The San Bruno Beacon

At it's June 26, 2007 meeting, the San Bruno City Council voted unanimously to move forward with increasing the sales tax rate in San Bruno from 8-1/4% to 8-3/4%. At its July 9th, 2007 meeting, the San Bruno City Council will take a final vote on placing the San Bruno Sales Tax Measure on the November 2007 ballot. Ballot arguments for and against the San Bruno Sales Tax Measure and rebuttals to the ballot arguments can be submitted.

To add insult to injury for San Bruno's residents, the San Bruno City Council also voted unanimously to adopt an ordinance imposing a 7.23% garbage rate increase that was demanded by the San Bruno Garbage Company for 2007-2008 to be effective July 27, 2007.

The San Bruno Garbage company is the beneficiary of never ending rounds of annual rate increases by this City Council. Last year, at the May 23, 2006 City Council meeting, this City Council rubber stamped another 3.22% rate increase requested by the San Bruno Garbage Company. At the June 28, 2005 San Bruno City Council meeting, the San Bruno Garbage Company was given a 3.386% rate increase by the San Bruno City Council. Is this the San Bruno City Council's version of "garbage in, garbage out"? The rubber stamp San Bruno City Council strikes again. This is what happens when there is no competition for the garbage contract. Ever wonder why there is no competition for the garbage contract in San Bruno? More on that later.

Here is the text of what is said in the video clip:

[SB Mayor Franzella] "Comment from Council or questions or action from Council, direction........"

[SB Councilman Jim Ruane] "Through the Chair......[Franzella] Councilman Ruane...[Ruane] I don’t think we can let this, I don’t think we can let this opportunity pass us by we have a very short period of time and a small window of opportunity and uh, it’s sort of once in a uh lifetime opportunity here and I would like to make a motion that we direct staff to bring back all the details uh that would uh allow us to put the general tax on the on the November ballot"

[SB Councilwoman O’Connell] "second"

[SB Mayor Franzella] "motion and a second, is there any discussion? OK, ahgt; all those in favor [5 ayes] opposed [silence] abstention [silence] ok hearing then it’s a unanimous vote in favor"

In the above clip, watch how fast Councilman Jim Ruane jumps on the opportunity to steamroll San Bruno's residents with yet another tax, rate, or fee increase. This guy doesn't even let his buddy Mayor Larry finish asking for Council direction before he butts in like a hungry pack dog, fighting for a piece of raw meat, and starts babbling about what a great opportunity this is to burden San Bruno's residents with a 1/2 cent sales tax when he makes the following statement:

"I don’t think we can let this, I don’t think we can let this opportunity pass us by we have a very short period of time and a small window of opportunity and uh, it’s sort of once in a uh lifetime opportunity......................................."

In all fairness, there are actually shades of truth in Ruane's ridiculous statement. The fact of the matter is that the sense of urgency in Ruane's statement is real. Ruane and his Council cronies are desperate to have San Bruno's taxpayers bail them out of the mess they have made of the City of San Bruno's financial affairs. If the San Bruno City Council and Government don't get this tax passed, they are going to be forced to address their fiscal mismanagement and fix the financial problems they have created for San Bruno and it's residents during the past ten years. Therefore, this is not, in the words of Councilman Ruane a "once in a uh lifetime opportunity".

The fact of the matter is that this Sales Tax Measure, the Council is putting on the November 2007 Election Ballot, is the San Bruno City Council's desperate attempt to bury their mismanagement of San Bruno's finances under a fresh pile of taxpayer money that they will squander away. This Council cannot control its addiction to reckless fiscal policies. Even with more taxpayer money from a new sales tax to waste, this mindless Council will be back again next year raising rates and fees on San Bruno's residents and trying to find news ways to bleed revenue out of San Bruno's taxpayers.

Two other observations about this fillm clip:

1). the speed with which Councilwoman O'Connell seconds Ruane's motion. It is almost as if there was a trip wire that flapped her mouth open with the word "second" as Ruane finished making his motion;

The San Bruno City Council and Manager didn't think the City of San Bruno's $500,000 (+/-) budget deficit was bad enough, so they paid some polling company approximately $48,200 to conduct an opinion poll.

