Potpourri Part Deux

All those fun issues that I didn’t get to last column…

The Taj Ma-City-Hall

 You have to wait until the May 3 edition on the Independent. The grand opening of the Taj Ma-City-Hall is May 4. But you can stop by and admire your tax dollars at work anytime. It is open for business.

Taxmaggeden

Monday was tax day. Never fun, unless of course you are too stupid to minimize your deductions and you actually get a tax refund when you file your taxes.

For those of you that are in the top 2 percent, thank you for your additional contributions that the mob voted for in prop 30 last year, which retroactively increased your taxes back to January 1, 2012. Hey as long as it was “someone else” and I am not next, it is OK with me….

Sequestration day 50: So far the white house tours have been cut, the Navy’s Blue Angels, the Air Force’s Thunderbirds, those “unnecessary” airport towers, basically anything that you, the voter, will notice has been cut. What hasn’t been cut are those “necessary” things like the Federal Puppet program spending over $1.1 Million since 2009 along with other government waste.

Fire Pits and the AQMD

The AQMD has postponed their hearing to ban all beach fires in all of Southern California, from their May 3 board meeting until their June 7 meeting, in order to gather more data. So you still have an opportunity to weigh in.

Senator Mimi Walters and Assemblyman Allan Mansoor, both of whom represent Newport Beach, Laguna Beach and Huntington Beach, sent a letter to the State Attorney General Kamala Harris to rule on the incompatibility of offices that chairman of the AQMD Board William Burke has serving on both the AQMD Board and the California Coastal Commission (CCC). Many believe that Burke is the driving force behind the Beach Fire Ban.

Mansoor and Walters are trying to stand up for our freedoms, unlike our Newport council majority.

Unfunded Pension Liabilities

The Newport City Council has successfully negotiated a second tier of pensions with all or most of the unions of the city employees. What that means is that all the current employees get to keep their gold plated retroactive pensions and the new employees have to accept a lower level of taxpayer funded pensions.

So the City fathers have slowed the bleeding for 10 years from now, when we actually have new employees and they have been here long enough that they actually make up 25 percent of our work force. In the meantime we are still bleeding profusely, currently accumulating more unfunded liabilities per capita than any other city in Orange County. This of course doesn’t even count the Taj-ma-city-hall debt. No wonder they increased the Dock Tax. Are you next?

Outsourcing

Outsourcing is the only real way to save the future budgets of the city. We need to get rid of municipal employees, as they are too expensive and we cannot lower their pensions, lower their salaries or benefits to match the private sector so they have to go.

Trash is the logical first step. I hear in the community that neighbors love their trash men and that they give service above and beyond. That is commendable. I suggest that we privatize the service and let them offer a “concierge” trash service to those that want it and are willing to pay for it.

Then move on to the utilities department and go from there.

Bat Control

No I am not talking about Mike Trout. I am talking about baseball bats used to injure others in either self-defense or in perpetrating a crime. We need to ban those Louisville Sluggers! If we didn’t have those high capacity “maple sticks,” Don Drysdale might be alive today. All those bats are also unregistered. This bat violence is a problem. I wonder if the mentally ill have access to these weapons of cowhide destruction?

The Newport Council has an opportunity to be a leader on this issue.

Remember: bats don’t kill people, they kill baseballs…Wait, I keep getting that all messed up.  Well, we will have to save that for a future column.

Contact Scott Peotter at scott.peotter@taxfighter.com.