By Samuel Strait, Reporter at Large – January 9, 2021
It has recently been established that we now have a new watch dog group in Del Norte County. As 2020 has passed into 2021, and 2020 was a
particularly harsh year for many of Del Norte County’s citizens and
taxpayers, perhaps this new group will unearth how money is being spent by our various taxpayer funded entities. The following list may be a starting point for the group.
Has Del Norte County’s government looked into ways to reduce spending?
Have the County’s employees had raises or other forms of increased
compensation in the past year?
Have there been any layoffs due to Covid-19 restrictions that have been
due to a reduced work load?
When the County begins to receive money from the recently passed Measure
R will the public be apprised of how the money is being spent? And will
it be used as advertised?
Will The City do the same? How is it that the pool has become a
priority over other much needed infrastructure needs?
Has the City got the Waste Water Treatment Plant debt under control?
Will there be any more of the pointless Japan/ Sister City expenditures
now that the City has a general fund slush fund?
Now that the sales tax measure has nearly expired for the Fairgrounds,
will we get an accurate accounting for how that money was expended?
With the passage of Measure C has the harbor generated a serious plan
for retiring its debt to the USDA?
Has the harbor district become involved with solar/wind power to the
detriment of its actual function of a working harbor?
Has the harbor considered the possibility that solar and wind power is a
bad fit for a coastal harbor?
Has the Del Norte Solid Waste Authority out lived its usefulness?
Should it be folded into County government to save money with reduced
administrative costs?
Has the school district been transparent about the expenditure of the
$25,000,000 bond issue before asking taxpayer to foot the bill for
another bond issue?
While these are just a few investigations that should result from
various agencies, I am sure there are many more to be had. We have as
responsible taxpayers let our local governing agencies and bureaucracies
grow at an alarming pace over the last forty plus years to the point
where many employees earn six figure salaries and we do not know what
they even do to earn that kind of money. Perhaps Eye on Del Norte’s call
for transparency is something to be serious about. Much of what is
being done to us locally begs the question, “Is it to the benefit of the
taxpayer and local citizens, or is it something else?”
WHAT THE HELL …. 2 Supervisors that should be ELIMINATED are HEMMINGSON and HOWARD… just check out their Voting Record!!.
Regarding measures S and R the tax will be placed in he general fund to be spent on whatever city and county wants. That’s why the “informational mailers” were fraudulent. If the city and county had placed the increased sales tax to specific accounts of law enforcement, fire district, swimming pool, and repair streets as they advertised there would be no issue. But the city and county will place the money in a general fund aka free for all account. The ones who will benefit are city manager, and county administrators. Additionally and what is laughable is each entity says there will be a committee to oversee the expenditure of the tax money. What that means is they won’t place people like me on the committee because I ask questions, conduct research and report to public wrongdoing. They will place people on the committee who have no clue about the Brown Act, who will keep their mouth shut, and who will kowtow as a “yes” man or woman. No integrity there.
The pool will remain closed probably till July when first tax money from sales tax increase shows up, then again there probably won’t be enough money to open the pool. Thankfully the city can keep the pool closed because of covid.
As far as fairgrounds; each year I request copies of bank statements and credit card statements along with their perspective agendas and agenda minutes. The fairgrounds got slapped real good by their last performance evaluation that was a result of my complaints to finance director in Sacramento who oversees all county fairs. Our local fair people learned valuable lessons. However, I would not encourage the public to ever vote for that tax again because it creates abuse of power and corruption. If they can’t stand alone without tax money then there is something very wrong.
Great comment, need more like this. Still would like some kind or honest accounting to be made public by the fair board, so the people who sit on these boards will not behave as you have described. A good old fashioned public humiliation should at least be the consequences of this kind of behavior. The public ought to know just who these people are.
Why is there no article about this in The Triplicate, be it an investigative piece or an editorial?
The Triplicate has become a weekly. It would be difficult to continue to read the Triplicate and still be informed. By the time it’s Saturday only issue comes out, it is old news for most things news worthy. It has also continued its editorial bias, and as a result many stories continue to be narratives rather than news.
I would encourage any one in the community to add to this list. What’s going on out at the airport is a great addition.
Sam Thankyou for writing the Article for Crescent City Times It seems like you already have about 15 Questions you like to find out the answers to . I would also like to find out answers to those questions! Let’s see if anybody from the City or the County will bother to answer your questions and believe me I’m not the only one who is INTERESTED! Also EYE on DEL NORTE is a great name!
Sam I think it’s fantastic that there is a watchdog group. There have been many abuses of the purse over the years, the Airport being just one of them.
If we’re able to get another couple of Supervisors off that Board. Spending and budgeting would improve drastically.