Our city politicians are at it again asking us to bail them out for problems that they have created. This time the excuse that is being used is lack of funding for public safety. Hence, we have another sales tax increase in the form of Measure “A”. You may recall, we the taxpayers bailed out the city two years ago in the form of Measure “P” which is “supposed” to be used for infrastructure. We got “P” because we discovered that city politicians over the years had no yearly plan to fund necessary infrastructure upkeep. They spent the money, untold millions on all sorts of things but neglected to use basic common sense in securing the priority needs of this city.
Now, Mayor Salas and her council allies would have you believe that crime is out of control and that houses are burning down in Chula Vista because somehow the city doesn’t have enough money to properly fund its police and fire forces. These are nothing more than political scare tactics bordering on blackmail.
Legally, any future city council can spend general fund tax money for any city purpose desired. Such is the case with Measure “A”. There is no taxpayer protection. What Salas offers is to form a so-called citizen committee to oversee “A”. What Salas doesn’t want you to know is that this committee has no binding legal authority over the council. Their decisions can be overridden and redirected at any time.
City growth over the years was supposed to accommodate adequate police and fire services. We wonder, where has that money gone? Instead, this is what we have found:
Over $70 million dollars (2007-2017) has been spent in overtime and an array of specialty pays that super inflate the basic pay and pensions of all of our public safety personnel.
Fire stations are being built without any justification of need.
According to Growth Management Commission reports, only 2% of calls to CVFD are for actual fires while 68% need medical service and a whopping 30% are calls not related to fire or medical emergency. Chula Vista is constantly using expensive fire personnel, fire trucks and fire stations far beyond the original intended use and mission of a fire department.
According to the 2015 GMOC report, CVPD had 98 active patrol officers out a needed 103. Chula Vista was ranked in the “top ten safest cities in the U.S.”. Even though the police chief at that time complained about staffing, Mayor Salas and the city council cancelled nearly 60% of their regularly scheduled meetings in 2015 because there was not enough city business according to the city clerk. Apparently Salas and the council felt no “public safety crisis” and cancelled meetings instead. Yet they got paid for meetings that never happened.
City staff admitted in a recent San Diego Union-Tribune article that public safety pensions will triple and that Measure “A” is seen as a short term solution. We can expect the Mayor and city council to ask for more tax increases again, again, and again because they fail to fix broken business models for public safety.
The average salaries, pensions and benefits of public safety personnel are well in excess of $125,000 per year. Most of the top wage earners in city government occupy numerous public safety positions while the average wage earner in Chula Vista remains at about $65,000 per year.
Solutions are obvious yet the Mayor and council refuse to exercise leadership and judgment. Instead, they went straight to the tax increase because it is the easy way out.
We the taxpayers deserve better. There is no reason to raise ANY taxes until they do the following:
Fix once and for all the financially broken business models of public safety. Strategically reduce the roles and service calls for CVFD . Contract paramedic services to the private sector in a far greater role and in decentralized locations to better serve the public. Renegotiate all public safety salaries, pensions, and benefits immediately in order to protect taxpayers and sustain an adequate level of affordable services.
There is no reason why a nominal redirection of overtime funding which has been budgeted already over the years can’t be used in a gradual increase in CVPD patrol officers.
The newer eastern Chula Vista communities should have seen by now CVPD substations that would enable patrol officers to better integrate those areas faster and more efficiently by being geographically positioned there. We strongly recommend immediate funding from Measure “P” be directed to CVPD substations in the east part of the city.
If a tax is still needed, sponsor a dedicated “special tax” for public safety. This kind of tax protects taxpayers by mandating that money collected for public safety can not be diverted.
In conclusion, based on the recent financial commitment of the city to a private developer for a convention center and hotel, it seems peculiar that the city somehow found the money to help a five billion dollar corporation (RIDA) by committing tens of millions of taxpayers dollars. We ask, how can they afford this if there truly is a “public safety crisis”? Follow the money—Cula Vista does not have a revenue problem, Chula Vista has a spending problem!
