Measure E for Elk Grove - Did You Also Know? Segments 5 & 6
Did you also know?
One of our largest and
oldest parks, Elk Grove Regional Park is owned by Sacramento County and
maintained by Cosumnes Community Service District.
The Cosumnes Community
Service District owns and operates the majority of the parks in Elk Grove. In the early days when Elk Grove became a city,
we, the taxpayers, paid for the lawsuit between the City of Elk Grove and the
Cosumnes Community Service over who owns and operates parks.
It was a turf war battle.
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The result; the city of Elk
Grove owns some park property, the CSD owns the majority of park property and operates the
parks.
On the property tax bill is
the special tax to pay for park maintenance.
The local taxes are paid by the neighborhoods surrounding the
parks. Several neighborhood communities
voted to increase their special tax on their bills, while several other
communities voted no. There exists an
opportunity for neighborhoods to vote for a local increase if so desired.
The city nor CCSD has
stated how the increase in sales tax will be allocated. Please remember in the description on the
ballot, “general purposes.” Meaning if
this sales tax increase is passed it does not mean your park could be improved
or better maintained.
Segment 6 A
Did you also know?
How has our city used our
taxpayer monies to develop
employment centers? Create
jobs? Improve the economy in our city?
Our city has funded “economic
incentives” to bring jobs here. The money is from our city’s General fund (the
tax dollars we pay through our property taxes, fees, and sales tax).
For example, California Correctional
Healthcare Services and Pappas Development received 3.3 million dollars. If this was not enough, our mayor and city
council members gave the Correctional Healthcare Services another $81,000 to
bring 64 more jobs.
One council member suggested this would be a boast to our
local economy as the employees would be purchasing new cars at our
dealerships.
Tens of Thousands of
dollars have been given away to startup businesses with no quantifiable results.
Our mayor and city council members voted to establish
an Economic Development Department. This
department has expanded, as has the budget for the department.
The city hired the first Economic
Development director in 2011, and since then, the budget has ballooned, and the
staff has increased. To date, we pay for
an Economic Development Director, an Economic Program manager, and two
specialists.
Under the Economic Development Director report was a
list that included key businesses such as Dignity Health, UC Davis Health,
Hampton Inn, Hilton Garden, the Car dealerships, and Sky River Casino. The
population growth of Elk Grove brought these businesses, not the activities of
the Economic Development Department.
A City
representative once commented the Casino would be the anchor for a vibrant and
dense urban setting. Is this to be
considered the new employment center of our city?
An example of the top Sale tax producers: Gas stations, Bel
Air, Walmart, and Costco.
Did you also know to bring Costco to our city, the Economic
Development department gave Costco and Pappas development a deal: we are giving ½ our sales tax back to them
for the next twenty years, which is a multimillion-dollar kickback.
Segment 6 B
Did you also know what was said by a current city council member several years ago?
The city of Elk
Grove will be more of the same: Rooftops and Retail.
This is beginning to
unfold as the first project into the last 1200 undeveloped acres of Elk Grove
has been rezoned from “employment centers” to housing.
This is unfolding as
City officials have been working to bring the ACE commuter train to Elk Grove.
A faster, safer commute for our residents who commute to the bay for work.
It continues to
unfold as our mayor and city council adopted a master plan for continued growth with
the acceptance of congested roadways, increased traffic, and slower emergency
response times. Now, the mayor and city council members are asking for more
money as if this will really solve the problems they knowingly approved.
Cautiously consider this ballot measure. Think “general purposes.”
This ballot measure is not
specific to addressing the safety and quality of life issues. Our mayor and
city council are just asking you to pay more and trust them to know how to
spend your money.
Do the Mayor and
city council members deserve your trust? Have the Mayor and city council members earned your trust?
Please contemplate those questions as you cast your vote on this permanent tax increase.
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