That's right folks; the best idea the brain trust down at San Bruno's City Hall could come up with to solve San Bruno's annual $500,000 +/- Budget deficit was to pay some polling company approximately $48,200 to conduct a poll that they say supports the proposition that San Bruno's residents want to increase the City's Sales Tax. The cover story for this poll, to support more taxes on San Bruno's residents, was that the San Bruno City Council and Government wanted to know what San Bruno's residents were thinking.

The "independent" polling company, hired by San Bruno City Manager Jackson and the City Council, claims that they found hundreds of people in San Bruno who said they want a sales tax increase in San Bruno. Big deal. I'll bet on Election Day this year we'll find thousands of San Bruno residents who will say they don't want the City of San Bruno to increase the City Sales Tax to pay for the fiscal mismanagement of the San Bruno City Manager and Council.

The reason why so many political / opinion polls are wrong is that polling is an inaccurate science plagued by sampling error, nonresponse bias, response bias, problems in the way poll questions are worded, problems in the way poll participants are chosen (i.e., coverage bias), etc.

One of the highlights of the San Bruno City Council's polling escapades at their June 26th meeting was when some guy (who ran for the Council once and lost) showed up at the Council meeting really wanting to tell everybody watching on television how much he supported the idea of raising the sales tax and why raising the sales tax was such a great idea. This guy, the only person to speak on the sales tax matter during the public hearing, said that he had received a $75 check for attending the focus group conducted by the polling company hired by the City of San Bruno. He said, ".....they [the polling company] give you compensation to entice you to come [to the group] because sometimes you can't get people to study groups". He then handed over a white envelope to somebody saying that the envelope contained the $75 stipend he received from the polling company and asked that the $75 be placed in the City's General Fund. Unrehearsed, spontaneous moments like these make San Bruno's City Council meetings so exciting to watch.

What I would really like to see is San Bruno City Manager Connie Jackson showing up at a future San Bruno City Council meeting with a personal check to pay back the money that she has borrowed [i.e., her "City" loan] for her personal use from the City of San Bruno.

Clip starts with Councilmember O’Connell making some weird hand and body gestures.

[O’Connell] (first word unintelligible) "the eh I think we should have eh the City Attorney prepare an impartial analysis which is par(t) I guess I don’t know how you want to do it Larry that’s part of my motion"

[Franzella] "why don’t you just"

[O’Connell] "and umm authorize anyone I eh I know you need to know who could"

[Franzella] "eh"

[O’Connell] "do a"

[Franzella] "actually, just for a point of clarification, tonight we’re only going to give you [the City staff] direction"

[O’Connell] "direction"

[Franzella] "any of those issues will actually be decided the next meeting"

Mayor Franzella continues and provides the words for the motion, O’Connell couldn’t figure out how to make, and then, after spoon feeding her the motion, asks O’Connell, “do you wish to make a motion to that effect?” O’Connell says, “I do”. Councilmember Ruane seconds the motion, and it passes.

For the purpose of the discussion that follows, I assume that Councilmember O'Connell was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs, when she was at the June 26, 2007 San Bruno Council Meeting, and that she was in full control of her available physical and mental abilities.

The above video clip brings into question San Bruno City Councilmember O'Connell's ability to continue to serve as a Member of the San Bruno City Council. The primary job of a San Bruno City Councilmember is to help articulate City policy and provide direction to San Bruno's City Government, through the City Manager and/or City Attorney, so that the City Manager and/or City Attorney can implement these policies and directions.

As evidenced by the above video clip, San Bruno City Councilmember O'Connell does not appear to be capable of providing the San Bruno City Government's staff with coherent, understandable leadership and direction for setting City policy. It appears that she cannot figure out how to put her thoughts into words and has little or no idea about what she is talking about when she is able to put a sentence together. Is it any wonder why the City of San Bruno's financial situation is so screwed up with someone like Councilmember O'Connell on the San Bruno City Council?

