HomeMy WebLinkAboutCommunication 5/C 08/03/2015Item 5.0
Document Received After Agenda Distribution
Cooper, Claire
Subject: FW: Rainier Connector
From: REKB @aol.com [mailto:REKB @aol.com]
Sent: Sunday, August 02, 2015 2:26 PM
To: daveglass @comcast.net
Subject: Rainier Connector
Dear Mr. Mayor
Unfortunately I cannot be at the City Council to address my views on the Rainier Cross Town
Connector. Instead I am sending the below as a substitute.
The cross town connector may be needed, but spending choices made by past City Councils
has made the connector completely unaffordable. Two decades of Council funding excessive
numbers of personnel, their benefits and social policies by taking funds from essential
infrastructure maintenance has left city hall in fiscal poverty. It has left a bill for $100 million
for Petaluma roadway repair that remains unpaid and unfunded. In your budget, the amount;
after wages and benefits have been removed, that will go to physical roadway repair was only
$1.8. You did this despite knowing that deterioration continues at around $8 million per year.
To the public, City Council actions show a stunning disregard for infrastructure required by the
city's economy. I want to give council members a perspective how things fit as Council
Members seems to live in a bubble.
Local, State, and Federal taxes take everything penny we Americans earn until April 24. That is
1 /3 rd of the year. If one used taxes in lieu of borrowing to fund the deficit we would end up
working until mid June before we would receive a pay check. Despite this massive spending
and resulting tax burden we still have potholed roads here in Petaluma. The problem is not
insufficient taxes.
The only affordable way to pay for the Connector would be as a toll way ... using revenue
bonds ... that is bonds that must be serviced exclusively by revenues generated by the project.
As this funding option would require real scrutiny of whether the project is economic, I cannot
see Council going for this only option.
Now, I want to get specific. Our Petaluma Cross Town Booster known to us as the Argus
Courier reports City Hall thinks the Rainier cross town connector will cost $60 million. I choke
on that. Some of us remember City Council approved the flood control project that was
estimated to cost $5 million but ended up costing $35 million. Supposedly $7.5 million has
been set aside for design and construction. City hall assumes massive funding by Sonoma
County when we know it cannot even fund its own road maintenance. Add to this that next
year brings a nasty reminder of past City Council finagling. GAAP or Standard accounting
1
principles to account for obligations to city employees past and present will be required for
any future borrowing.
All of this reeks again of the monstrous deceit done by City Council over proceeds from
Measure Q. The ethics displayed poisoned the relations between taxpayers and Council for
years to come.
Sincerely
Richard Brawn
141 Grevillia Drive
Petaluma
(707)763 -5897