How do you pay for something you want but don’t have money to pay for without bringing in any additional revenue? That’s a tough one, but have I got an easy answer for you.
If you’re like every other American in this now Great Again nation, you’ll just borrow more money against the value of your home to buy that yacht or brand-new super diesel truck you’ve really been pining away after. I mean, it’s not like overleveraging ever leads to the downfall of the economy or anything.
But what if you’re, like, a city, and that thing you want to pay for isn’t, like, just a want? It’s public safety services that are stretched thin as it is. Asking for a friend.
And my good friend—or frenemy as we like to call each other—is the city of Lompoc, which is staring down the barrel of $4 million in pension liability over the next two to three years. The Lompoc City Council is facing some pretty tough decisions. On the chopping block: personnel cuts for dispatch, fire, and law enforcement, among others.
Yeah, yeah, I know it’s not the only city in California with those issues. But, it is a city with some real stubborn libertarian-leaning conservative City Council members who might as well have said: “Read our lips. No new taxes.”
Well, President George H. W. Bush (senior!) eventually caved, so maybe Lompoc City Councilmembers Jim Mosby, Dirk Starbuck, and Victor Vega will too, but I doubt it.
To allay the potential cuts to safety services, city staff recommended that (City Manager Jim Throop practically begged, in my humble opinion) that the city put a sales tax measure on the ballot for Lompoc residents to vote on. The measure would have been to increase sales tax in the city by 1 percent. Nope, nope, and nope, Mosby, Vega, and Starbuck voted in March. We won’t even consider letting city residents have a say in the matter! And although Mayor Jenelle Osborne didn’t mention that particular elephant in the room at her April 4 state of the city address, she probably should have.
Here’s what she said about the deficit: “Frustration and anger won’t eliminate it. Being proactive can reduce its impact on our quality of life.” Boring! She skirted around calling her colleagues out by saying that “if we continue only to cut to try and solve our unfundied liability, we cut people.” Where are the dots for citizens to stand up, rally around, and force its City Council members to connect?
Come on, Jenelle! Have you learned nothing from President Donald Trump about what these speeches are for? You should have trotted out all the public safety personnel who would lose their jobs. Maybe a dispatch computer with no cord attached to it. Calls for service that go unanswered.
Take a page from Bush Senior: Read my lips: no more cuts!
The only thing the Canary cuts is newspapers for the bottom of the cage. Send comments to canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Apr 18-25, 2019.