Excuse me if I’m skeptical about the City of Inglewood’s initiative to give homeowners a $500 rebate especially when you take into consideration it’s their money to begin with.
Don’t get me wrong I’m always for taxpayers winning and if this is a true rebate in every essence of the word, Inglewood Mayor James Butts and the council should be commended for delivering for its residents but once again without a clear picture of the City’s finances and seemingly the dependence of pension obligation bonds to keep the City afloat, the real question is will Inglewood taxpayers ultimately be on the hook for what seems to be an earnest act of kindness by the Mayor and Council?
Is my skepticism rightfully placed? Well, it depends on who you ask.
According to Mayor Butts, the $500 rebate represents the homeowners being partners in all of the development and good fortunes coming to the City. What he continually fails to tell them is they are footing the bill. The mayor calls it “smart business” but it is nothing more than the City creating more debt on homeowner’s annual property taxes.
The Mayor and Council have always presented the City to be financially solvent, and seemingly immune from the day-to-day challenges that plague the STATE OF CALIFORNIA and OTHER CITIES in the STATE OF CALIFORNIA while citing the City’s massive growth despite lackluster finances that suggest without the infusion of cash derived from the issuance and refinancing of pension obligation bonds that the City of Inglewood wouldn’t be in a position to issue these “generous” rebates but would also struggle with meeting the financial demands of it’s day to day operations.
Although the mayor and council fell over themselves to pump up this $500 rebate as a windfall that will benefit residents, he failed to say WHERE the nearly $5.3 million to fund this was coming from. The council didn’t approve a corresponding budget amendment when they approved this during the June 25 city council meeting.
Our elected officials and administration have seemingly and foolishly forecasted Inglewood’s overambitious financial windfalls on revenue that haven’t been realized or may never materialize based on several factors that may not be within its control.
There’s an old saying in sports that goes along the lines of “If you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying and it’s only cheating if you get caught.”
Keeping that in mind, is Inglewood’s rebate to homeowners because of a series of shrewd and prudent financial decisions made by elected officials and the administration or is it a result of a get-rich financial scheme where Inglewood and its elected officials have leveraged and indebted it’s taxpayers with short term and long term debt for the near and foreseeable future with the proceeds of pension obligation debt because one can only assume that this infusion of cash in which makes these “rebates” possible will ultimately be paid back by the taxpayers.
What also shouldn’t be lost on Inglewood residents and 2UrbanGirls readers is that the legality of issuing these pension obligation bonds without taxpayers’ approval has been questioned by Jason Henry of the Daily Breeze and the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association which should stir a great cause of concern.
What’s obvious is the City of Inglewood is banking on an unrealized financial windfall that hasn’t materialized. They are also banking on residents not fully understanding the City’s finances and how the mayor is using TAXPAYER FUNDS to subsidize services for the growing Inglewood Sports and Entertainment District venues.
In hindsight it begs to question, should Inglewood residents simply ignore the warnings of the elected City treasurer Wanda Brown who some believe was severely punished by the Mayor and Council by stripping her of her duties and reducing her salary for calling out the Mayor and Council due to mismanagement and overspending of taxpayers money or throw caution to the wind and surrender without question the City’s short term and long term financial well-being?
As I said before I’m all for taxpayers winning but this victory, so to speak, appears to be simply for optics as opposed to a rosy financial position that’s ambiguous at best.
So what’s the motivation behind it?
The reasons can be many.
But I would argue that the City passing out shekels if I were playing devil’s advocate strangely coincides with the upcoming elections.
If you recall me mentioning in my last letter, elections are coming up on us and what would be a more compelling enticement to “keep the team together” so to speak by offering a quid pro quo peace offering by bribing voters to keep the team together by offering rebates?
Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t this the same Mayor and Council who recently went before voters, declaring a fiscal emergency that ultimately would raise taxes not only for infrastructure but also the Inglewood Transit Connector?
So what has changed?
Everything has changed and the stakes are high and if throwing around tax rebates in the estimated sum of $5 million dollars like a drunk sailor ensures the Mayor a council majority that poses no real opposition to his authority and agenda then I would guess the Mayor figures that’s a small price to pay, even though taxpayers will be left ultimately footing the bill.
One has to wonder what are the ramifications if Councilman Eloy Morales and Councilwoman Dionne Faulk suffer the same ill-advised fate as former Councilman George Dotson who although was highly likable suffered a devastating loss to Gloria Gray?
It also should be noted that George Dotson’s loss at the polls was considered a direct rebuke to the Mayor and his policy.
What happens if City Clerk Aisha Thompson isn’t suppressing accountability and transparency in her office by evading releasing public records related to the going ons in City Hall?
On any given day, minus a free concert and/or promise of “free money” through the Champions Grant or this rebate, Mayor Butts KNOWS he has problems every time he logs into his social media accounts and reads the comments directed towards him and his leadership.
The mayor was nearly forced into a runoff with an underfunded, and lesser-known candidate and without paying off residents his reign of terror could come to a screeching halt this November.
Inglewood voters have one mandate and that’s to show up to the polls and take back our City.
Marvin McCoy is an opinion writer for 2UrbanGirls.com.
1 Comment
Oh if only this was a game we could choose (or not) to be a player in …..
Yes , Mr. McCoy makes a great point that this council membership seems to spend, spend and spend AS IF there is an endless supply of tax dollars …why? to pretend they can be like Oprah?
—Excuse me the Oprah Car give away was her money not tax dollars !!!
Alas, some of us live in the real world and realize that no government has a money tree orchard with always- blooming, never-ending bushels of money!!
WARNING Hard Truth :
All money which electeds vote to spend are TAX DOLLARS —
Yep it was your, mine, and the neighbors money paid in the form of property tax , sales tax an assortment of use ie utility taxes, yes, even bonds sold to investors are repaid with interest by your taxes!!
Back to the Gameboard:
In our three dimensional world…
Those of us who never use the RAILROADS (aka Metro, Bullet Train ) are continually paying for others to ride and future plans will burden us with even more “monorail” billions to be paid.
Sadly those who should spend a time-out period in jail for their misdeeds keep a host of attorneys on retainer (using our tax dollars) and seem to print their own endless stack of “GET OUT OF JAIL CARDs “.
And as for “FREE PARKING” -Ha! those are things of days long ago think Del Amo shopping mall, somehow many new residential building codes allow for very limited few parking spaces ! Local Developers have been permitted to essentially push tourists into neighborhoods rather than be expected to provide adequate parking for their ticket payers. Their profit our nightmare.
As for passing “GO” – in the original game each player recieves $200, while in the local version elected and “select” employees receive up to 10 times what the residents recieve.
Yes McCoy our life does sound like a board game,
..in our case however perhaps the not red checkered- pattern board be a more realistic likeness? You know the one….strategic moves to achieve the end goal/philosophy: all are sacrificed to protect the king.
Hmmm how much interest will I pay for that $500.?
Is that another high rise they approved last week.