Robbing Peter to pay Paul (January 27, 2016)
The Town of Apple Valley will release another transparency report at the beginning of their next meeting on January 26. For those who may not know what that is, it is a report that is intended to keep the people apprised of the costs associated with the takeover of Apple Valley Ranchos Water Company.
The last report from the town was when Mr. and Mrs. John Q. Public asked and how much cost was reported? Were there any discrepancies in the report?
Every person who lives in Apple Valley should be able to not only answer that question, but tell people with some level of clarity and credibility how much has been spent. If you don’t know, don’t be discouraged, that was the town’s intention from the beginning.
Also during this same meeting is an item that allows the Assistant Town Manager and Director of Finance Marc Puckett to borrow funds from a bond the town intends to float to pay the costs to date of the legal battle. When did you actually vote on any of this? The maximum authorized bonding amount is $125 million, once the Town Council rubber stamps this. In the Town Council’s mind, they are voting for you, so they don’t need to have the public vote on this.
In the absence of a vote, there should be public hearings etc. but like the CPUC-approved rate increases the Council and their town shills complain about, they will steamroll the bond opposition and float the bonds anyway.
Proposition 218 says we need a massive turnout of voter disapproval, but if your apathy or confusion based on the town’s propaganda machine has convinced you that seizing Ranchos is best, then this bond debt will pass without so much as a whimper from the public.
The town continually tells the public that they can run Ranchos and that once they have possession of the company, they will have plenty of money to operate it and, according to the entire Council, spearheaded most recently by Mayor Barb Stanton in a letter to the editor, this eminent domain seizure won’t cost the public anything and they are proving that — by hiding the costs from you.
Whatever is presented in this transparency
report will not be accurate because the last one wasn’t. Using common sense, aren’t they they robbing Peter to pay Paul right now?
— David Mueller, Apple Valley
Source: Daily Press