The City of Vallejo, in northern California, has filed bankruptcy. Here are a few excerpts from the San Francisco Chronicle about this desperate action, which happened primarily because the Vallejo City Council overpaid its cops and firefighters:
The Vallejo City Council voted to declare bankruptcy Tuesday night after months of last-ditch wrangling failed to rescue the city from financial catastrophe.
The North Bay city of 117,000 now heads into largely uncharted territory, as no California city of this size has ever opted for this route.
After about four hours of discussion and public comment from the standing-room-only crowd, the council voted 7-0 to approve Tanner’s recommendation to declare Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection as a means to reorganize its finances, which have been shattered by spiraling public employee salaries and the plummeting housing market.
The move allows the city to freeze its debts while maintaining city services. Police, fire and other unions and many in the audience were outraged at the move, accusing the council of poor leadership.
The city suffers from mismanagement and has less debt than it claims, said a union spokesman, Ken Shoemaker, a representative of the electrical union.
Vallejo faces a $16 million shortfall and no money in its reserve account for the fiscal year beginning July 1. In March, the city shaved several million dollars from its payroll, museums, public works, senior centers, libraries and other services to avoid bankruptcy, but needed to make further cuts to meet increased expenses in the next fiscal year.
The city and its police and fire unions held a final contract negotiating session Sunday but failed to reach an agreement before Tuesday’s City Council meeting.
The city and its public safety unions have been at the bargaining table for about two years. The city is asking for its police and firefighters to take salary, benefit and staff cuts, while the unions say any further cuts would endanger public safety as well as the safety of the police and firefighters.
Vallejo spends 74 percent of its $80 million general fund budget on public safety salaries, significantly higher than the state average. The generous contracts are the result of deals struck in the 1970s, following a police strike that left the city in turmoil.
I wonder if the City of Santa Ana will end up in the same dire straits one day? Mayor Miguel Pulido doles out regular raises to our cops and firemen because their unions give money to his campaigns, and they walk precincts for him too. The Santa Ana City Council also recently gave out huge raises to City Manager Dave Ream and to our City Clerk. Probably to keep them from talking when they retire, potentially as soon as next year.
This will not be the last…..there
will be many, many more..sadly!
Hmmm, I wonder if Seattle, Chicago, Kansas City, Cleveland, Miami, Dallas, Phoenix, San Francisco, Portland, Denver, Columbus, New York, Boston, Atlanta, Des Moines, Buffalo and Philadelphia will end up in the same dire straits one day?
Santa Ana is also on the verge of bankruptcy, they just paper over their massive deficit by borrowing against their water fund.
Pudrido should have left before the condition of Santa Tijuana started to decline to the point where only illegal immigrants, gang bangers, paroled sex felons, and drug dealers want to call Santa Tijuana home.
Only in Santa Tijuana will your neighbors not turn you in to the police for fear of being arresting for outstanding warrants, so crime continues to increase.
Dear Anon 11;06,
I guess you have never attended the Floral Park Home and Garden tour or the Wilshire Square Tea or concerts. Let me invite you to see another side of our fair city. Tah Tah!!
Hey #5. Haven’t you noticed Floral Park, Wilshire & Washington Square neighborhoods are already starting to decline and deteriorate? Picket fences are looking like they’re missing teeth. Lawns are turning brown, homes need to be painted, too many cars parked on the street, and too many pot holes. Just drive Flower Street in Floral Park day or night and you’ll see all the cars parked on the street. It ain’t as nice as it used to be. Drive into the neighborhoods and see for yourself. I was fooled into buying by my real estate agent and i’m just waiting for the real estate market to end its’ dive so that I can get out.
An example of government pricing its self out of the market.
How far away do Vallejo’s teachers and firefighters and police have to live, given the local cost of living? Can a teacher afford an apartment? A modest house? How many hours a week do you think they should have to commute? How far away should your firefighters have to live?
There is a simple solution to these problems — one which will make Vallejo and all of California’s towns and cities good places once again for everyone. Get rid of Proposition 13, and rely on HALF of the property tax. Don’t tax buildings; just tax land value. There is plenty of land value to be taxed, and every dollarsworth of results one gets from the municipal employees raises that land value.
Repealing Prop 13 and relying on Land Value Taxation would allow California to get rid of the dumb taxes that burden its economy: sales taxes, wage taxes, etc. It would also put California on the way to reversing its urban sprawl, and housing many more of its residents closer to their work. Would all want that? No, probably not. But many would, if they could afford comfortable housing close to their work and to schools that they could trust to educate their children.
And collecting more of the land rent as public treasure would permit the funding of such amenities as senior centers, parks, libraries, museums, and other things which make a community a wonderful place to live.
Thank you Howard Jarvis and Jon Coupal for all your contributions to making California the land of dog eat dog!
See http://www.answersanswers.com/ for more about these ideas.