San Bruno City Manager Connie Jackson refuses to make the budget cuts necessary to reduct the cost of City government and create a budget surplus. However, Jackson sees no problem increasing the Park and Recreation fees San Bruno's children and teenagers must pay to use City of San Bruno Park and Recreation facilities.

San Bruno City Manager Jackson is on a tax, rate, and fee increase rampage to pay for her fiscal mismanagement of San Bruno. If you are a San Bruno resident, you, and now your children, are paying for this fiscal mismanagement.

Once again, at the July 10, 2007 San Bruno City Council Meeting, San Bruno City Manager Connie Jackson was trying to increase the financial pain on San Bruno's residents, and now their children, by targeting them with more rate and fee increases on City Park and Recreation services. City Manager Jackson wants to dramatically increase the fees charged for adults, teenagers, and children who play basketball at the San Bruno City Gym and use other City owned Park and Recreation facilities. She's even raising the fees to swim in the City's 60 degree pool. City Manager Jackson is now working to price our children out of their recreation facilities. What should San Bruno's teenagers and children do for recreation if they can't afford to pay the higher prices for Park and Recreation activities? It is wrong for City Manager Jackson to target San Bruno's teenagers and children with these outrageous rate and fee increases on their recreational activities.

It is particularly galling to me that City Manager Jackson is working to price San Bruno's children out of the City's Park and Recreation facilities. Perhaps, City Manager Jackson, who earns between $12,804 to $15,710 per month, and has personally borrowed money from the City of San Bruno for her personal use, is out of touch with how much impact her proposed recreation rate and fee increases have on families who do not live the same privileged taxpayer supported lifestyle she leads.

As I see it, participation in sports and recreation is an essential part of our children's lives. Many of the best moments of a person's young life are spent participating in sports. I graduated from Serra High School in San Mateo, a high school with a great sports tradition and arguably one of the best sports programs in the United States. I have seen first hand how a young person's participation in sports can change their life for the better. This is why I think that the children of San Bruno residents should not be charged anything to use the City's Park and Recreation facilities.

Once again, City Manager Jackson has her priorities all wrong. San Bruno's Park and Recreation facilities are not private businesses or profit centers. They should be free for the children of San Bruno's residents. And if free means that some highly compensated San Bruno City Management employees need to have their salary and benefit packages cut or positions eliminated, so be it. The interests of the residents of San Bruno and their children come first. This is something that the top bureaucrats at San Bruno's City Hall do not seem to understand.

At the July 10, 2007 San Bruno City Council meeting, City Manager Jackson's attempt to increase City Park and Recreation fees was sidelined, but not rejected, when it was challenged by Councilmembers Rico Medina and Ken Ibarra. In the end, with the exception of the Park and Recreation fee increases, the Council voted for all rate and fee increases recommended by San Bruno City Manager Jackson. The Council also voted to approve San Bruno Park and Recreation fee increases recommended by City Manage Jackson but not set the increases until 2008.

If you do not know if you are a registered voter; find out.

If you do not know where to vote; call or send an e-mail message to Carol Bonner, the San Bruno City Clerk.

San Bruno City Clerk Carol Bonner's e-mail address is:
CBonner@ci.sanbruno.ca.us

San Bruno City Clerk Carol Bonner's phone number is:
(650) 616-7058.

If you want to run for the San Bruno City Council, this year Mayor Franzella, Councilmembers Ruane and O'Connell are up for re-election, call or send an e-mail message to the San Bruno City Clerk. You can also view the Candidate Handbook and Resources Guide online. This booklet is published by the County of San Mateo Elections Division.

If you want to write a ballot argument with respect to the San Bruno Sales Tax increase Measure that the Council has put on the ballot, you can get more information at:

http://www.shapethefuture.org/campaignresources/filling_arguments.asp

According to San Bruno City Clerk Carol Bonner, the deadline for arguments for or against the San Bruno Sales Tax increase Measure is August 17, 2007. The Rebuttal argument deadline is August 27, 2007. All arguments must be submitted to the San Bruno City Clerk's Office by the deadline(s).