecting a different result. I believe that is the definition of insanity. Anyway, I have better things to do with my life that argue with people who have not problem making accusations without providing data or revealing who they are. If you want to check the numbers, see the projections from the District as I did.
Actually Khunt, when it comes to OZ you are more like the Scarecrow. “If I only had a brain”
Yep, that’s you.
I think that the tax payers association can provide a service of making sure government agencies are responsible but the thing I don’t get is why it should be done at the detriment of a whole community. But I will get back to that.
I see at least three different agencies have fee increases on their agendas this week in this area and I will bet no one will show up against the fee raises. Why isn’t the tax payer association going out and fighting those. I looked at my property taxes the other day and I pay almost $700 for my sewer services and for the taxpayers association you think that is ok for them to continue raising my rates? I wonder why this publication isn’t writing an article on that?
I wish the tax payers association no ill will, I just feel I haven’t see any doable contributions of ideas but rather a whole lot of blocking and posturing. As a business owner, a mother and someone that cares about the community I would like for you to do a proposal that helps us have better coverage and meets your standards. I want to make sure that my neighbors, my friends, may family and my community can get the care and assistance in an emergency situation when they need it and right now we are understaffed and in danger of having something tragic happening.
The amount of ignorance in the comments is just depressing.
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