Posted on 08/28/2010 6:57:20 AM PDT by granite
HALF MOON BAY -- Between budget losses and lawsuit payments, Half Moon Bay's financials have become so dire that if a local sales tax measure doesn't pass this November, officials say they may have to disincorporate.
City leaders have been using the "D" word for a few weeks now as they try to persuade voters to pass Measure K, a one-cent sales tax increase that would help the city balance its budget with an extra infusion of $1.4 million per year for the next seven years.
Dissolving Half Moon Bay -- handing the city's budget, operations and services to San Mateo County -- would be an absolute last resort, but the city may not have many other options left, City Councilman John Muller said.
"The council has done everything in its power to keep the city whole," Muller said. "If it doesn't pass, we could seriously not be in business much longer."
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
So disincorporate. Problem solved.
lawsuit payments ??? another example why we need tort reform . furlough workers like the govinator take vehicles away from workers cut junkets or just milk the teat of the tax payer typical democrat
I agree. Let the city officials put themselves and all the voters they have bought over the years, out of business. Start over.
Pass the buck up to San Mateo County, they can then carry the burden of the legal fees in Chapter 9. I’m sure that’s where a lot of local governments in CA are headed. And it’s basically the only way to reduce pension costs.
Mayor for life?
I thought the Daleys had a dynasty.
Daleys forever will rule Chicago.
My Yahoo pointed me to the article and I read it just before your posting. The article makes it seem like “poor little HMB had a problem with a Beachwood lawsuit.” Read the lengthy reader comment on the history of Beachwood — the typical arrogant city behavior in the 90’s will turn your stomach.
The city granted a developer rights to build a subdivision on the 24 acre Beachwood parcel just north of town. They made him pay $1.5 million to add sewers and widen Hwy 1. Then they did an about face and decided “no more growth” by banning any new sewer connections. The developer’s property value sank tens of millions dollars and he lost the value of the improvements he made as well. The city seemingly cherry-picked environmental rules to claim that there were “wetlands” so the property couldn’t be improved. There were arguments that the city actually created the wetlands to win their case. A series of lawsuits ultimately led to an out of court settlement against the city.
The city brought all this on by itself.
Dolder [City Manager] ticks off the drawbacks of disincorporation: a county-controlled police department; sporadic road maintenance; no City Council to whom to complain; and no recreation department to offer yoga classes or soccer workshops.I'm weeping for these poor folks.
Didn’t Vallejo already declare bankruptcy in an attempt to shed itself of pension obligations and it didn’t work? I suppose somewhere not too far down the line the people who Californians look down their noses at will be asked to bail them out. What a shame, how is an idiot kid suppose to ever grow up if you don’t teach them about responsibility?
Greenies will lie, cheat, steal and disembowel to get their agenda across. In Tampa a number of years ago, the city set up a rebate program to reimburse everyone who put in new low-flush toilets for the cost of changing out the new units. My Dad called the city first to verify that the program would pay him and was told yes. Turns out they funded this multi-million dollar rebate program with something less than $100,000. It was out of money in two weeks and was already out of money at the time Dad called. They didn’t even make an effort to re-fund the program but kept advertising it anyway. My Dad submitted the paperwork and was told he’d be put on the list in case the program was funded again. Of course he never got paid.
I’ve since known people who were duped into insulating or buying solar-what-have-you’s. One guy who finally got reimbursed for his $40,000 investment in solar panels six months late by “stimulus” money. He was just damned lucky. When he told me about it, he said, in sarcasm, “Oh, by the way, thank you for paying for my solar panels.”
I once interviewed the president of Arvida, formerly St. Joe’s Paper products. He had a huge map of Tallahassee on his wall and he pointed out the street improvements 20 miles away from his Southwood development that he’d had to fund; along with a host of unrelated greenie projects. All of this to get his building permits and plans approved. He called it extortion. I have to agree. Politicians who do this and the people who elect them deserve whatever they get.
The threat is is the County takes over. The thug greenies would like nothing better. My bet is they'll find a way to take their water. It's for the fishies you know...
Kinda fitting, isn't it?
Better STFU unless you know what you are talking about. This one was legit. They city messed with a guy who wanted to develop his property until he sued them for a taking. IIRC, they even diverted water across it to wreck its usefulness and then held him up for rare plants.
So what will happen to the Ritz Carlton at Half Moon Bay?
As the money grabbing gets tighter, the shills for higher taxes get shriller.
This is what happens when liberal run cities.
Maybe the person that bought the winning $113 million lottery ticket there yesterday will bail the city out!
Correct that, $133 million.
Damn betcha!
Neither the loony left residents nor the city management should get any sympathy whatsoever.
Fully deserved. The city government was completely to blame for attempting to ruin the developer. The people went along with them for years.
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