Beaumont Cannot Move Forward Until the City Staff and Council are Working with the Citizens and not Against Them.
By: Libi Uremovic | Original Article at patch.com
Even after the FBI Raids and State Controller Investigation, the City of Beaumont continues the same practices of deceit and poor choices that has brought the City to financial ruin.
On September 1, 2015 the Beaumont City Councilmen took turns proclaiming that ‘they will never know’ what happened to the $400 Million that has disappeared from the City of Beaumont in the past 20 years.
On September 15th the Council passed a $27 Million Budget. The City laid off 24 Employees in order to allocate 45% of their Budget to Contract Services i.e. Lawyers and Consultants. In a prepared speech Councilman Mark Orozco once again demonized the people that have exposed the corruption by stating that we wanted to ‘burn the City to the ground’.
A very ironic choice of words for the Councilman of a City that neglected to build the three (3) Fire Stations required to provide adequate fire safety protection to their Citizens.
Mayor Brenda Knight began the Meeting by making her usual threats regarding the actions that will be taken by the always large number of Police Officers present at every Council Meeting. Ms. Knight fails to understand that police presence for Council means that there are no Officers on patrol for the Community.
The majority of attendees at council meetings are over 60 years old. Most of the time the Staff out-numbers the Citizens, yet Mayor Knight starts each Council Meeting threatening the use of police force if the ‘crowd’ gets out of hand.
The City of Beaumont can not move forward until they stop the bad practices of the past, both financial and cultural. The fact that both Orozco and Knight continue to perpetrate the ‘citizens are the bad people’ theory is a clear indication that they are continuing the practices of the past.
Another indication that Beaumont is continuing the practices of the past is their continued illegal activity.
In the past the City of Beaumont had made a $6 Million/year profit by overcharging Mello Roos Special Taxes to the Property Owners in the CFD Development Areas. The 2016 Mello Roos Property Taxes are an accurate reflection of the Develop Areas’ Bond Debt, but the City plans to generate a $3.5 Million profit by charging everyone in the Developments a ‘Services’ Property Tax Charge.
Beaumont will have to repay all of the property taxes they have illegally acquired along with all of the other money they have acquired through criminal activity. A Budget that is dependent upon acquiring more property and sales tax than the City is legally allowed to collect is not a sound financial policy.
In the TUMF Summary Judge Chaffee used an analogy that a team of rowers must all be moving in the same direction as a collective force. Beaumont can not move forward until the City Staff and Council are working with the Citizens and not against them.