I recently asked a council member how we could be sure that the City would spend the money on law enforcement and not use it for other purposes, such as paying back some of the enormous pension debt – his response was “ That’ll never happen. I’ve heard that same argument made. It’s totally ridiculous. Some amount of trust will be needed.”
THIS is reassurance from a council member that they will do the right thing?
On September 21, 2016 the Redding Record Searchlight reported on page 2A “Schreder said she had gone against one of her campaign pledges to not use reserves on ongoing expenses but she saw the need and has no regrets.”
Revive Redding and the promoters of Measures D & E would have the voters believe Measure E is a guarantee – NOT TRUE
Measure D would implement a 0.5 percent transactions and use tax within the City of Redding effective April 1, 2017. Measure E is an ADVISORY measure that enables Redding voters to provide guidance on how the revenue from Measure D should be utilized to improve our community.
It has been advertised that the revenues from Measure D would be used to increase police protection, jail space, mental health services, fire protection, and related public safety services.
What the supporters of Measures D&E are not saying is the following: Since the tax is a general tax and not a special tax the proceeds will go into the City’s general fund. As such, the CITY WOULD NOT BE REQUIRED to use the tax monies for any special purpose or for any particular services, projects, facilities, or programs. And Measure E is advisory only – the City IS NOT required to utilize the funds as directed by the advisory committee.
Measures D and E are a good idea – The City of Redding certainly needs more support in all of the areas Measure D enumerates; unfortunately the language in the Measures does not go far enough to ensure the City does the right thing with the funds.
I’m not bashing Ms. Schreder, just pointing out that promises, campaign or otherwise can always be changed. If Measures D&E were a special tax instead of a general tax it may be different but as it is, do as I will and VOTE NO ON MEASURES D&E.
Laura McHaney, Redding
