The City Councilman that we believe will approve the new tax hike will be, of course, Steve Adams, Chris Mac Arthur, Mike Gardner and possibly Jim Perry. The City Councilman we believe will not approve to vote on the hike are, Paul Davis, Mike Soubirous and maybe, Andy Melendrez. We’re on the fence with Andy..
People have forgotten that Council approved a sewer rate hike five years ago that included new rate hikes for 2009 through 2014. For 2014, the rate would now include CPI (Consumer Price Index). But the rate hike + CPI is no longer high enough to cover the new proposed $100,000,000.00 bond issuance, which it needs to continue the sewer expansion. Now, Public Works is requesting a higher rate increase than just CPI, as indicated in the second schematic. Why? The City needs a higher revenue stream for the new bond and its debt service.
CLICK THIS LINK TO VIEW CURRENT RATES CLICK THIS LINK TO VIEW HIGHER REPLACEMENT RATES
The City of Riverside had over $228,000,000.00 paid out in advances and loans from the Sewer Fund. Each and every loan/advance should be supported with a loan agreement to make sure the taxpayer reaps the benefit of the interest from each loans. We’ve requested all the loan agreements and the City of Riverside either does not have them or for some reason, are unwilling to give them to us. Therefore you have to ask the question, if we had $228,000,000.00 loaned out and paid back, as CFO Brent Mason continues to tell us at City Council, we should have $228,000,000.00 sitting in the bank, and why would we need $100 million bond issuance. If they are saying it was spent on sewer related items, then show us!
Three years ago TMC did the original story on Sewergate. We knew the City loaned out millions of sewer dollars for redevelopment projects, and those loans were considered illegal redevelopment loans. The State of California agreed with us and recognized those loans as Unenforceable Obligations.
Don’t forget folks, the City actually needs a total of $700,000,000.00 to complete the master sewer expansion project per Public Works Director Tom Boyd! This is only Phase One of the project, so more increases to come.
FROM THE DESK OF SCOTT SIMPSON: SCOTT RESPONDS TO THE CURRENT STATE OF AFFAIRS IN THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE:
Scott Simpson was former Chief of Enforcement for the California EPA Department of Toxic Substances Control, and also worked for the Department of Food and Agriculture in their Environmental Hazards Assessment Program specializing in ground water contamination:
Sewer service is a service to your property (parcel of land). California’s Courts have ruled that it is unlawful to include the costs of borrowed money in the service rates. The cost of borrowed money for capital improvement must only be recovered from property assessments or special taxes. Both of these are voter approved and would be included on your property tax bill.
This makes legal sense and comon sense. The Courts expressed that this is the only legal method in Calif to recover capital expense for system upgrade or expansion. Understanding that our City leaders have been dodging our vote on the legal methods of financing sewer expansion, That places the ability to cover these costs only in the service rate! What happened in the recent economic crisis— about 25% of residential and business properties went vacant for a long time. These properties were not paying a fair share of the cost of service to the property. Even though no one is home to flush, the capital cost of the sewer system has to be paid in annual loan payments. This fact of placing capital costs in the service rate set the Public Works Dept. up for a budget crisis! Their only option, continue down the same path and raise your rates to pay the cost of infrastructure that serve some one else’s property!
If the City had done it properly and gotten capital financing via a property assessment or special tax, that bill goes to the property owner annually and even the vacant properties will still get billed and we will see the money at the end of the foreclosure process. The sewer rates won’t have to climb above the 1-2% consumer price index annually. No need to raise the rates. The debt service is authorized and paid over the long term in the lawful and most stable method of financing– property assessments or special taxes.
The lawfull method above also includes government and tax-exempt property owners. They also pay their fair share. These groups consume about 40% of our utility services and don’t pay their fair share of the costs.
– Scott Simpson
TMC, RATED RIVERSIDE’S MOST “SLANDEROUS” AND MEZZSPELLED, “MISSPELLED” AND “OPINIONATED” BLOG SITE! TEMPORARILY BLOCKED BY THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE AT PUBLIC ACCESS SITES WITHIN THE CITY, THEN UNBLOCKED. I GUESS YOU CANNOT DO THAT ACCORDING TO ACLU. NOW TAGGED LOCAL BLOGGERS OR LOCAL MEDIA? RATED ONE TWO ONE STAR OUT OF FIVE IN TERMS OF COMMUNITY APPROVAL RATINGS.. TMC IS NOW EXCLUSIVELY ON FILE WITH ZELLERBACH’S DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE, AND PROSSIBLY POSSIBLY ON FILE WITH THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE’S POTENTIAL SLAPP SUIT LIST… WE WILL HAVE TO ASK GREGORY ABOUT THAT ONE ( OUR PEOPLE WILL HAVE TO CONTACT HIS PEOPLE)… AGAIN, THANK-YOU COMMUNITY OF RIVERSIDE AND THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE EMPLOYEE’S FOR YOUR SUPPORT! COMMENTS ALWAYS WELCOMED, ESPECIALLY SPELL CHECKERS! EMAIL ANONYMOUSLY WITH YOUR DIRT OR FOR CONTACT! THIRTYMILESCORRUPTION@HOTMAIL.COM
jehunter51
TMC: Thirty Miles of Corruption 
Sewer service is a service to your property (parcel of land). California’s Courts have ruled that it is unlawful to include the costs of borrowed money in the service rates. The cost of borrowed money for capital improvement must only be recovered from property assessments or special taxes. Both of these are voter approved and would be included on your property tax bill.
This makes legal sense and comon sense. The Courts expressed that this is the only legal method in Calif to recover capital expense for system upgrade or expansion. Understanding that our City leaders have been dodging our vote on the legal methods of financing sewer expansion, That places the ability to cover these costs only in the service rate! What happened in the recent economic crisis— about 25% of residential and business properties went vacant for a long time. These properties were not paying a fair share of the cost of service to the property. Even though no one is home to flush, the capital cost of the sewer system has to be paid in annual loan payments. This fact of placing capital costs in the service rate set the Public Works Dept. up for a budget crisis! Their only option, continue down the same path and raise your rates to pay the cost of infrastructure that serve some one else’s property!
If the City had done it properly and gotten capital financing via a property assessment or special tax, that bill goes to the property owner annually and even the vacant properties will still get billed and we will see the money at the end of the foreclosure process. The sewer rates won’t have to climb above the 1-2% consumer price index annually. No need to raise the rates. The debt service is authorized and paid over the long term in the lawful and most stable method of financing– property assessments or special taxes.
The lawfull method above also includes government and tax-exempt property owners. They also pay their fair share. These groups consume about 40% of our utility services and don’t pay their fair share of the costs.