The Other Problem is that the City spent all this money on the Oh, Let me see!! all this time they have been blaming the Police Department!! They are the problem!! They have said the Police Department has been Corrupt, and I have this Feeling, Nothing more then a feeling that Ed Scott is spending more money Through the Police Department to look for the Corrupt Offficer or Sgt., so he can hold that head up and say see!! See here is the Black Beard!! this is all the trouble within the Police department.
So, even with the money problems that are quoted here I just have the sneeky feeling that Ed Scott has been doing the Corrupt Investigation to find that Corruption within the Police Department. So far he has not found any, because Black Beards Head has not been on display at City Council meetings as of yet!!
The other thing is that the New chief has been through this type of problem before so he knows what costs money and what saves money in this kind of Police work. He also has build up a large police Department from a smaller one. so I like that. Maybe Rialto will finally get the Sgt. Gary Wofley Police Station that they have been trying to get for the last 15 years!!
I hope so, I started I was dressing in the downstairs halls. It was great!! saying hello to all the girls on the department as you were in your Tighty Whitey pulling on your trousers. LOL...
BSRanch
Passed by just five votes out of about 4,000 cast, the 8 percent tax tacked onto utility bills was a boon for the budget ills Rialto faced from 1999 to 2003. Its looming expiration in 2008 should serve as a warning of trouble ahead. "We've always known that the sunset is coming, and we will at some point be working on a process to put the issue back in front of the voters," said Assistant City Administrator Kirby Warner. "But as for the consequences of losing that revenue, at this point it's almost unthinkable." The unthinkable amounts to a loss of a revenue stream providing about a quarter of the city's budgets, or a projected $11.8 million dollars in fiscal year 2005-06. The utility tax was passed by voters in June 2003 with a built-in five-year sunset clause. At the time of passage, the tax was touted by supporters as a needed bulwark against further decline in services, especially public safety. Because the tax was passed as a general tax, it needed only a simple majority. According to city budget figures, Rialto's expenditures have grown from $37 million in 2003 to $51.4 million today. Personnel has grown from 277 to 328. Adjusted for population growth, the ratio of city employees per 1,000 residents is up from 3.82 in 2003 to 4.11 today but still well below the 4.49 per 1,000 ratio in 1998. But a heated political battle over the Police Department might have done irreparable damage to the tax just when it is most needed, officials fear. The City Council on June 20 approved an ordinance prohibiting the city from contracting police services without voter approval. The resolution also requires Rialto to maintain its own police department and does not allow for funding to dip below current levels. The ordinance, the approval of which pre-empted a November ballot for which supporters gathered requisite signatures, effectively ties the city's hands by locking in a costly police contract regardless of fiscal health, Warner said. "The ordinance takes away the ability to cut anything from law enforcement, leaving, for example, the Fire Department in a much more vulnerable situation should we lose the tax," Warner said. Warner said with police costs locked in, the loss of the tax in 2008 could be catastrophic for the city. "We are not providing an exorbitant level of services. There isn't really any fat to cut," Warner said. "The viability of Rialto as a continuing, services-providing entity would be in question." But many residents are still fuming over the battle they waged to save the Police Department after the council voted 4-1 to disband it last September. Part of the city's case for disbanding the department was that contracting with the sheriff would be cheaper. In 2003, tax supporters argued that the majority of the revenue generated by utility taxes would benefit public safety. The tax did, sort of. The Fire Department added two ambulances, a breathing air trailer, three engines and nine firefighter/paramedics. A $425,000 engine was delivered to the department in mid-June, giving the department well over $2 million in capital investments since the tax's passage. The department has returned to premier status, according to Fire Chief Steve Wells. Meanwhile, the Police Department dipped to staffing levels of about 70 percent during the battle over its future. Funds were frozen. Equipment aged. Morale soured. The council approved purchase of 29 vehicles on June 20. But it remains to be seen if the wounds over any perceived misuse of the tax revenues will doom its renewal in 2008. Senior citizens and the very poor are exempt from the tax. It mostly hits working residents and businesses. The 8 percent tax on utility bills, can tack on about $25 per month, or $300 annually, to an average household. It's regressive because it taxes basic necessities, the use of which varies relatively little from person to person regardless of income or assets. But the alternatives are grim, said former Councilman Kurt Wilson, who was recently named to a new position for community safety in San Bernardino. "They'd have to come up with something (if the tax is not renewed)," Wilson said. "Maybe raising fees for all kinds of services people enjoy. I'm sure the alternatives would be more painful than the tax itself."
Tax loss may pain Rialto
City's stable finances belie possibly troublesome future
RIALTO - The city's utility-users tax has developed into a gift - and potentially a curse - for residents, employees and political leaders since being established in 2003.
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